Believing she was ugly and looked like her father who abandoned them to a life of crippling debt, Hirase spent around 24 million yen ($170,000) to “finally be beautiful,” becoming completely ...

I am 13 years old and my parents went to bed two hours ago. I hunch over my dimly lit desk and squint as I pull tiny gun turrets from the sprues of a plastic-parts tree. My room smells of Testor’s ...