• Fri. Mar 20th, 2026

Japan Subculture Research Center

A guide to the Japanese underworld, Japanese pop-culture, yakuza and everything dark under the sun.

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  • The Ghosts of Sony

The Ghosts of Sony

In contrast to the Nakayama store, which is almost a Sony graveyard, at the Sony Building, located in Ginza--once the most expensive and luxurious area in Tokyo-- the Sony Show…

Little Mermaids & Little Fingers: An illustrated yakuza tale

The next time I ran into Shira she told me I shouldn't expect to see Shin again. He probably wasn't coming back. "Not coming back?" I asked puzzled. "You don't…

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…

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…

Police woman sexually harassed by “transvestite” cop and co-workers. Kanagawa PD uphold lousy rep.

Japanese media and other sources reported on July 27th, that the Kanagawa Police Department will discipline four police officers in their thirties for sexually harassing a junior female police officer.…

Japan’s “Nuclear Mafia” Pursuing Lawsuit to Muzzle Investigative Journalist

Tokyo – July 10th, 2012 Japan’s so-called “nuclear mafia”, the consortium of industry, bureaucracy, politicians and anti-social forces appears to have put out a “hit” on free-lance journalist, Minoru Tanaka.…