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…
Book Review: Introduction to Zen
英語対訳で読む禅入門, or Introduction to Zen with Accompanying English Translation, was written by Priest Souen Ozeki and translated by a one Elizabeth Mills (whom I suspect may be using a pen…
Book: Black Passenger Yellow Cabs
Editor’s note: Mr. Bryan sent us JSRC the book a few months ago but as we were getting ready to post the review, 3/11 came upon us. It seemed like…
Death by Pufferfish: A short story by Mayumi Shimose Poe
Jake’s note: In a departure from our usual hard-boiled news about Japan, we’re honored to be republishing a fascinating short story that illustrates many cultural aspects of Japanese society and…
Reimagining Japan: The Quest for a Future that Works
What is the future of Japan? Can the country get back on its feet? It’s a question that the world and the people of Japan are asking themselves. McKinsey &…
People Who Eat Darkness (闇を食う人々）An amazing book and a tissue sample of Japan's social pathological elements
People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman* By Richard Lloyd Parry (Jonathan Cape 404pp £17.99) When the disappearance of Lucie Blackman made the news, I was covering it…
Book Review: 図解裏社会のカラクリ
Purposely vague, shadowy and difficult to understand, the Japanese underworld is a puzzling and ever-changing realm of secrecy, even for those who study it. There’s no quick-and-dirty tutorial or handbook…