Asia After Hours

Coinciding with the enactment of anti-organized crime legislation last year, Tokyo Metropolitan Police have been focusing multiple investigations on a lavish club in upscale Nishi Azabu frequented by show biz personalities, reports Shukan Post (Feb. 3).

The club is owned by the former president of a real estate company that went bankrupt with liabilities of 10 billion yen. He has been arrested for tax evasion, and the club seized. The Tokyo District Court ruled that the property is to be put up for auction.

“The club as well as the owner’s residence are inside the same　apartment building,” a person involved in the investigation tells the tabloid. “There are nine apartments in the building, and eight are intended for auction. After the ruling, a friend of the owner filed a preliminary claim for ownership of the other unit. So it has become impossible to auction the whole building.”

(Shukan Post does not give the name of the club, but a Google search reveals it to be Geihinkan Nishi Azabu. The owner is Daisuke Shioda, whose former real estate company is called ABC Home.)

Located in a quiet residential area, the salon is a retreat in the center of the city for famous celebs to gather each evening. (more…)

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Shukan Post (Dec. 23) closes the year out with a bang, so to speak. Citing an adult video production company employee, the weekly tabloid says that it is common knowledge in the industry that one Japanese woman in 200 has performed in a porn film.

To establish its bearings, the magazine says that in days past one porn actress per 400 female high school and university students was a standard assumption — a figure that represents roughly one woman per graduating class.

To then make the jump to encompass all women, the tabloid breaks down some numbers provided by the production company employee.

“If one considers all AV productions, including those distributed on the Internet and underground DVDs, there are 35,000 productions released each year,” the explains.

That converts to approximately 100 films a day.

“In one year,” the source continues, “between 2,000 and 3,000 new actresses will debut in conventional AV films. All told (including amateurs), the industry has 150,000 experienced women. Now, if one considers that between the ages of 19 and 55 Japan has 30 million women then…”

…one may arrive at that quite striking one-in-200 figure.

Shukan Post finds an industry insider who believes that Japan’s strength is within its abundant supply of potential actresses.

“For roving talent scouts, recently it has become easy for them,” says a porn director who specializes in amateur productions featuring women who get picked up on the street.

“The hurdle in getting women to perform in AV has been set very low,” says the director. “In the Shibuya Center-gai (shopping) area there are women who will negotiate on the spot and sign on quickly.”

As to that one-in-200 ratio, the director is more inclined to put it closer to one in 50. “But this is nothing compared to the fuzoku trade, whose numbers are overwhelming,” the director adds.

According to the National Police Agency, there were 23,000 adult entertainment establishments registered in 2010. If roughly 20 women are employed at the average deri heru or soapland club, then the total number of employees is 460,000 women.

When taking into consideration the above population assumptions used in the AV calculations, the figure represents one woman in 65 — indeed, likely shy of the director’s lofty expectations but eye-catching nonetheless.

Shukan Post then backtracks and crunches the numbers to conclude that to mean three gals in each high school and college class are employed in the sex trade…ah, the days of one’s youth. (A.T.)

Source: “Anata no dokyusei no 3 nin ha fuuzokujo, 1 nin ha AV ni shutsuen shiteiru,” Shukan Post (Dec. 23, page 135)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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The resignation of television personality Shinsuke Shimada over the summer put the spotlight on connections between gangsters and the entertainment world, but, warns reports Shukan Post (Nov. 11), the broadcasting stations themselves should be equally nervous about associating with organized crime.

Nationwide legislation passed in October prohibits ordinary citizens from assisting the business activities of criminal organizations, yet television stations, the article says, can be structured whereby certain activities involve yakuza connections.

“I have experience in helping sell tickets to events hosted by TV stations,” says a gang member involved in show business. “A TV station producer will come to an event promoter because he knows on the surface things look clean, but the reality is a connection to the mob. A request will be made to sell half the tickets to an event. That will happen, but with fifty percent of the sales price kept as commission.”

Both benefit from this arrangement, and the relations only get deeper from there. Gangsters connected to entertainment production companies will utilize their resources to ensure that the performers within the company’s talent pool rise to the top to receive a take of the large fees they are able to charge for dinner shows and banquets.

“Entertainment production companies are basically gangster front companies,” says a former television station manager. “They’ll engage in the wining and dining of TV station producers, and offer gambling on the golf course and mahjong, in which the producers will be intentionally allowed to win big. Then they might be taken to high-end hostess clubs, operated by gangsters affiliated with the entertainment production company, in Ginza and Roppongi at no charge. The companies will also arrange parties with some hot, young female actresses. Invitations to soaplands also occur.”

As a result, the TV station producers will be influenced regarding the casting and structuring of upcoming programs. But there is yet a potentially darker side, the magazine warns.

“TV employees at big stations frequent ‘members only’ clubs in Nishi Azabu that are managed by close associates of gangsters,” says a police investigator. “The network being built up within this community is a concern.” (K.N.)

Source: “Boryokudan kankei no geino puro TV man josei tarento tono enkai settai kikaku,” Shukan Post (Nov. 11)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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On a typical evening at 1 a.m., the lights in the Ginza club district start to dim, but standing out will be at least one brightly lit pet store, in which a number of dogs and cats can be viewed by passersby, typically bar hostesses and their customers. However, reports weekly tabloid Shukan Post (Nov. 18), these late-night shops will be the subject of new regulations to reduce abuse beginning next year.

On October 31, the Ministry of the Environment announced new guidelines that will ban the exhibition of pet commodities during late hours. Set to start next June, the legislation aims to prohibit the display of cats and dogs after 8 p.m.

In Tokyo, late-night shops are common in the entertainment areas of Ginza, Roppongi, and Shinjuku. Most of their visitors after midnight are hostesses in flashy make-up and outfits who wonder aloud how ownership can be attained.

“I visit here after I’ve dealt with particularly difficult customers or simply felt fatigued,” a 25-year-old hostess tells the tabloid as she locks her eyes on a Chihuahua, priced at 250,000 yen. “By looking at them, I can feel a soothing feeling. I will feel sad if I don’t get to see them.”

A 38-year-old hostess, accompanied by a customer, realizes that it is tough on the animals. “But it is nice to be able to see them as we deal with issues or situations that cannot be simply shared with others,” she says.

She then asks her companion to buy one for her.

“While they provide soothing moments, it’s temporary,” explains a 48-year-old bar mama-san. “For the sake of the animals, it should be regulated.”

Incidents of hostesses receiving poodles as gifts from their patrons and then returning them quickly for cash, a process known as “pet recycle,” are common in the entertainment areas of Tokyo and Osaka.

The article notes that these types of cases are the basis for the Ministry’s action, but adds that most shops that operate have not come up with a concrete strategy for navigating the new mandate.

The hostesses, too, are a concern, says Shukan Post: With the soothing smiles of dogs and cats set to fade from the night-life scene, where will the girls turn in search of relief? (A.T.)

Source: “Inu neko shoppu no ‘shinya tenji kinshi’ wo Ginza no hosutesu ni kiitemitara,” Shukan Post (Nov. 18, pages 141-142)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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Wearing jeans and a casual jacket, Tamiko quietly holds three bunches of flowers under the flashing neon lights of Tokyo’s upscale Ginza district. She is one of the last independent flower vendors in this area known for its swank hostess clubs and bars.

“There aren’t that many classy customers who buy flowers anymore,” the 73-year-old tells Shukan Post (Oct. 28).

Tamiko is like a walking encyclopedia for Ginza, having experienced the area’s booms and busts. “There are only three Japanese ladies left selling flowers like this,” she says. “There is also one Korean girl but I haven’t even spoken to her.”

With the other two Japanese ladies not working due to health problems, Shukan Post believes that these flower girls are on the verge of extinction.

Tamiko remembers back to the early days. “In the 1940s, there were 100 girls selling flowers,” she explains. “They would buy flowers from the Shimbashi and Ginza areas and then hit the shops and clubs one by one. It was a really busy time.”

The conventional flower shops appear to be on the same path as the independent girls.

“In the summer, we had the push for energy conservation, so people bought flowers to lighten up,” says a flower shop owner. “But shops and businesses started to close in September.”

Some flower arrangements made especially for the birthday of mama-san at a hostess club or club anniversaries can be priced as high as 100,000 yen. Most of these flowers are actually purchased by other shops and clubs, not the customers who frequent them. But the market is not as it once was.

“Many flowers come from Tohoku,” the same owner says. “The flower farmers are starting to close down their businesses as the demand has declined.”

After World War II, the emergence of fashionable kids who gathered along the district’s Miyuki Street in 1964 — termed the miyuki-zoku — and the opening of the first McDonald’s in 1971 made Ginza the center of hipster culture. It then became the hallmark for high-end night life in the ’90s.

But Japan has faced a prolonged recession after the burst of the bubble economy, and conditions have only worsened since the Great East Japan Earthquake in March.

“Today things are more dead than ever,” Tamiko says. (A.T.)

Source: “Mukashi hyakunin, ima sannin: saigo no hanauri musume,” Shukan Post (Oct. 28, page 134)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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Tokyo’s Yoshiwara district is known as the country’s largest soapland brothel area, offering a plethora of pleasures to please any punter, but exactly once every two months, reports weekly tabloid Shukan Post (Oct. 21), it’s filled with many grinning grandpas game to get it on.

Around the 15th day of even-numbered months, when pension checks are issued, the numerous bathhouses and bordellos that line the rectangular area’s streets become a playground for the Yoshiwara Nenkin-zoku, or the Yoshiwara Pension Tribe.

The magazine believes that this is one example of how the below-the-belt fuzoku industry is targeting the older generation and giving up on younger, more “passive” men, or soshokukei danshi.

“Soaplands that open early remind one of a hospital lobby since they are filled with many older men,” says Akira Ikoma, the editor of a guide to men’s entertainment called Ore no Tabi (My Trip). “That is the case with a place in Ikebukuro, where you can feel-up a gal’s chest. You’ll see many seniors smiling as they enjoy fumbling with their hands.”

Jun Hayakawa, a manager of an out-call aroma therapy service called Precious, located in Ikebukuro, says that his clientele is generally comprised of men in their 50s, but there is also one octogenarian in the bunch. “Many are pension recipients,” the manager explains. “Some are even attempting to sponsor our girls by offering some cash each month, but discourage that kind of thing.”

Aging doesn’t mean that a man will lose his sex drive, Shukan Post assures. Rather, it means that he has more time and maybe a bit of cash — so it’s natural to go have some fun.

Shun Sakai, the owner of the out-call (deri heru) service named Submissive Housewives Living around Tokyu Lines, asks that customers be above 30 years of age. “I myself used to go to fashion health shops in Shibuya but it was uncomfortable,” the manager explains. “Many guys in their 20s will give you cold looks, wondering why a mature person is here to play. It makes it difficult to visit.”

Sakai opened his club six years ago. Ladies are sent to residences or hotels, which allows customers to not meet one another face to face. His clientele breaks down as follows: those in their 30s (5 percent), between 40 and 59 (57 percent), and remainder is represented by those 60 and above, with the highest reaching 75.

The older the customer, the cheaper the rates. For the basic 90-minute course, fees range between 23,000 and 25,000 yen.

Most ladies are in their 30s, which is not standard in Tokyo. “While most men tend to favor 20-year-olds, that is too low for conversation purposes,” Sakai says. “Some also will be concerned that the girls will actually be looking down on them. So, for a temporary date, a mature woman fits better.”

The manager adds that when a lady is bit out of shape it relaxes a man. “We tend to select amateur-looking gals since the image of a professional is not appealing to senior men,” he says.

In fact, a girl was told by a client that her blow-job skills were sub-par. However, this imperfection subsequently made her more appealing.

“The ladies are urban and come with class,” says “Ｉｓａｏ Matsuda,” 64, a regular. “They are kind and full of warmth.”

When a lady arrives at a hotel, she’ll enjoy a chat with the customer for between 30 minutes and an hour. It is a must that he not ask private questions. They’ll then take a bath together.

“It has been five years since I’ve done it with my wife,” says Matsuda. “Since I am releasing my stress via these deri heru gals, I am getting better at becoming more sensitive to my spouse and female colleagues.”

He tells Shukan Post that just prior to the interview he had visited one such establishment.

“I want to go as long as my body allows me,” he smirks. (K.N.)

Source: “Rokuju-sai ijo muke fuzoku gyoretsu no dekiru mise,” Shukan Post (Oct. 21, page 134)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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Several decades ago, most Japanese men wore white briefs (a.k.a. Jockey Shorts). But for various they began falling out of favor with women and their sales plummeted, to about half of what they were at the peak.

Shukan Post (Sep. 16-23), however, reports that since last summer white men’s briefs appear to have made something of a comeback.

“Perhaps the electric power cutbacks were a factor,” says a spokesperson for the Japan subsidiary of B.V.D. “Because beige chinos and other light-colored lightweight slacks were in fashion, dark-colored trunks showed through the material. So demand for white briefs made a comeback again.”

Still, out of concern that white briefs had fallen out of favor with women, most men tended to wear boxer shorts.

That said, lovelorn advice columnist Mikako Kikuchi writes that “The times have changed.” To wit, while an overwhelming majority of females say they don’t particularly like to see men wearing white briefs, the number who now prefer them has increased.

“Women seek ‘security,’” says Kikuchi. Since the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami on March 11, they realized that a man’s income or job position didn’t count for much. Instead, they sought men who had the vitality to survive, even in the wild. And to these women, claims Kikuchi, men wearing white briefs come across as masculine hunks.

“White briefs are easy to become begrimed and spotted, so some guys who wear them are showing confidence in their ability to keep them clean. On the other hand if the guy isn’t concerned about them showing stains, it heightens his masculinity, as a wild, uncivilized type.

“When I meet up with guys in white briefs, I really get turned on!” Kikuchi confesses. (K.S.)

Source: “Josei tachi ga totsuzen hen’i!? ‘Shiro buriifu’ fechi ga fueteru sou na,” Shukan Post (Sep. 16-23, page 158)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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Not far from JR Sendai Station is a hotel that was used as an evacuation center after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March. Yet even now, seven months later, the mood inside its cafe is still rather dark.

Three groups of men in suits are seated, facing one another. One member casts a stern glance over at a reporter for weekly tabloid Shukan Post (Oct. 14). “Don’t make eye contact as they will likely start something,” says a local construction company employee. “This place is becoming a yakuza hangout.”

The commissioner general of the National Police Agency, Takaharu Ando, has stepped up measures to eliminate boryokudan activities, but he will have his work cut out for him in Tohoku, where gang groups are flocking to the area and the estimated 23-trillion yen in reconstruction work set to take place over the next decade.

“For many years, yakuza groups have been involved in reconstruction projects that follow disasters,” explains the same construction company employee. “They will have companies they back join the bids or rip off the contractors that get the work.”

But those groups seen staying at this hotel are not local, the source adds, rather they are from Nagoya.

Nagoya is the base for Kodo-kai, an affiliate of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest criminal organization. The Aichi prefectural police are currently collecting information and monitoring Kodo-kai activities.

After the earthquake, there were cases of unidentified groups distributing envelopes containing cash totaling 30,000 yen to evacuees at centers in Minami Sanriku and Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture. To prevent inequality, evacuation centers asked that donations be made to the center and distributed thereafter. That idea was refused, but the total amount reached around 50,000,000 yen.

“The police looked into the case and found that the Kodo-kai was involved,” says a local newspaper reporter. “By providing money, yakuza gangs are seeking to gain trust. While the enforcement has become more strict, the money for rebuilding is appealing. As a matter of fact, it is said that the company that won the bid to clean up the mess in the Sanriku area is said to be a front company of a yakuza group.”

The police appear to be taking the situation seriously. During a meeting in May with various chiefs of detectives from around the country, Ando said, “Yakuza involvement in the rebuilding process cannot be permitted.”

However, a crackdown has not begun. What they can do, according to a reporter from a local paper, is “disclose the names of companies that have relationships with yakuza.”

Yet it won’t be easy. Yakuza advances in business go beyond infrastructure work. It is said that they are also after the low-interest loans, which can reach a maximum of 200,000 yen, that the government has extended to victims who lost their homes. The sex shops shops that reopened right after the earthquake were allegedly due to such lending.

The article concludes on an ominous note, citing a reason for the lack of action to this point being due to the mixed relationship between the police and yakuza. “These are small communities, and they tend to hang out together,” says the previously quoted construction company employee. “Just because the police chief suddenly initiates an anti-yakuza crackdown it doesn’t necessarily mean that much.” (A.T.)

Source: “Shinsai fukko jigyo 23-cho yen ni muragaru boryokudan tachi,” Shukan Post (Oct. 14, page 54)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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Included in a series of articles inside Shukan Post (Oct. 7) discussing the complete power the Ministry of Finance (MOF) wields over Japan is a sidebar that explains that trips to an infamous restaurant in Tokyo’s Kabukicho red-light district over a decade ago were just the tip of the iceberg as far as the illicit entertainment of bureaucrats.

In the late ’90s, sexually-charged entertainment for MOF bureaucrats came in two forms. Widely known was that which was sponsored by bankers assigned to the ministry, but what few realized was that other members within the Kasumigaseki community also acted as hosts.

“The other ministries were in search budgetary allotments,” says a retired ministry official. “Those ministries would send someone who went to the same university in the same year as MOF officials for hard night out on the town.”

Entertainment costs were paid by corporations that a particular ministry oversees. The erotic arrangements were similar to that of what the banks offered, with reports of ventures to the now-defunct Loulan no-pan shabu-shabu restaurant in Kabukicho, where hostesses served without underpants, eventually becoming symbolic of government excess at the time. (For a list of members from various ministries and public corporations who dined at Loulan check this site.)

But more extreme entertainment happened elsewhere, Shukan Post assures. “High-ranking MOF officials enjoyed the Mukojima district the best,” says a former banker. “Since it is a bit outside of the center of the city, many high-end ryotei establishments were able to deliver sex services. It was something of a ritual for younger MOF officials to wind up making out with geishas in their early 20s and also engage in dancing and drinking. Within 10 minutes of entry, everyone was naked.”

It was common to go one or two other places thereafter and even prepare hotel rooms, with the end result being expenditures of 10 million yen a night.

The article also includes a glossary of MOF slang commonly used, such as zabuton (ざぶとん), or pillow, which is a company you will be transferring to upon retirement, to further illustrate that their lifestyle tended to be rather cushy.

Rest assured, MOF officials also assumed the role of hosts, such as for when they wanted to tame a group of journalists from leading television stations and newspapers.

“While we didn’t go to premier restaurants,” a former writer says, “they bought our dinner at a restaurant inside their dormitories. They also had beer and whiskey on the rocks when we visited their offices after 5 p.m.”

Has anything changed since? Shukan Post is doubtful. (A.T.)

Source: “No-pan-shabushabu wa jono-kuchi datta zenra no elite tachi no inbi na sekai,” Shukan Post (Oct. 7, page 42-43)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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There have been very few upbeat stories emerging from the Tohoku area following the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11. However, weekly tabloid Shukan Post (July 22-29), happily reports that the region’s only porn theater, in Ishinomaki, Miyagi, Prefecture, reopened for business on June 20.

The two-screen Ishinomaki Nikkatsu Pearl Cinema has 260 seats and was heavily damaged by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Yet in spite of resuming operations, it is not exactly business as usual.

A man in his 60s who visited the cinema early in July tells Shukan Post, “While I heard about the reopening from a friend, I came here to actually to confirm that as the schedule was not appearing in the newspaper. I was worried, but I am so delighted that it has reopened.”

According to the patron, the schedule typically appears three times a month in the local Ishinomaki Kahoku newspaper. However, no ad has appeared since the reopening. “The owner told me that ads were rejected,” the man says.

A person in the ad department at the Ishinomaki Kahohu explains, with a bit of sadness: “We are refraining from listing titles of such films. It is not appropriate to list them along with obituaries.”

The owner of the cinema is 84-year-old Tahei Kiyono, who handles the day-to-day operations entirely himself — from taking the tickets to the actual film projection. He has been placing ads in the paper for the last three decades. “I understand the situation,” says Kiyono. “The titles are too provocative. What are we showing now? ‘Beautiful Ass Ecstasy: The Pleasure Hole in the Afternoon 美尻エクスタシー 白昼の穴快楽’ and three others.”

There used to be five adult cinemas in Ishinomaki, but the Nikkatsu Pearl is the only one remaining. “When ‘roman porno’” — a genre of adult films made by the Nikkatsu studio between 1971 and 1988 that emphasized somewhat broad story lines to go with the erotic activities unfolding atop the tatami — “was in it’s golden era, most towns with commercial areas had adult cinemas,” Kiyono says. “Now this cinema is the only one left in Tohoku. I have a sense of duty to continue operating.”

The proprietor was at the cinema on March 11, when the tsunami sent mud flowing inside its doors. All the films stored on the first floor were completely destroyed. The projection machine on the second floor, however, was not damaged.

“I thought about closing the cinema,” he says. “But then I started to think about reopening and began cleaning up. Volunteers who were here helped me, too.”

When Nikkatsu shifted its focus to the roman porno genre in the early 1970s, the Nikkatsu Pearl converted its building from a single 400-seat theater to the current two-screen arrangement. Kiyono seems fond of those days, invoking the title of a famous Nikkatsu yakuza film “Otoko no Monsho,” from 1963 and starring actor Hideki Takahashi, to summarize his feelings for his work.

“It is a real ‘emblem of manhood,’” he says. (A.T.)

Source: “Kokoku kyohi ni mo megenai poruno eigakan ro-oonaa otoko no kunsho,” Shukan Post (July 22-29, page 144)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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