I was writing to a former intern at Japan Subculture Research Center, Fresca, and asked her to send me her thesis to read—just as she mailed me. I think I…
The yakuza, Japan’s infamous organised crime syndicates, have gone into a death spiral in recent years and Jake Adelstein says it is partly due to an incident at a sumo…
It's been 46 years since Takumi Yokota last saw his sister Megumi. Their family was just like any other, until Megumi became one of the many Japanese hostages held captive…
Ever spotted something odd about someone’s hands nearby? Everything seems ordinary until you notice it: one finger joint missing, maybe a whole finger, maybe several. lt leaves a noticeable gap.…
Tigran Gambaryan's career is anchored by one constant: an unwavering dedication to justice He put child pornographers and crypto-criminals out of business. Now he's being held hostage in Nigeria, a…
In Ichigatsuno Koeni Yorokobiwo Kizame (International title: Voice), a young woman named Reiko (Atsuko Maeda) professes to her boyfriend-for-hire that she had been sexually abused as a child. Reiko had been six years…
by Robert Whiting I read with sadness of the passing of Tsuneo Watnabe, the long time shogun of the Yomiuri group, which publishes the Yomiuri Shinbun–(editor note: and also owns…
Japan is the second largest market for publishing books in the world — a fact that probably comes as no surprise to people living in Japan who only need to…
By Ronald Drabkin It’s been a long and unexpected journey—from the moment I discovered my father had been a spy, to seeing my nonfiction book, Rutland, Omae wa Dare Da,…
"Performing..." is also a funny, melancholic and classic Japanese love story. Classic because within the traditional Japanese relationship, a man and woman only realize the depth of their love for…
In a not-so-surprising twist that has Japan’s ruling party licking its wounds, the 2024 lower house election results show the ruling coalition crumbling to pieces. After decades of near-uninterrupted dominance…
As the ballots trickle in from Japan’s general election, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) —which is infamously neither liberal nor democratic–is having the kind of night you wouldn’t wish…
Yesterday the former CEO of infamous Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox announced the release of a new crypto initiative. The new company, called EllipX (pronounced “el-ip-ex”), consists of the EllipX…
