Deadly cult, Aum Shinrikyo, has criminal case finally closed After 17 years
This week Japanese police has finally put an end to a 17 years criminal investigation into a series of Aum Shinrikyo cult incidents. On Monday, September 24th, Tokyo prosecutors indicted the last…
Exorcism Gets Everybody Killed; Female Faith Healer Gets The Gallows
The faith-healer and self-professed exorcist, Sachiko Eto, her daughter and another accomplice had beaten their victims to death, using thick drumsticks designed for the Japanese 太鼓 (Taiko) and other blunt…
Yakuza Comix: An Illustrated Guide To The Front Company フロント企業図解
To give you an idea of the scale of organized crime front companies in Japan, in Tokyo alone, there were over 1,000 at the end of 2010. And those are…
UPDATE: 10 Thugs Club Man To Death While 300 People Dance at Roppongi Club
"The killing was meant to be a warning, not just a death sentence. The very public execution is more typical of Kansai and Kyushu yakuza are foreign gangs. It may…
Remembering Ms. Mika Yamamoto; War Journalist Killed In Action
Ms. Yamamoto had a very strong sense of justice, and she felt that what is right is right. However, currently in the Japanese society it is difficult to have such…
Life With Zero Electricity: Naoto Matsumura in Fukushima, “it’s Possible”
Tokyo – September 11/ 2012 was the one year and six months anniversary of the big Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster, followed by the Fukushima nuclear accident. The nuclear disaster…
Killing Yourself To Make A Living: In Japan Financial Incentives Reward “Suicide”
In post-war Japan, people would sign a life insurance contract. And go straight out, and kill themselves under the nearest train. Eventually, the life insurance companies started putting in one-year…
Yasukuni Shrine: The Nation’s Pacifying Shrine That Angers Other Nations
Yasukuni Shrine. 靖国神社. 靖 (Yasu) means "peaceful" "国" (Kuni) means "Nation". "神社" (Jinja) means "Shrine." The Shrine of The Peaceful Nation. And it's true, Japan is now a peaceful nation,…
The Nuclear Mafia Derails Democracy In Japan
By Richard Wilcox Note: We’d like to thank Mr. Wilcox for his submission to the blog. While some of this material has appeared elsewhere, Mr. Wilcox has also found an…
The Trial Of Minoru Tanaka: The high cost of investigative journalism in Japan & “the nuclear mafia”
An article which appeared last year in the December 16 issue of “Kinyobi” weekly written by Minoru Tanaka, resulted in a punitive lawsuit against him. The article called the head of a…