by Deep in Japan
A hodgepodge of guest interviews, personal narratives, recent news, history, and Japan-related memes and cultural phenomena. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/deepinjapan. Deep in Japan is an independent, crowd-funded project - so every yen helps keep it alive and kicking! Got something to say? Catch me deep.in.japan.podcast@gmail.com Thanks for listening!
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Publishing Since
4/28/2025
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June 29, 2026
<p><strong>Note: This episode originally aired in November 2021.<br></strong><br></p><p>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.</p><p>Shibata is Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo, an essayist, editor, scholar, and award-winning translator whose work has helped introduce generations of Japanese readers to some of the most distinctive voices in American fiction. Over the course of his career, he has translated writers such as Paul Auster, Steven Millhauser, Stuart Dybek, Rebecca Brown, Brian Evenson, Kelly Link, Laird Hunt, Thomas Pynchon, and many others. His translations are not simply acts of linguistic conversion; they are literary performances in their own right, helping expand what contemporary Japanese prose can sound like.</p><p>He is also central to the story of MONKEY, the Japanese literary journal he runs, and MONKEY: New Writing from Japan, its English-language offspring. Through MONKEY, Shibata has helped create a lively bridge between Japanese and international literary worlds, bringing together fiction, essays, poetry, manga, translation, and conversations across cultures.</p><p>In this conversation, we talk about his life in translation, the writers who shaped him, the philosophy behind his work, and the pleasure and difficulty of carrying literature from one language into another. We also get into MONKEY, his role as an editor and curator of contemporary writing, and some more personal reflections on reading, travel, language, and the life behind the work.</p><p>It was a real honor to speak with someone who has done so much to open doors between Japanese and American literature, and I’m very happy to bring this conversation back to listeners.</p>
June 6, 2026
<p><strong>OMG </strong>— <a href="https://deepinjapanpodcast.com/">CHECK OUT THE ALL-NEW DEEP IN JAPAN PODCAST WEBSITE</a></p><p><strong>Saitama / Crime Stories</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.nippon.com/ja/news/yjj2026052100463/">偽の覆面パトカーで飲酒運転か＝危険運転致傷容疑で男逮捕―事故起こし発覚・警視庁</a></li><li><a href="https://www.shimotsuke.co.jp/articles/-/1349610">偽の覆面パトカーで重傷事故｜飲酒危険運転疑い男逮捕、警視庁</a></li><li><a href="https://www.saitama-np.co.jp/articles/3425/postDetail">コンビニ強盗、容疑の男逮捕</a></li></ul><p><strong>Tokuryu / New Organized Crime</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.npa.go.jp/hakusyo/r06/pdf/02_tokushu.pdf">令和6年版 警察白書 特集：匿名・流動型犯罪グループ (NPA)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/kurashi/tokushu/keishicho_tokuryu/tokuryu/">警視庁 匿名・流動型犯罪グループ対策本部</a></li><li><a href="https://www.gov-online.go.jp/article/202510/tv-6178.html">匿名・流動型犯罪グループ対策 (gov-online)</a></li><li><a href="https://apnews.com/article/japan-gangsters-yakuza-crime-fdb57ffd2325fb3aba8c211a30b6c861">As Japan's yakuza weakens, police focus shifts to loosely organized crime groups (AP)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/10/tokuryu-japan-criminals-yakuza-ntwnfb">Tokuryū, the shadowy criminal groups taking over from yakuza in Japan (Guardian)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/05/26/japan/crime-legal/evolving-tokuryu-gang-groups/">Evolving tokuryu gang groups test Japan's policing strategy (Japan Times)</a></li></ul><p><strong>Bear Attacks in Japan</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.env.go.jp/nature/choju/effort/effort12/effort12.html">クマに関する各種情報・取組 (環境省)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.env.go.jp/nature/choju/effort/effort12/injury-qe.pdf">クマ類による人身被害について（速報値）(環境省 PDF)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nippon.com/ja/japan-data/h02784/">クマ出没件数、25年度は5万件突破 (nippon.com)</a></li><li><a href="https://apnews.com/article/japan-bear-attack-fukushima-factory-injuries-cull-75c7cd5775909823274496585e72d2eb">A bear injures 4 people in a residential area of Japan as attacks rise (AP)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/05/bear-attacked-four-people-japan-missing-at-large">'Extremely intelligent' Japanese bear that attacked four people still at large (Guardian)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/japan-bear-attack-fukushima-l0dm7kc7h">Japan launches bear hunt after unusually bold attacks in Fukushima (Times)</a></li></ul><p><strong>Cool Biz / Shorts at Work</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.env.go.jp/press/press_04384.html">令和８年度クールビズについて (環境省)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/24/tokyo-workers-asked-to-swap-suits-for-shorts-to-combat-energy-costs-and-heat">Tokyo workers encouraged to wear shorts to cut energy costs (Guardian)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/06/01/japan/tokyo-wants-work-shorts/">Tokyo wants you to wear shorts to work. Say no. (Japan Times)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/japan-tokyo-cool-biz-climate-change-office-attire-7bclgv9kx">Tokyo orders office workers to wear shorts to keep cool (Times)</a></li></ul><p><strong>Maruhara / Punctuation Harassment</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2024/04/02/language/period-harassment-maruhara-japanese-work-culture/">Japanese punctuation mark becomes latest symbol of workplace harassment (Japan Times)</a></li><li><a href="https://mainichi.jp/maisho15/articles/20240302/dbg/048/040/010000c">「マルハラ」って何？ (毎日新聞)</a></li></ul><p><strong>Manga / Anime Piracy Crackdown</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.theverge.com/tech/870643/bato-manga-piracy-site-shut-down">One of the biggest manga piracy networks has been shut down (Verge)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/japan-looks-to-ai-in-crusade-against-manga-piracy-bcp9tps8x">Japan looks to AI in crusade against manga piracy (Times)</a></li></ul><p><strong>Enjoying the show? </strong> </p><p><a href="https://www.patreon.com/DeepinJapan76">Consider supporting us</a>. Every little bit helps keep this magnificent shitshow lurching forward. And while you’re at it, join the conversation over on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/deepinjapan">Facebook</a>, and follow us on X/Twitter at <a href="https://x.com/DogePunk2077">@DogePunk2077</a>.</p><p>For inquiries, complaints, spiritual confessions, legal threats, guest pitches, or reasonably coherent messages, you may be able to reach us at <a href="mailto:deep.in.japan.podcast@gmail.com">deep.in.japan.podcast@gmail.com</a>. Then again, you may not. Show supporters, naturally, jump the queue—so if you’re one of the blessed few, The Chosen, be sure to mention that at the top of your message for maximal response potential.</p><p>Finally, if you enjoyed the <a href="https://suno.com/s/9nMIfnwUAhbic1c5">musical outro</a> and want more Deep in Japan-adjacent sonic nonsense, check out Jeff’s amazing <a href="https://suno.com/playlist/50d4cd0b-10fa-47ac-9a08-36e50df8317d">SUNO page</a>. </p><p><strong>Thanks for listening! </strong></p><p><br></p>
April 26, 2026
<p>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 bunker. Deezer remains preserved like a sacred shrine for the seven remaining listeners, each of whom is assumed to be either a monk, a bot, or James Hathaway.</p><p><br></p><p>Then, against all odds, actual commerce occurs. Miho has made international Deep in Japan merch possible, Mythic Weeb James becomes the first customer, and Trevor unveils a design so volatile it may require both a fashion disclaimer and a police escort. This sends the hosts into a sukajan-shaped wormhole of Yokosuka jackets, bomber nostalgia, imperial ghosts, American military aesthetics, right-wing cosplay, and the eternal question: is wearing politically explosive kanji in Japan hilarious, suicidal, or merely good branding?</p><p><br></p><p>From there, the episode achieves its natural Deep in Japan state: one topic mutates into another until the original premise has been legally declared missing. 尊王攘夷 becomes kanji literacy. Kanji literacy becomes man-on-the-street content. Man-on-the-street content becomes Osaka homeless YouTube. Osaka homeless YouTube becomes koans in the kōen. The kōen becomes One Cup. One Cup becomes Strong Zero. Strong Zero becomes a grand unified conspiracy theory involving patriarchy, declining birthrates, and possibly Abe-era beverage policy. Then, inconveniently, the hosts discover there is a real-world alcohol policy angle involving Japan’s 2024 drinking guidelines and the quiet retreat of 12–13% chūhai from polite society.</p><p><br></p><p>The first great news relic is the Shibuya Scramble fire guy: a man from Nagoya who allegedly set fire to a cardboard sign at the crossing, turned himself in, and reportedly described the act as a protest against “the current state of Japan.” Jeff and Trevor are less interested in the fire than in the communications failure. If you ignite cardboard at the world’s most famous intersection and nobody can summarize your manifesto, have you protested, or merely littered with combustion?</p><p><br></p><p>The middle section becomes a museum of Japanese weird-news objects: the dogeza volleyball player, the Saitama pipe/sinkhole imagination chamber, ChatGPT language-bleed errors, the naked Saitama rampage, RocketNews/SoraNews as a content-generating organism, a Dogo Onsen Lawson camouflaged for historical respectability, and the immortal TENGA insect-repellent collaboration. The TENGA segment becomes a reluctant MBA seminar on brand normalization: at what point can a company famous for adult products place a bright red TENGA-shaped mosquito repellent in your home and allow you to say, with a straight face, “No, no, this is for bugs”?</p><p><br></p><p>After coffee, the fever cools into something dangerously close to substance. Jeff and Trevor talk recording tools, Zoom avatars, VTuber futures, Adobe hatred, and the misery of video editing before landing on the Kyoto ALT strike and the long erosion of ALT working conditions. Jeff’s own ALT past gives the section some ballast: dispatch English teaching is framed as a system where the “Japan experience” is increasingly used as emotional currency to justify bad pay, unstable contracts, and the slow grinding-down of people who came looking for meaning and found paperwork.</p><p><br></p><p>That turns naturally into Japanese study: Kanzen Master, particles, Anki, Manabi Reader, OCR, tiny-font Japanese books, and the dream of an AI-powered custom reader that gives instant lookup, repetition, and mercy. The larger point: intermediate and advanced Japanese is where the grammar charts stop saving you, the particles begin laughing at you, and progress becomes less about rules than exposure, bruising, rhythm, and vibes.</p><p><br></p><p>The legal and political center of the episode is Japan’s new post-divorce joint custody framework. Jeff broadly supports reform, but complicates the familiar “left-behind foreign father” story with a personal anecdote about interviewing someone whose later behavior made the custody narrative feel much less clean. The section ends in the proper DIJ shade of gray: reform is necessary, but family courts still have to separate alienated parents from people who may, in fact, be kept away for very good reasons.</p><p><br></p><p>The final hour becomes a pachinko machine filled with geopolitics, parasites, theme parks, and municipal shame: crows attacking the Rapunzel animatronic at Tokyo DisneySea, Disney hatred, gas prices, Iran, Japan’s dependence on the U.S., Takaichi, China and Taiwan anxiety, Article 9, Artemis II as the thing humanity should probably care about more, overtourism, tourist defecation lore, Anisakis parasite pens, micro-crimes, mystery incidents, UV ninja parkas, Oregon steakhouse inflation, Asahi’s school future, and haccoba’s insect-poop sake.</p><p><br></p><p>It closes, as all respectable cultural analysis should, with a proposed tourist itinerary: eat Anisakis sushi, wear a ninja mask, buy gasoline, set nothing on fire at Shibuya Crossing, and remember that Japanese police may arrest you, but they will not do your PR. Other possible titles include:</p><a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/DeepInJapanPodcast?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=4483922682&from_page=listing">Miho Made Merch</a>, Japan Made Mayhem<br><a href="https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20260404_06/">Koans at the Kōen</a><br><a href="https://soranews24.com/2026/03/30/japanese-masturbatory-aid-and-insect-repellent-companies-collab-on-a-new-product/">The TENGA Mosquito Repellent Episode</a><br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/r1tsxkwhAb4">Rapunzel, Crows, and the Collapse of Civilization</a><br><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Adobe/comments/1diz1cl/why_is_adobe_the_worst_and_most_frustrating/">Adobe Must Fall</a>, Deezer Must Live<br><a href="https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260324/p2a/00m/0na/009000c">Dispatch ALTs</a> and Insect-Poop Sake<br><a href="https://soranews24.com/2026/04/03/japans-prime-minister-exchanges-dragon-ball-kamehamehas-with-president-of-francevideo/">Kamehameha & Other Aisatsu Solutions</a><br><a href="https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20260404_06/">The Shibuya Manifesto (Nobody Read)</a><br>One Cup, Strong Zero, and Article 9<br><a href="https://soranews24.com/2026/04/06/japans-full-facemask-ninja-parka-still-lets-you-eat-ice-creamphotos/">Ninja Masks</a>, <a href="https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASV1G2RZHV1GUTJF001M.html">Parasite Pens</a>, and <a href="https://soranews24.com/2026/03/30/japanese-masturbatory-aid-and-insect-repellent-companies-collab-on-a-new-product/">Other Tourist Essentials</a><br><a href="https://mustsharenews.com/japan-naked-cram-school/">Saitama Never Disappoints</a><br><a href="https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16424915">Takaichi Turns Down Donny</a><br><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/01/japan-allows-divorced-couples-to-negotiate-joint-custody-of-children-for-first-time?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Love your kids? Don't divorce. </a><br><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/06/japan-cherry-blossom-festival-cancelled-tourists?utm_source=chatgpt.com">No Cherry Blossoms for You!</a> <br><a href="https://soranews24.com/2026/03/30/japan-now-sells-sake-made-with-moth-poop/">Turning Shit Into Sake</a><br>The Episode That Refused to End<p><strong>Request for Support:</strong></p><p>Enjoying the show? <a href="https://www.patreon.com/DeepinJapan76">Consider supporting us</a>—every little bit helps keep this shitshow of a podcast going. Oh, and make sure to join the conve...</p>
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A hodgepodge of guest interviews, personal narratives, recent news, history, and Japan-related memes and cultural phenomena.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/deepinjapan. Deep in Japan is an independent, crowd-funded project - so every yen helps keep it alive and kicking!
Got something to say? Catch me deep.in.japan.podcast@gmail.com
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