Deep in Japan

Note: This episode originally aired in November 2021. My guest today is Motoyuki Shibata, one of Japan’s most celebrated translators of American literature and a hugely important figure in the world of literary exchange between Japan and the English-speaking world. Shibata is Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo, an essayist, editor, scholar, and award-winning translator whose work has he...

This week, Jeff and Trevor return from the wilderness with tales of Oregon, AI disco bangers, bear attacks, workplace shorts, maruhara, tokuryu, and Saitama crimes so dumb they may qualify as performance art. It’s Japan news, expat brain damage, and podcast self-sabotage — all lovingly sealed inside one neon-lit convenience-store parking lot. Oh, and... >> CHECK OUT THE ALL-NEW DEEP IN JAPAN...

Episode 92 begins with a clerical apocalypse: Jeff and Trevor discover they are not on Episode 91 after all, but Episode 92, meaning the long-promised Episode 100 is now both closer and somehow less reachable than ever. The show immediately collapses into a metaphysical audit of its own existence. Episodes are too long. Files are too large. Transistor is too expensive. Spotify is the new economy b...

In this episode, we sit down with writer, translator, martial artist, and long-time Japan resident Robert R. Gray to talk about his wonderful little book, Whispers of the Departed —a collection of samurai death poems (辞世, jisei) paired with glimpses into the lives of the people who wrote them. From impermanence and acceptance to emptiness and transcendence, the conversation explores what people...

This year, we celebrated the Emperor’s Birthday with a Happy Hour. From the Imperial Household to underground heroes, from banned words to ghost-town virality, this episode has a little something for everyone. We get into the “Naru-chan Kenpo” and how Emperor Naruhito was raised, Japan’s ever-evolving list of broadcast “NG” words, and the country’s real-life superheroes patrolling the streets with...

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. James D.J. Brown , Professor of Political Science at Temple University’s Japan Campus and one of the leading experts on Russo-Japanese relations. His research focuses on the history and geopolitics between Japan and Russia, including territorial disputes, diplomacy, and security issues in Northeast Asia. We discuss his new book, Cracking the Crab: Russian Espiona...

In this episode, we sit down with Zach Mathis —now commonly known in Japan as Tanaka Zakku —a cybersecurity expert with over two decades of experience working in Japan. Zach recently chose to relinquish his American citizenship and naturalize as a Japanese citizen. When he announced it on Twitter, the post exploded, racking up almost 6 million views. What was surprising wasn't just the reach, but...

In this episode, Jay and Trey are joined by special guest Mythic Weeb James Hatheway for a three-hour tour de force through the green room of modern Japan—covering, among other things: The Japanese naturalization process  The myth of Japan's “ancient” tradition of Hatsumode The Sankebetsu brown bear incident The rise of a very small online “Bear Slayer" movement , devotees of lo-fi aesthetics, spe...

In this episode, we walk the streets of Japan with Tom Gill —anthropologist, longtime Japan resident, and one of the most clear-eyed observers of the country’s marginalized communities. Gill is best known for his decades of fieldwork among day laborers, the homeless, and the urban poor , particularly in places like Tokyo’s San’ya district. Rather than studying Japan from a distance or through offi...

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! -J and Trey TRACK LIST:  [0:00:00] 01. クリスマス・イブ / 山下達郎 (Tatsuro Yamashita) [0:03:24] 02. クリスマスキャロルの頃には / 稲垣潤一 (Junichi Inagaki) [0:07:24] 03. 悲しみは雪のように(1992 single) / 浜田 省吾 (Shogo Hamada) [0:10:58] 04. X'masがいっぱい / 工藤静香 (Shizuka Kudo) [0:14:17] 05. Snow Lie / 岩崎良美 (Yoshimi Iwasaki) [0:17:31] 06. クリスマ...

Jay and Trey are at it again! This week, we investigate why Japanese parks are becoming "no-fun zones" with draconian bans on ball games—is the country waging a war on its own children? We also dive into the "Ultimate Waifu" politician Kimi Onoda, and the latest stats showing Japan’s English proficiency plummeting to new lows. And last but certainly not least—the big reveal—Trevor's got a new "Num...

Please consider supporting us —every little bit helps keep the podcast going. And be sure to join the conversation on X (formerly Twitter) @DogePunk2077 and Facebook . For all inquiries, you can reach us at deep.in.japan.podcast@gmail.com . Outro: Now or Never by ISSUGI Thank you. 

Pour yourself a Strong Zero and strap in. This week’s Happy Hour is a fever dream that starts with public displays of 2D affection and ends with a map of bears and suspicious people in Gifu. We cover the rising price of rice (and the rise of "Pasta Japan"), the legal ramifications of calling your coworker "-chan," and why Tommy Lee Jones is the greatest alien to ever sell canned coffee. Plus, we t...

In this powerful and far-reaching conversation, we sit down with Brian Daizen Victoria , Zen priest, historian, and author of the landmark work Zen War Stories . Internationally recognized for exposing the entanglement of Japanese Buddhism with wartime ideology, Victoria has spent decades examining the darker, more complicated intersections of religion, nationalism, and violence. But his scholarsh...

When genetically-modified bears start targeting foreigners, Jay and Trey load up the Bear Plow —a weaponized Mustang straight out of a fever dream—and hit the road to save Japan. Between the gunfire and snowdrifts we dig into everything that made this strange future possible: Japanese jazz-funk on dusty vinyl, forgotten mecha, flower-power hard-rock, and the very real rise in bear attacks across t...

In this philosophically unhinged episode, Jeff and Trevor fire up the nozzle and let it spray. From the euphoric delusion of “god mode” to the cosmic absurdity of heaven and hell, the boys spiral into deep reflection on meaning, mortality, and the strange comfort of digital immortality. Things only get weirder when they dive into Ghost of Yōtei — part samurai saga, part therapy session — before cr...

This week, Jeff and Trevor tumble down a matcha ice cream–soaked rabbit hole of Japan news, global oddities, and nonsense that somehow connects (like conspiracy yarn on a corkboard… but stickier, and with more Strong Zero). Man Marries AI Chatbot Asahi reports that we’ve officially crossed into sci-fi territory: a man in Japan has tied the knot with an AI chatbot. What does this mean for love, tec...

Anne Crescini returns to the podcast to open up about one of the most personal and difficult parts of her life in Japan: raising children caught between cultures.  Anne and her husband are both American, but their kids were born and raised in Japan. On the surface, they were “fully Western,” yet in the classroom and in society, they were constantly marked as different. That tension led to deep ide...

Originally aired in February 2024, this episode features Anne Crescini, an American-born linguist who had recently acquired Japanese nationality. Anne shares the story of what it meant to become a naturalized Japanese citizen, the identity shifts that came with it, and the unexpected backlash she faced on Twitter. From love of country to questions of belonging, nationalism, and social media outrag...

In this episode of Deep in Japan , I sit down with Marshal Hughes, author of Rural Reflections: What 11 Years in Provincial Japan Taught Me . His book offers a vivid and heartfelt portrait of rural Japanese life, capturing the charm, the challenges, and the cultural surprises of teaching and living in communities far from the neon glow of Tokyo. Our conversation goes beyond the pages of his book,...

⚠️ Trigger Warning : This episode will almost certainly offend you. If you possess even a shred of conventional morality or a functioning conscience, for the sake of your own health and sanity, you may want to skip it. This week, Jeff and Trevor plunge headfirst into the neon abyss of the Goon Cave, armed with nothing but questionable translations, half-finished cocktails, and a deep suspicion of...

Originally aired in January 2025, this episode of Deep in Japan features my conversation with investigative journalist Jake Adelstein about his book The Last Yakuza . The book follows Makoto Saigo, a half-American, half-Japanese man whose failed rock star dreams led him into the world of the yakuza. Through Saigo’s story, Jake explores the history, codes, and brutal realities of Japan’s underworld...

Originally released in May 2022, this episode features my conversation with author and investigative journalist Jake Adelstein about his book Tokyo Vice and the hit TV series it inspired. As the first American reporter assigned to the crime beat at Japan’s largest newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun , Jake pulls back the curtain on the yakuza, systemic corruption, and the hidden side of Japanese societ...

Summary: The episode is an unscripted, free-flowing conversation that moves between light personal stories and heavier social commentary. It opens with anecdotes about a family trip to Sado Island and musings on the challenges of learning Japanese, then widens into discussion of rising anti-foreigner sentiment in Japan, often linked to economic strain and overtourism. The hosts explore recent poli...

This is Part 2 of a two-part series with historian and Sōtō Zen priest Brian Daizen Victoria, discussing his groundbreaking book Zen Terror in Prewar Japan . In this episode, we dive deeper into the unsettling reality that Zen—often romanticized as a path of peace and detachment—was, in 1930s Japan, deeply entangled with ultranationalist ideology and acts of domestic terrorism. Through the story o...