Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

I’m sure you’re all still in a food-coma, or if you aren’t, you’re out frantically shopping for deals on Black Friday, so today we have some brief links for you that highlight some of the bizarre things we discover about Japan. In honor of our Thanksgiving food focus: cannibalism!

I only recently heard about Issei Sagawa from an article from the Japan Subculture Research Center. In 1981, Sagawa shot and killed a Dutch woman while he was studying abroad in France, only to spend the next three days feasting on her body to “absorb her energy.” A macabre topic for the holidays, we know, but it’s just so odd and creepy it had to be shared. Sagawa was declared legally insane, but when turned over to Japanese authorities, was found by psychologists to be sane, but “evil.” He’s therefore now enjoying the life of a writer and an artist as a free man. Check out the original article for more details.

VBS TV just released a two part documentary on Sagawa (part 1, part 2), and if you have the stomach for it (there are some very graphic pictures and sexual situations), it’s quite interesting, so take a look. If you don’t want to see anything graphic, you can still check out his video in English on YouTube, where he introduces himself and tells people he’ll take commissions for his art. And insists that he has more refined tastes than Hannibal Lecter.

If you find yourself with a morbid fascination on the topic, there are quite a few links to interviews and crime scene information on the Wiki entry about him. Also be sure to check out more from the Japan Subculture Research Center, as they have some really neat articles on organized crime in Japan.