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Japan, explained through Japanese sources.

Beyond the surface of religion, crime, the underworld, society, and law.

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Cults & New Religions

Japanese law has no category for cults, and Komeito is constitutional. What the Soka Gakkai controversy is actually about — examined through Japanese primary sources.

18 sources reviewed18 min read

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Five research areas

01

Cults & New Religions

Belief, power, recruitment, and the place of new religions in modern Japan.

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The Underworld

Organized crime, illicit economies, and the institutions built around them.

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Crimes & Cases

Major criminal cases examined through court records, contemporaneous reporting, and the social conditions that produced them.

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Society

The pressures, exclusions, and demographic changes shaping everyday life.

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Justice & Law

Policing, courts, punishment, and the legal debates behind the headlines.

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How the record is built

  1. Read in Japanese

    Reporting, books, judgments, government records, and official statistics.

  2. Separate evidence from allegation

    Each claim is identified by its evidentiary status.

  3. Show the record

    Principal sources are listed in every article.

Read our editorial method →