Hikikomori

Carlos Ghosn was for quite some time one of the most powerful and influence people in the global automotive industry. His success at Nissan came at the cost of tens of thousands of jobs, brutal cost-cutting measures and the alienation of Japanese workers from a Japanese company. Today we look at this asshole's rise to power.

Today's guest is Hannah Lane! You can find her via her Instagram page, and she is also the co-host of our horror movie review podcast that we do together, Not Another Film podcast.

For more content follow me on @hikikomoripodcast on Instagram where I'll be posting photos relevant to this episode!

You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen to my other podcasts Final Fanservice and Not Another Film on any big podcast app.

Sources:

• Biography on Ghosn's website
• Notable Biographies
• Renault Spy Scandal
• BBC Storyville - The Last Flight
• Arrest of Taylors
• Ghosn talks of Escape from Japan
• Ghosn hopes France will Clear Him

Shugendō is a religion practiced in Japan since as early as the 7th century, and involves severe asceticism as a form of worship and spiritual development. While most of this involves mountain climbing, some of the more enterprising monks in the past 1000 years have taken to the attempt to preserve their physical form my mummifying themselves while they are still alive.

Today's guest is Tony Srimongka! You can find him via his Twitter page!

For more content follow me on @hikikomoripodcast on Instagram where I'll be posting photos relevant to this episode!

You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen to my other podcasts Final Fanservice and Not Another Film on any big podcast app.

Sources:

• Ask a Mortician - Caitlin Dougherty
• Atlas Obscura - Sokushinbutsu
• Mummipedia - Tetsumonkai
• Religious Rituals in Shugendo - Miyake Hitoshi
• SoraNews24 - Takigyo
• Senshu Tourism
• Wikipedia - Shinbutsu Bunri
• Wikipedia - Sokushinbutsu
• Trip Advisor - Shipporyuji Review
• Japan Today - Sogen Kato
• BBC News - Sogen Kato
• BBC News - Fusa Furuya
• Wikipedia - Sogen Kato

We continue our exploration of Hideaki Anno's life and career, looking at his mind-state during Evangelion, the crash of his mental health afterwards, and the return to creating some of the most successful and influential Japanese art of the last 25 years.

Today's guest is Kym Stonick! You can find her on Twitter @kymcattys, and all of her wonderful content can be found on her bio.

You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen to my other podcasts Final Fanservice and Not Another Film on any big podcast app.

Sources:

• Biography of Anno on Khara's website
• Biography of Anno on TV Tropes
• MPEG 1996 Interview
• Anno and Miyazaki talk in Morocco
• Anno talks to Sex Workers
• Extra Curricular Lesson with Hideaki Anno
• Wikipedia

Hideaki Anno is one of the most well-known and successful Japanese directors, whose influence on the anime industry since the 80s has been far-reaching and consequential. Today we look at his early career, before the launch of the phenomenon that was Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Today's guest is Kym Stonick! You can find her on Twitter @kymcattys, and all of her wonderful content can be found on her bio.

You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen to my other podcasts Final Fanservice and Not Another Film on any big podcast app.

Sources:

• Biography of Anno on Khara's website
• Biography of Anno on TV Tropes
• DAICON III opening animation
• DAICON IV opening animation
• Anno calls Miyazaki a "Geezer" - SoraNews24
• Wikipedia

On the last day of the year 2000, the 31st December, Japan awoke to one of the most horrific murder scenes in modern times. What made the family annihilation truly terrifying is that it has never been solved.

Today's guest is Nika Howard! You can find her on Twitter @nika_howard, and all of her wonderful content can be found on her Linktree Page.

For more content follow me on @hikikomoripodcast on Instagram where I'll be posting photos relevant to this episode!

You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen to my other podcasts Final Fanservice and Not Another Film on any big podcast app.

Sources:

• Guardian article from the incident
• Reddit thread with resources
• ASKA Casebook
• Medium summary of the case
• Nikkei photos inside the house
• Nikkei video footage of inside the house on YouTube
• Asahi Shimbun 20 year anniversary of the murders
• Japanese Wikipedia page of the incident

Following the the Asama-Sansō Incident, the revolutionary movement in Japan was utterly finished. However, for Fusako Shigenobu and the Japanese Red Army, the fight for International Communism had only just begun.

Working out of Beirut, the few dozen radicals carried out some of the most well-known terrorist attacks in history, starting with the extremely bloody Lod Airport Massacre in 1972...

Today's guest is the editor of the show Steph Kingston! You can find her via her Twitter page, or listen to her excellent podcasts, including Love to Hate!

For more content follow me on @hikikomoripodcast on Instagram where I'll be posting photos relevant to this episode!

You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen to my other podcasts Final Fanservice and Not Another Film on any big podcast app.

Sources:

• Encyclopedia.com - Fusako Shigenobu
• Mainichi Shimbun - Interview with Okamoto
• NBC - Carlos the Jackal on Trial
• Aljazeera - Interview with May Shigenobu
• Japanese Wikipedia - Japanese Red Army
• Wikipedia - The Lod Airport Massacre

In February 1972, the United Red Army, a radical far-left organisation, carried out a violent purge of its own members for seemingly-inscrutable reasons. What followed was a hostage situation and police siege that lasted 8 days and changed the course of Japanese socialism, the media and... cup noodles.

Today's guest is the editor of the show Steph Kingston! You can find her via her Twitter page, or listen to her excellent podcasts, including Love to Hate!

For more content follow me on @hikikomoripodcast on Instagram where I'll be posting photos relevant to this episode!

You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen to my other podcasts Final Fanservice and Not Another Film on any big podcast app.

Sources:

• Throw Out your Books - Takaya Shiomi
• Throw Out your Books - the Asama-Sanso Incident
• BBC Witness History
• Red Army Videos - footage of the event
• Wikipedia - Hiroko Nagata

Babies. Can't live with 'em... etc. Japan is frequently seen as the poster child for modern societies that have given up on propagating their own population through reproduction. What's the truth to this? Has Japan become a nation of virgin NEETs who refuse to fuck for the sake of their country?

Today's guest is Bridget! You can find her on Twitter @Briget_suckit, and take a listen to her fantastic podcasts, Sex With Ghosts and The Gossier!

For more content follow me on @hikikomoripodcast on Instagram where I'll be posting photos relevant to this episode!

You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen to my other podcasts Final Fanservice and Not Another Film on any big podcast app.

Sources:

• World Bank - population data
• World Bank - Fire Horse
• Foreign Policy - Fire Horse
• Global Life Expectancy data
• Independent - East Asian birthrates hit record low
• Nikkei - Births in Japan falls to a record low
• BBC - Japan to fund AI matchmaking service
• Kyodo News - Pandemic worsening Japan birth rate
• Reuters - Japan ministers warn birth rate falling at more rapid pace
• Quartz - Japan wants to raise its birth rates with new perks
• Japan Forward - If you want to understand falling fertility rates, stop focusing on Japan, Earl Kinmouth
• Guardian - Why have young people in Japan stopped having sex? Abigail Haworth
• Slate - Celibacy Syndrome
• Business Insider - Japanese people aren't having sex

Ōgui translates to "Gluttony" or "Glutton". Mukbang is a Korean portmanteau that translates to "Eat-Cast" That's right, today's episode is all about Japanese people who can eat horrifyingly large amounts of food. Today's guest is Josh Scalf. You can find him on Twitter @jwscalf, you can find his beautiful bird family @SomeRowdyBirbs, and you can find his viral video content on his YouTube page. For more content follow me on @hikikomoripodcast on Instagram where I'll be posting photos relevant to this episode! You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen to my other podcasts Final Fanservice and Not Another Film on any big podcast app. Sources:

• Competitive Eating Injuries - Slate
• The Untold Truth of Kobayashi - Mashed
• 'My Lungs Get Shifted Up' - People
• Yuka Kinoshita's YouTube Channel
• What's Your Story?
• Gal Sone's blog
• Yuka Kinoshita on Japanese TV

Content Warning: Wam Crimes. The bad ones.

We continue our coverage of the invasion and occupation of Nanjing during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Once the Imperial Army had fully occupied Nanjing, and atrocities became almost constant, General Iwane Matsui seemed to finally realise that he had lost all control over his troops... and yet the war crimes continued regardless.

Today's guest is Hannah Lane! You can find her via her Instagram page, and she is also the co-host of our horror movie review podcast that we do together, Not Another Film podcast.

For more content follow me on @hikikomoripodcast on Instagram where I'll be posting photos relevant to this episode!

You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen to my other podcasts Final Fanservice and Not Another Film on any big podcast app.

Sources:

• The Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang (1997)
• In the Name of the Emperor, by Christine Choi (1995)
• The Impossible Task of Remembering the Nanking Massacre, by Simon Han
• The Longest Theatre Of World War II, by Timeline
• Survivor Testimonies, Facing History
• The last survivors: Living testimony of Nanjing Massacre, CGTN
• The Nanking Massacre Project: Photographs and Films, Yale University
• Wikipedia