Japan Subculture Research Center

The fuzoku (風俗) industry, or sex industry, is an integral part of Japan’s underground economy and a multi-billion-dollar operation that is difficult to keep track of actual numbers because of…

Hello to all the viewers of 60 Minutes or the readers of the Washington Post who have stopped by after seeing the program and/or reading the article. We’d like to…

Today, November 1st, 60 Minutes did a stellar piece on the Yakuza in Japan and my life covering them as a reporter, and the one scoop regarding Goto Tadamasa, the…

Another amusing educational lesson by jake Adelstein for Publishing Perspectives, this time about the vital (literally) rules of being a yakuza reporter! So, you want to become a Gokudokisha 極道記者,…

It figures that something like this would be coming, since he is such an avid collector of the things, but Jake has written a detailed rundown of magazines published by…

In one of the mind baffling things to happen of late, the popular Japanese internet BBS and forum, 2 channel, devoted a thread to me and the book. I suppose…

Since the tightening of regulations against fuuzoku sex industry businesses in Shinjuku’s Kabuki-cho last year, there have been voices of concern about whether or not the neighborhood will lose its…

“How can you crack down on child pornography in this country when it is not a crime to be posses it?” “When you are looking at child pornography, you are…

The Page 99 Test is a blog that gives readers a peek at the 99th page of a book because it apparently holds the secret to some unlimited wealth of…

Mark Schreiber, long time chronicler of Japan’s seamy side, weighs in on the book.  Shrieber has authored several books about crime in Japan and has been a denizen of  Kabukicho,…