Cops To Close Curtains on Yakuza Hollywood: The Timeline
1957: The 3rd Generation Yamaguchi Leader, Kazuo Taoka, sets up and registers Kobe Geinosha (Kobe Performing Arts Promotion) under his own name. (The Yamaguchi-gumi is currently Japan’s larges organized crime…
North Korea Turns 63, Party Guests Seem Kinda Angry
demonstrators come out to protest the oppressive North Korean regime
NISA Needs To Take Evil Lessons
Sneaky attempts to manipulate public opinion meltdown
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…
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO): Is it time to turn off the lights?
“Jump in a nuclear reactor and die!’ Those were the words directed at the chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) by one angry man at the tense stockholders meeting…
Film: Cold Fish (冷たい熱帯魚)
A film based on the Saitama Dog Lovers serial killings
9 Day Warning: On March 2nd, NISA disciplined TEPCO on lax equipment checks before meltdown
On March 2nd, approximately nine days before the TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Reactor One melted down, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) formally disciplined…
The jury is in: Japan’s new jury system is a farce.
This news story slipped under my large nose in the last few days of earth-shaking quake related news. On March 30th (2011) the Tokyo High Court overturned the not-guilty verdict…
TEPCO executives under investigation for charges of professional negligence resulting in death or injury. UPDATE（業務上過失致死傷容疑)
The Japanese police continue their investigation into TEPCO, the managing entity of the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor for charges of professional negligence resulting in death or injury. TEPCO announced on April…
Eikaiwa Underworld: Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned
By Jason Gray Early 2004. When teaching conversational English, at least in Japan, fascinating students are a rarity. This isn’t necessarily because there aren’t interesting people who want to learn…