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PODCAST

Hikikomori

Sit back and enjoy a weird and shocking story from Japan, both from recent and far history, as researched and told by Vincent.

history places & travel

All Episodes

01:14:44

#90 - The Rent-a-Family Fraud

Hikikomori ·

2023/12/24

In April of 2018, the writer Elif Batuman had an article published in The New Yorker, titled "Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry". It explored a cultural phenomenon in Japan, that of agencies where one could hire an actor to perform in a social interaction that would be otherwise awkward or impossible. It became such a popular and celebrated article that it would win the National Magazine Award for that year. Unfortunately, it was also based entirely on bullshit. Today's guest is Hannah Lane! You can

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01:23:18

#89 - The Monster with 21 Faces

Hikikomori ·

2023/11/27

The Glico-Morinaga Case began in 1984, when the CEO of the Glico Corporation was kidnapped, naked from his home during a bath. While that kidnapping resolved itself fairly rapidly, what followed was a campaign of fear across Japan, as a mysterious organisation began threatening to poison the public's food. 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. Check my new

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01:11:42

#88 - The Saitama Dog-Lover Murders

Hikikomori ·

2023/11/07

Content Warning: Murder. In the months after the Osaka Dog-Lover Serial Murders ended, but before the perpetrator of that case was caught, a completely separate but weirdly similar case occurred in Saitama. Gen Sekine, a fairly successful dog breeder and utter psychopath, decided that the best way to dig himself out of financial trouble was to kill his way out. Today's guest is Cassie! You can find her via her Twitter. Also be sure to check out her Vtuber persona, Sleep Panda Mei, who streams on

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59:12

#87 - The Osaka Dog-Lover Murders

Hikikomori ·

2023/10/16

Content Warning: Murder We return to murder with the serial murders that took place in Osaka in 1992. Over a period of 4 months, the ultimate fail-son Yoshinori Ueda used a chemical used to euthanise dogs to subdue and murder 5 people. Today's guest is Cassie! You can find her via her Twitter. Also be sure to check out her Vtuber persona, Sleep Panda Mei, who streams on Twitch! Check my new album, Ruined Numbers, for sale on Bandcamp! It's an album of acoustic arrangements of Final Fantasy music

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01:10:08

#86 - Dekotora

Hikikomori ·

2023/09/10

Today we explore the working class industrial art movement called "Dekotora", where truckers decorated their vehicles in outrageous and totally bitchin' styles. We also visit a modern day comparison to Dekotora, the phenomenon of "Itasha", or "painful cars"... If you want to see a gallery of the vehicles we're talking about today, check out this unlocked Patreon Post with all the relevent pics. Today's guest is Hannah Lane! You can find her via her Instagram page, and she is also the co-host of our

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01:21:06

#85 - Hatsune Miku

Hikikomori ·

2023/08/13

The last couple of episodes were pretty rough, right? Here's something with relatively few problematic elements, Hatsune Miku, the Vocaloid sensation! Today's guest is Mike! You can find him on Twitter at his handle @tokkan! Check my new album, Ruined Numbers, for sale on Bandcamp! It's an album of acoustic arrangements of Final Fantasy music. You can also stream the album on Spotify or YouTube Music. Enjoy! You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen to my other podcasts Final

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01:02:23

#84 - Issei Sagawa (Part 2)

Hikikomori ·

2023/07/30

Content Warning: Sexual Assault, Violence, Necrophilia, Cannibalism. We continue our exploration of Issei Sagawa's life after his 1981 murder of Renée Hartevelt. While you might think that Sagawa would never see the light of day again for his horrific crimes, he was set free, and he spent the rest of his life being a horrible little shit. 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

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54:49

#83 - Issei Sagawa (Part 1)

Hikikomori ·

2023/07/10

Content Warning: Sex, Violence, Necrophilia, Cannibalism. Issei Sagawa was a highly-educated, intelligent and repressed man. His sexual fetish, unfortunately, was cannibalism, and years of fantasizing and planning led to his 1981 murder of Renée Hartevelt in Paris. After his arrest, however, the story just gets weirder. 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

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01:12:30

#82 - The Tomb of Jesus in Aomori

Hikikomori ·

2023/06/15

In the north of Japan's central island there is a small, non-descript place called Shingo Village. The only thing about it that sets it apart from the hundreds of other tiny villages in the area is that it purports to be the true final resting place of Jesus Christ. Tug on this string and a whole bunch of ancient aliens stuff comes tumbling out. 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,

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01:01:36

#81 - The Great Kanto Massacre

Hikikomori ·

2023/06/03

Content Warning: Natural Disaster and Genocide. On the 1st September, 1923, a megathrust earthquake hit the Kanto Plain, resulting in a catastrophic loss of life. While one would think that tornados made of fire would offer the most horror from this event, the behaviour of the Kanto populace, police and government in the aftermath would be far more disturbing. 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

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01:26:57

#80 - Patriotic Brothels and Babysan

Hikikomori ·

2023/04/27

Content Warning: Sex Trafficking and Exploitation. Even before the end of WWII, the Japanese civilian government were preparing for the arrival of the occupying US troops. First and foremost, before any security of basic needs, they determined that they needed to preserve the purity of the Japanese race. To this end, they created a vast network of patriotic brothels... 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

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01:15:10

#79 - The Branston Pickle Affair

Hikikomori ·

2023/04/17

When Daisuke was invited to a dinner anonymously, he had little idea that the meeting would result in the most joyous moments of his life... but would flat-out ruin the rest of it. After marrying into a multi-national vinegar-based corporation, he found himself at the center of a sinister plot to wrest control over his own son away from him. Today's guest is Jon Combey! You can find himon Twitter @JonCombey, and his recent limited series on Japanese culture as understood through film can be found

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01:00:48

#78 - The Otaku Killer (Part 2)

Hikikomori ·

2023/04/08

Content Warning: Child Murder, Necrophilia We continue with the utterly heinous crimes of Tsutomu Miyazaki. After his first murder of a child, he entered a kind of prolonged berserker mode, increasing the depravity of his actions, harassing the families of his victims and even taunting the public, the press and the police. And, when he was finally caught, he would blame it all on an alternate persona - the "Rat Man". Today's guest is Nika Howard! You can find her on Twitter @nika_howard, and all of

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53:35

#77 - The Otaku Killer (Part 1)

Hikikomori ·

2023/03/14

Tsutomu Miyazaki was a serial murderer of children, active for about 10 months from August 1988. It's a story that has been heavily misrepresented in western media, particularly in regards to Miyazaki's disability, but the real story alone is enough to chill to the bone. 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

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01:00:30

#76 - End of Shinzo Abe (Part 4)

Hikikomori ·

2023/02/19

It's finally here. This is how and why Shinzo Abe was assassinated, and the unexpected failure to deify him after his death. 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. 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: Tobias Harris - The Iconoclast: Shinzo

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48:38

#75 - Shinzo Abe (Part 3)

Hikikomori ·

2023/02/05

In this episode we look at the continuing rise of ultranationalist ideology in Japanese politics under Shinzo Abe, including his membership in the secretive and fascistic Nippon Kaigai organisation, his expansion of the JSDF and his fiddling around behind the scenes during the Tokyo Olympics, despite his supposed retirement. 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

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01:01:23

#74 - Shinzo Abe (Part 2)

Hikikomori ·

2023/01/24

We continue our journey through the life and death of Shinzo Abe. Today we look at his remarkable political comeback in 2011, along with his the incidents that never seemed to tarnish his popularity, particularly his horrific historical revisionism, and the Moritomo Gakuen scandal... 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. You can also find me on Twitter

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56:39

#73 - Shinzo Abe (Part 1)

Hikikomori ·

2023/01/16

We embark on a 4-part journey through the life and death of Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-running Prime Minister, who just so happened to get assassinated in May of 2022. As we shall discover, perhaps the damage had already been done by that point... 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. You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen to my

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45:01

#72 - Charlie Chaplin Vs The League of Blood

Hikikomori ·

2023/01/05

This is the tale of the rise of fascism in Japan, from its origins in Mussolini's Italy to the first bumbling attempts at coups by clandestine organisations. One of the most unlikely people who became embroiled in one such coup was the legendary comedic actor Charlie Chaplin. Today's guest is Cami! You can find her via her Twitter page! 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: Japan

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49:03

#71 - Nobusuke Kishi, Shinzo Abe's Grandpa (Part 2)

Hikikomori ·

2022/12/12

We continue our exploration of Shinzo Abe's greatest influence on his life, the war criminal Nobusuke Kishi. This episode we cover his life after being released from prison, and his highly successful and Machiavellian return to politics. What a piece of shit. 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. You can also find me on Twitter @sequencepod, or you can listen

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110 results

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