Episode 5: Yakuzathon!
Our first all-yakuza episode!
The VCinema boys hang out with Patrick Macias, current editor-in-chief of Otaku USA and author of Tokyoscope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion, Japanese School Girl Inferno, and Cruising the Anime City among other books and articles about Japanese pop culture. Among other topics, Patrick gives us a run down on the history of yakuza films among other topics.
Also in this episode, the infamous The Tattooed Hitman starring one “Bud” Sugawara is reviewed and a discussion ensues about why yakuza films never made it big out of Japan in the first place. Then, VCinema good buddy loki315 joins the crew as they round out the show with the Twitter question.
Special thanks to Wildgrounds for providing some of the music used in this episode.
An Eternal Thought in the Mind of Godzilla
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About The Author
Jon Jung
Jon Jung (aka “Coffin Jon”) is the producer and host of the VCinema podcast and editor-in-chief of the VCinema blog. He is an avid movie fan who specializes in Japanese cinema, but enjoys everything from artsy high-brow to mega-billion blockbusters to straight-to-video turds. As an Asian-American, he got the best of all cinematic worlds as a child by receiving mega-doses of Ozu, Bruce Lee, Kamen Rider, and American drive-in movies in addition to a steady diet of punk rock, Japanese literature, and Buddhism. He spent six years in Japan as an English teacher and translator. In 2004, he returned to the United States to complete his Masters in Language Education and continue his career as a language educator and cultural anthropologist with a focus on language policy and language shift. Jon is a former Myrle Clark Award recipient for excellence in creative writing and has contributed to World Film Locations: Tokyo (Intellect, 2011).