Jake Adelstein’s Tokyo Vice
Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan
, a tell-all book by former Yomuiri Shimbun crime reporter Jake Adelstein, is finally out in stores. Reuters has an article up about him:
A 12-year stint covering crime for Japan’s biggest daily newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun, brought Adelstein into contact with the seamy side of Tokyo that most Westerners never see, from loan sharking to murders to trafficking in sex workers.
His mission to pull off a scoop about the yakuza turned personal after the disappearance of a prostitute friend who had been trying to help him find out about what he suspected was a human trafficking ring.
Adelstein, who wrote in Japanese, left the newspaper in 2005. In his English-language memoir, “Tokyo Vice,” which will be published in the United States this week, he tells the story of how he got to grips with the unique Japanese way of journalism, becoming such a serious irritant to the yakuza that he faced death threats and was placed under police protection in 2008.
Not being an expert on organized crime in Japan, I cannot speak for the accuracy of what he is writing, but I am always suspicious of authors who hype up their tell-all books by advertising the fact that gangsters are supposedly trying to kill them for knowing too much. That being said, however, I downloaded the Kindle edition of his book yesterday, and what I’ve read so far is pretty interesting and not too outlandish or paranoid. Unlike other authors of English language books about the dark side of Japan, Adelstein at least has a resume that gives him some authority to speak about organized crime.
For more information on Adelstein and his book, check out the following links
- WNYC radio interview about Tokyo Vice
- Japansubculture interview with Jake Adelstein.
- Random House Q&A with the author.
- “Yakuza Wars,” a JapanFocus article by David McNeill & Jake Adelstein
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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Looks pretty cool, I’m reading Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere: A Memoir by John Nathan right now, but I’ll make sure to give this one a read.
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May I who this is in reference to?
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Nobody in particularly, but if you want me to name books about the dark side of Japan I think are written by authors that lack expertise and end up making lots of errors, here are two:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0767904974?ie=UTF8&tag=japanprobe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0767904974
http://www.amazon.com/Princess-Masako-Prisoner-Chrysanthemum-Throne/dp/1585426105/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
I’ll bite, even though I’m not the author of the blog post.
I’m pretty sure that “Speed Tribes”, written by Taro Greenfield, contained many fabricated stories.
There are scenes described in it, told from a I-was-there point of view, that would not have been possible for a person to have witnessed, or even interviewed after-the-fact. Example: right-wing Yakuza racial supremist. How’s a Japanese-American (with Caucasian features and accented Japanese) going to be there?
About as believable as an African American infiltrating the KKK.
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I’m really looking forward to reading this.
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I think the original comments regarding the hype/self-promotion ring true. Especially the part where he seems to be eager to tell everyone how a particular Japanese mobster has a contract out on him and his family.
O RLy? If so, then why chose to hide out in Tokyo Japan? Hmmmmmmm. Makes no more sense than hiding out in Howard Beach if I knew some idiot friend of the Gottis had put a price on my sorry ass.
Working as a beat reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun covering the police and the organized crime division are two different things.
I think there is a deliberate attempt to blur the distinction to a largely ignorant audience who don’t know the difference.
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I wouldn’t blame the author for this so much as I would the marketing from the publisher.
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I have read Adelstein’s article in the WaPo and saw his website. I have also ordered the book, so I am planning to read it.
I guess it is unfair to comment about his book without reading it, but I have a mixed feeling about it.
First, judging from his background, I guess he is qualified to write about this topic. However, living in Ikebukuro for a long time (which is sometimes called “Nest of the Yakuza’s”) I have got the feeling that there is steadily in decline. My concern is that probably this book gives the opposite image to the world even if what he recounts is based on facts.
Until 2002, in a vicinity of a 15 minutes’ walk I experienced 3 shootings (in a period of 5 years), in which 2 persons were dead and other 3 wounded in sum. One occurred just the next block from where I live. There were other incidents of violence, kidnapping rival member of the Yakuza group in front of the people in daylights, a car crushing in a video shop (which I used often) because the building was owned by the rival group, all which stopped after 2002.
Was it because the law is successful in bringing order to these guys and also because the economy decayed during the latter half of the 90 ties which brought decline to the Yakuza business or is it because (as Adelstein seems to suggest) Yakuza’s are more successful in merging with main street business? Somehow I doubt that Yakuza’s are successful in becoming Main Street business invisibly.
What I hear is, be it entertainment business or politics, rumors of connection with Yakuza’s is becoming more lethal and can destroy your reputation. Are they really becoming invisibly successful? Honestly, I doubt that. But I have to read the book first.
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Ask around at some of the English language forums. It’s quite remarkable how many English teachers are connected, or have a best drinking pal who is connected or a high-ranking Yakuza, or whose current/ex-girlfriend/wife is the daughter of a senior ranking syndicate member, or… And they’re all salt of the earth, apparently.
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Excellent book! I lived in the Roppongi Hills are from 2004-2007 and bumped into these yakuza swine all the time. I stumbled in a club now and then and the mood definitely changed between some of them. The Polish, Russian and Romanian girls were stressed out and edgy.
I read the book rapidly to figure out what happened to Helena in the book…
buy it.
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