Like My Anime | Japanese Media & Culture

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Japanese mystery stories offer a unique look at crime fiction. We explore three iconic titles perfect for a Halloween watch.

This episode breaks down the appeal of Japanese detective fiction by examining three distinct pillars of the genre. We start with the classic setup of The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, a cornerstone of the field that defined the locked-room mystery for generations. Then we shift gears to the screen to analyze the procedural brilliance of Furuhata Ninzaburo, a 90s cop show that remains a masterclass in tension and character dynamics.

Finally, we cover the modern viral sensation Strange Houses by Uketsu, which redefines how we consume horror-adjacent mysteries in the digital age. By looking at these specific examples, we identify the cultural factors that helped Japanese mystery stories gain such enduring popularity. Whether you are a long-time fan of the genre or just looking for a chilling recommendation, this breakdown highlights what makes these stories resonate.

Links:
The Honjin Murders - Read Japanese Literature: https://readjapaneseliterature.com/Books/The+Honjin+Murders

Death at an Old Mansion: https://youtu.be/WtFnlBnGnxw?si=fI95UMK2mL-Sop6A

(Japanese; No Subtitles) The Village of Eight Gravestones TV Show: https://youtu.be/O5t9Ce4oNHM?si=kJm8i1zvQ_zfO5uy

Furuhata Ninzaburo: https://archive.org/details/FuruhataNinzaburo

Two great video essays the algorithm only blessed me with after writing my script:
I Wish You Knew My Favourite Filmmaker (Koki Mitani, Furuhata Ninzaburo) - LowecaseJai: https://youtu.be/eyvotxespaE?si=z1LmkPObjylJjYl1

Furuhata Ninzaburō: The Most Underrated Japanese Show - Hirai: https://youtu.be/6GFgOlHdwMc?si=LRQKAlLgQMjKgjn9

Translating Strange Houses - Jim Rion (Contains Spoilers): https://jimrion.com/translating-strange-houses.html

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Music: SUMMER TRIANGLE by Sharou

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We challenge the “untranslatable words” myth, then argue that some Japanese terms still earn a spot in English because they capture everyday feelings with unusual precision. We break down why these words work, how famous loanwords get misused, and what all of this reveals about language, culture, and how we frame our lives. 
• why “untranslatable” usually means “needs a longer explanation” 
• kuchisabishi as eating from boredom or comfort, not hunger 
• why “snacking” misses the motivation behind mouth loneliness 
• tsundoku as the gentle optimism of unread book piles 
• how shogunai helps release stress over what you can’t control 
• where shogunai can turn into resignation on bigger issues 
• what ichigo ichie really means beyond “once in a lifetime” 
• ikigai as small daily reasons for living, not a hustle formula 
• kombucha and other examples of meaning drift in borrowed words 
• English words that feel oddly hard to say in Japanese, like awkward, cringe, and fair 

links:

Kaname Naito - What is ikigai really?: https://youtu.be/OAC3rVlxiFc?si=yE3pOGDRGUsmY7oM

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Music: SUMMER TRIANGLE by Sharou

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This time we take a look at two manga about racism and finding where you belong with RuriDragon and Half is More 

RuriDragon ルリドラゴン

Genre: Slice of life, coming of age, fantasy

Author: Masaoki Shindo

Translation: Caleb D. Cook https://calebdcook.com/translatedworks/

Original Run: June 13, 2022 - Present

Publisher: Shueisha

English Publisher: Viz Media

Imprint: Jump Comics

Magazine: Weekly Shonen Jump (June 13, 2022 - August 1, 2022); Shonen Jump+ (August 22, 2024 - Present)

Japanese Volumes: 5

English Volumes: 4

Anime Adaptation: Announced (Kyoto Animation)

Learn Natively Level: 22 (Intermediate, ~JLPT N3) 

Half is More 半分兄弟

Author: Yoiko Fujimi

Genre: Drama

Translation: David Evelyn https://davidevelyn0825.wixsite.com/works

Original run: June 29, 2022 - Present

Publisher: Leed Publishing

English Publisher: Viz Media

Imprint: Torch Comics

Magazine: Torch Web Comics

Japanese Volumes: 1

English Volumes: 1

Anime Adaptation: No

Learn Natively Level: 32 (Upper Intermediate, ~JLPT N2)

Links:

Masaoki Shindo Interview: https://www.reddit.com/r/RuriDragon/comments/1igr020/masaoki_shindo_interview/

Sagamihara Stabbings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagamihara_stabbings#Legacy

Isaiah D. Colbert’s article for Aftermath:

https://aftermath.site/half-is-more-yoiko-fujimi-josei-manga-haafu-racism-review/

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Music: SUMMER TRIANGLE by Sharou

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This time, we unpack why life in Japan feels harder right now for both citizens and foreign residents alike. The episode connects Japan's weak currency, a record-breaking tourism boom, and a sweeping tightening of visa and permanent residency rules under the Takaichi government. All framed against a backdrop of rising anti-immigrant sentiment.

Key Discussion Points

• COVID-era border closures (2020–2022): Japan barred even permanent residents from reentry for roughly a year while citizens moved freely; tourists weren't allowed back until October 2022.
• Shrinking outbound curiosity: Japanese passport ownership has dropped from ~24% pre-pandemic to 17.8% currently; students show declining interest in studying or traveling abroad.
• Tourism boom: Foreign tourism hit record highs, 42+ million visitors in 2025 and 21+ million already in 2026, but Japan still lags far behind top destinations like France (102 million visitors in 2025) and lacks infrastructure to match the volume.
• Why the yen is weak: Three decades of economic stagnation, government bond-buying to keep interest rates near zero, delayed Bank of Japan rate hikes compared to the US and Europe, and the resulting sell-off of yen by currency investors.
• The yen carry trade: Investors and institutions borrowed cheap yen to invest in higher-return assets abroad, making Japan the largest holder of US debt; in 2026 the BOJ began selling US bonds to defend the yen, prompting US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to intervene by buying yen.
• Wage-price spiral: Rising cost of living has forced employers to raise wages, which in turn pushes prices higher. With wages currently outpacing inflation, though unevenly across industries.
• Immigration by the numbers: Foreign residents now exceed 4 million (an almost 50% year-over-year increase) but still represent only about 3% of Japan's population.
• New visa and PR costs: Visa fee caps rose from 10,000 yen to as much as 200,000–300,000 yen; standard visas now cost roughly 33,000–75,000 yen, and permanent residency around 200,000 yen.
• New PR eligibility rules: Applicants must now earn above the average household income (5.75 million yen) rather than average individual income, and must show 30 years of pension contributions or equivalent savings, a requirement I flag as vague and difficult to calculate.
• Political context: The ruling LDP under PM Sanae Takaichi is tightening immigration amid pressure from the far-right Sanseito party.
• What didn't make the cut: Protests against mosque construction, a proposed African labor program, rising "yamibaito" (criminal side-job) activity, and reseller-driven fruit theft.

Main Takeaways

• Japan's cost-of-living crisis and immigration crackdown are two symptoms of the same underlying economic story: a structurally weak yen and decades of economic stagnation.
• The yen carry trade links Japan's monetary policy directly to US bond markets — making this a global economic story, not just a domestic one.
• New visa and PR requirements make permanent residency in Japan significantly harder to obtain, especially for single foreign workers.
• Rising anti-immigrant sentiment in Japan is being used, in part, as a political scapegoat for economic problems the government hasn't solved.

Who This Episode Is For

• Anyone studying Japanese or considering a move to Japan
• Current expats and foreign residents navigating Japan's visa system
• Anime and Japanese culture fans who want context on current events
• Listeners interested in currency markets, monetary policy, or immigration policy
• Fans of Like My Anime looking for the show's take on life in Japan beyond media commentary

Notable People, Media & Concepts Mentioned

• Anime referenced: Ghost in the Shell, Chainsaw Man (referred to informally), Rent-A-Girlfriend, and a summer anime referenced as "Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You"
• Political figures: Sanae Takaichi (Japanese PM), Shinzo Abe (former PM), Kimi Onoda (Minister of Harmonious Coexistence with Foreigners)
• Political parties: LDP (Liberal Democratic Party), Sanseito
• Economic figures/institutions: Bank of Japan (BOJ), US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
• Recommended external resource: The YouTube channel Japanalysis has a great video series on far right YouTubers that you should definitely watch:
  • Japan's Loudest Man Tries to Kick Out All Chinese Tourists https://youtu.be/uQ5u16NUKMU?si=StCc4wCj4S1Q_f5A
  • "Japanese Trump" Fails Miserably and Goes to Prison https://youtu.be/j8pxuIQVH7o?si=OUao3G61dRlXPT2E
  • Japan’s Right Wing Is Imploding Because of a Literal Clown  https://youtu.be/WCk2hYLOdnI?si=Am64_BUIFwuBVvxn
• Referenced past episode: Summer is Scary in Japan
  https://youtu.be/amFhVr-Njso
  https://www.buzzsprout.com/2439138/episodes/1964994

Resources Mentioned

• Will Japan bring down the world economy? | The Economist https://youtu.be/QBorPsQpEzU?si=_T600jxEfrhO4uZ-
• Nobody Wants to Admit Why America Just Bailed Out Japan  https://youtu.be/OC1yu0L7jT4?si=d02yZ51cUK6kEdem
• Are more migrants in North East Asia inevitable? - Asia Specific podcast, BBC World Service https://youtu.be/xiejP28Smug?si=A5N1dfbm8ZFE_cuh
• Crimes by loosely organized crime groups are on the rise across Japan https://youtu.be/KR8KmMUnm_0?si=01LAvzlMcl9MRZGt
• Japan's new criminal underworld https://youtu.be/xykfQawB6T8?si=WYNVQNSaDVaRrgkJ

Additional Reading:

• Why did JICA withdraw from its Japan-Africa 'hometown' exchange initiative https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/4273/
• What Drives Xenophobia? Political Discourse and Policies on Foreign Residents - Nippon.com https://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/d01220/?cx_recs_click=true
• False prisoner figure fuels anti-foreigner storm online - The Asahi Shimbun https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16818060
• The impact of politicians’ behaviors on hate speech spread: hate speech adoption threshold on Twitter in Japan - Journal of Computational Social Science https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42001-024-00268-5
• Reported crimes rise for third consecutive year, government data reveals - The Japan Times https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/12/19/japan/crime-legal/japan-crime-white-paper-2025/
• Trends and Realities of Foreign Crime in Japan (2025): An Analysis Based on Official Statistics - EN-ICHI https://ippjapan.org/en_ichi/en/archives/1983

This last one is a little bit of a stretch but the great Dr. Wes Robertson and his channel Scripting Japan just posted this video (There's a bit about Sanseito half way through):
https://youtu.be/j3Qk8S5_GSI?si=CcK-bUENo77FHWF-

Calls to Action

• Follow Like My Anime so you don't miss future episodes
• Rate and review the podcast to help other listeners find the show
• Share this episode with anyone considering a move to Japan
• Let me know if you want a follow-up episode on Japan's population decline

Thanks for listening to Like My Anime!
If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe, share it, or leave a review — it helps more people find the podcast!

Watch episodes & extra content (eventually) on YouTube:
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Music: SUMMER TRIANGLE by Sharou

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Episode Overview
We explore Japan's summer horror tradition — rooted in the Obon festival and kaidan ghost stories — through five recommendations spanning film, Netflix TV, legal drama, and anime.

Key Discussion Points

• Obon and the belief that ancestral spirits return each summer, and how that gave rise to the kaidan storytelling tradition
• Dollhouse (2025): a haunted-doll J-horror film from comedy director Shinobu Yaguchi, driven by parental grief rather than jump scares
• Human Vapor: a 2026 Netflix Japanese-Korean co-production rebooting a 1960s Toho tokusatsu film, blending body horror with an investigative crime drama
• Sins of Kujo: a non-supernatural legal drama about a lawyer defending morally repugnant clients, included as a different flavor of darkness
• Mushishi: an anime following wandering healer Ginko and the Mushi, ancient beings treated as an ordinary part of the world rather than monsters
• Yami Shibai: an anime that recreates kamishibai, a traditional street-performance storytelling format, through ultra-short horror episodes

Main Takeaways

• Japanese horror media leans on grief, moral ambiguity, and atmosphere as much as jump scares
• Obon and kaidan give Japanese horror a distinct summer-season identity separate from Western Halloween horror
• Kamishibai is a direct cultural ancestor of the ghost-story format still used in anime today

Who This Episode Is For

• Anime and J-horror fans looking for a varied watchlist
• Listeners interested in Japanese folklore, Obon, and the kaidan tradition
• Fans of Japanese-language content who want cultural context alongside media recommendations
• Anyone who wants horror recommendations outside the typical October season

Resources & Media Mentioned

• Dollhouse (2025), dir. Shinobu Yaguchi
• Human Vapor (2026, Netflix) — reboot of a 1960s Toho tokusatsu film
• Sins of Kujo (legal drama)
• Mushishi (anime)
• Yami Shibai / Theater of Darkness (anime)
• Podcast Website
• YouTube Channel

Calls to Action

• Follow the podcast
• Rate and review on your listening platform (it really helps!)
• Share with a friend who loves anime or horror
• Share your own non-October horror picks

Thanks for listening to Like My Anime!
If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe, share it, or leave a review — it helps more people find the podcast!

Watch episodes & extra content (eventually) on YouTube:
🔗 Like My Anime YouTube Channel

Music: SUMMER TRIANGLE by Sharou

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Episode Overview
A personal, spoiler-light review of the manga Spacewalking with You by Inuhiko Doronoda — a slice-of-life story about a "lazy" high schooler, Kobayashi, whose friendship with an unusual transfer student, Uno, slowly reveals just how much of his struggle was never really laziness at all.

Key Discussion Points

• Overview of the manga's premise, setting, and central friendship
• How the story portrays neurodivergence without ever naming a diagnosis
• The host's personal ADHD diagnosis and how it shaped their reaction to the story
• Specific scenes discussed (spoiler-light): the notebook incident, the part-time job training manual, the glasses subplot, a sensory-overload moment between Uno and Kobayashi
• What makes the manga's approach to representation feel different from typical media portrayals
• A brief, honest critique (some side characters are hard to distinguish)
• Publication details: English release status and Japanese reading difficulty

Major Takeaways

• Representation doesn't require clinical labels to feel authentic — sometimes showing the experience is more powerful than naming the condition
• Curiosity and empathy, rather than assumptions, are the engine of the story's emotional arc
• Struggles that look like "laziness" or "weirdness" often have deeper, unspoken explanations
• Small, unglamorous acts of kindness carry as much narrative weight as any dramatic plot turn

Who This Episode Is For

• Manga readers looking for a thoughtful, low-stakes slice-of-life recommendation
• Neurodivergent listeners (diagnosed or self-identifying) interested in representation done with care
• Parents and teachers who want media that might help them understand a child or student
• Japanese-language learners looking for an intermediate (N3-level) manga to read in the original

Notable Resources, Books, People, or Media Mentioned

• Spacewalking with You — manga by Inuhiko Doronoda (English release: 3 volumes as of July; 6 volumes currently out in Japan)
• Author Inuhiko Doronoda's stated intent behind the story's mid-2000s setting

Calls to Action

• Share what manga has made you feel personally understood
• Follow the podcast for future manga/media recommendations
• Rate and review the show
• Share this episode with someone who might connect with the story

Thanks for listening to Like My Anime!
If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe, share it, or leave a review — it helps more people find the podcast!

Watch episodes & extra content (eventually) on YouTube:
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Music: SUMMER TRIANGLE by Sharou

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This month's episode is a sort of announcement, I'm gonna be taking a break from the podcast for a bit to focus on YouTube. If all the same content as video essays and booktube videos sounds interesting to you then I'd love for you to subscribe to the Like My Anime YouTube channel

Thanks for listening to Like My Anime!
If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe, share it, or leave a review — it helps more people find the podcast!

Watch episodes & extra content (eventually) on YouTube:
🔗 Like My Anime YouTube Channel

Music: SUMMER TRIANGLE by Sharou

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We try to explain why The Solitary Gourmet, a plotless Japanese food drama about a man eating alone, became a massive hit across East Asia. We also dig into why it’s one of the best resources for real Japanese listening practice and what “healing” media reveals about modern comfort viewing. 

• the show’s simple formula and why “nothing happens” works 
• how real restaurants turn episodes into a food culture guide 
• why the inner monologue is gold for Japanese language learning 
• three reasons the drama clicks, from Matsushige’s performance to solo dining 
• iyashi-kei and the demand for comfort media after stress 
• our small gripes, from dreamlike pacing to non-bingeability 

Check out The Solitary Gourmet on YouTube

a few more food-focused dramas to watch next:

Midnight Diner

Then You Try Making It!

What Did You Eat Yesterday?

And if you enjoyed this episode then check out another episode where I talk about the anime My Dress-Up Darling:

Apple Podcasts 

Spotify

YouTube 

Thanks for listening to Like My Anime!
If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe, share it, or leave a review — it helps more people find the podcast!

Watch episodes & extra content (eventually) on YouTube:
🔗 Like My Anime YouTube Channel

Music: SUMMER TRIANGLE by Sharou

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We dig into why My Dress-Up Darling is more than a spicy high school rom-com and why dropping it after the first three episodes misses the real point. We talk craft, cosplay culture, gender expression, and why the series works surprisingly well for Japanese language learners. 

• why the show gets mislabeled early and what changes after episode four 
• Wakana Gojo’s Hina doll craftsmanship, childhood trauma, and loneliness 
• Marin Kitagawa as the driver of the story and the cosplay partnership that builds real trust 
• how the romance develops mostly through Marin’s point of view 
• gender role reversals, gender-swapped cosplay, and naming and speech choices 
• what “fan service” means, where the series justifies it, and where it feels exploitative 
• how cosplay is viewed in Japan versus the US and why “time and place” matters 
• CloverWorks’ animation choices and why the show feels so cozy 
• manga and adaptation notes, including the final volumes and season three uncertainty 
• Japanese learning value: everyday language, plus a heavy dose of modern slang 
• extra recommendations: The Full-Time Wife Escapist, K-On, Who Does Housework Anymore 

Thanks for listening to Like My Anime!
If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe, share it, or leave a review — it helps more people find the podcast!

Watch episodes & extra content (eventually) on YouTube:
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Music: SUMMER TRIANGLE by Sharou

Send us Fan Mail

Explore Japanese media, language, and culture every month on the Like My Anime podcast!

Music: SUMMER TRIANGLE by Sharou

Thanks for listening to Like My Anime!
If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe, share it, or leave a review — it helps more people find the podcast!

Watch episodes & extra content (eventually) on YouTube:
🔗 Like My Anime YouTube Channel

Music: SUMMER TRIANGLE by Sharou