Japanese tabloid newspapers and weekly magazines excel at jolting their readers with horrendous, bizarre, crude or sleazy stories. Weekly magazines, known as Shukan and ubiquitous in convenience stores specialise in this kind of audience. The Mainichi Daily News has translated these articles in English for a long time, which it kept in a category called the WaiWai lane (discontinued in 2008). The best stories have been complied in a book that is warmly recommended if you wish to know the dark side of Japan. It may take you time to recover and see Japan positively afterwards. You've been warned. Here are the books.


Tokyo Confidential: Titillating Tales From Japan's Wild Weeklies, by Mark Schreiber



On Amazon Japan
On Amazon UK
On Amazon USA


For related but more specific topics, like the hostessing industry or the Yakuza, I recommend these books.


Tokyo Underworld: The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan, by Robert Whiting



On Amazon Japan
On Amazon UK
On Amazon USA

Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, by Jake Adelstein



On Amazon Japan
On Amazon UK
On Amazon USA


Tokyo Hostess : Inside the Shocking World of Tokyo Nightclub Hostessing, by Clare Campbell



On Amazon Japan
On Amazon UK