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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 Town of Living Buddha Statues (仏像のまち) High School, Buddhist Iconography, Magic &Teen Love

The Town of Living Buddha Statues (仏像のまち) High School, Buddhist Iconography, Magic &Teen Love

It's the story of Sorato, a high school student who's deceased father was a sculptor of Buddhist images (仏師/busshi)and seems to have passed his unusual talent on to poor Sorato-kun.…

It’s Not Easy Being a Yakuza Boss (Part 1)

These days the price of a standard civilian hit-job can run as high as $2 million. That’s not the price to get the job done―that’s the price if one of…

Three Lessons I Learned On The Police Beat: For My High School

I wanted to share with the students the things in life I wish I'd learned when I was younger. 継続は力 (Keizoku wa Chikara). Persistence is power. Sometimes, the only difference…

Sexnomics: Japan’s 100 Billion Dollar Sex Industry And The Pink Zone

If you are an anthropologist, an economic researcher, or simply interested in the seedy side of the sun, than this book is a treasure trove of strange and useful information.…

Crime and Punishment in Japan

“Individually, the Japanese detectives are charming, dedicated, hard working, sincere and very decent, however as an institution, the Japanese police are arrogant and frequently incompetent,” Mr. Parry asserts.

The Melting Sun: Japan’s Nuclear Follies

"They (the Japanese power companies including TEPCO) are also seeking to extend the shelf life of their plants to 60 years, double what experts thought prudent when they built the…

日本の小顔コルセット使えば本当に3分で可愛くなれるの? Small face, great beauty

これは、世界中でも有名になっている日本人女性の願望だ。しかしこの夢、どうやら「1日3分巻くだけ!絶対小顔コルセット―整形レベルのW巻き(主婦の友)」と付属本で叶えられるらしい。それには、1日3分、激痛を味わうだけでいいのだ。A wonderful translation of our review of this beautiful for human life beauty product.

A Light In The Dark Empire: The Man Who Fought TEPCO.

Katsunobu Onda is a writer and investigative journalist who has been chronicling the corporate malfeasance in Japan’s nuclear industry for over two decades and his book Tokyo Electric Power Company…

The Last Yakuza: A Life In The Japanese Underworld coming in 2015

Some in-house book news: Atlantic Wire contributor Jake Adelstein has a deal for his book The Last Yakuza: A Life in the Japanese Underworld. Adelstein, an expert on organized crime…

Tatsumi: Not all comics (or movies) are for children. The Post-War Life & Loves of A Manga God

Tatsumi is an animated gekiga film of sorts, inspired by and based on Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s life. In order to create the film, director Eric Khoo had his animators reproduce specific…