Tokyo Vice: Interview with Jake Adelstein
The thing about the worst of the yakuza—and they're not all evil—is that you can't worry only about your own physical safety. There's a chance that your friends or loved…
Top 10 “Trendy” Words To Understand 30 Years Of Modern Japan
① Cabaret Club/キャバクラ (1985) ② It's best to have a healthy husband, who is rarely home/亭主元気で留守がいい (1986) ③Sexual Harassment/セクシュアル・ハラスメント 同義語 セクハラ (1988) ④Old guy girl/オヤジギャル (1990)
“What are the criteria of these possible secrets?” “Well…it’s a secret.” Japan’s Kafkaesque Special Secret Protection Bill threatens to destroy freedom of speech
“this bill represents a great threat to journalism.” A person investigating a state secret and revealing it could be prosecuted and jailed to up to 10 years. The criteria for…
Panties for Smart Phones Become Du Jour in Japan
If your cell-phone is naked, you’re totally behind the fashion curve. Since this spring over a million pure silicone panties were sold in Japan. Silicone may not sound like the…
Born to run, doomed to stall. Sayonara Speed Tribes documents end of Japan’s motorcycle gangs
Sayonara Speed Tribes focuses on Hazuki Kazuhiro, the former leader of the Narushino Specter Gang. When the film starts, all we know is that he is currently a boxer and…
TEPCO, Nuclear Disaster & Spaghetti-Os: Bad Deeds Get Rewarded
In other words, it’s as if TEPCO measured the height of Jeremy Lin with only a 12 inch school ruler and proclaimed, “Mr. Lin is the world’s shortest basketball player.”…
Combatting human trafficking: 1st Winner of Michiel Brandt Memorial Prize Announced
The award is given in honor of the late Michiel Brandt, a former MIIS student from Japan who died of leukemia while preparing for a career in combatting human trafficking,…
Japan Lax Nuclear Security Could Make It The Land Of The Melting Sun
Japan has more than 50 gigantic nuclear “pressure cookers” ripe for exploitation by terrorists. In Japan, getting access to a nuclear power plant is very simple: fill out a job…
Sayonara Speed Tribes (暴走族サヨナラ） opens April 12. Run & catch it!
Japan's infamous 'Speed Tribes' - kamikaze styled biker gangs- have, for decades, delighted would-be rebels and terrorized the general public. Idolized in the underground, demonized by the mass media and…
Reconstructing 3/11: Sometimes The Yakuza Live Up To Their Ideals
There was a brief time after the earthquake when Japan welcomed the yakuza and they welcomed the victims with whatever aid they could provide. As time passes most of them…