Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) Kindle Edition

I read this book on a recent trip to Japan. I had read about Jake Adelstein in the New Yorker so naturally this stranger in a strange land account sounded find and enjoyable— especially since Adelstein is likely as close to an insider as an gaijin in media history.The first third is about his introduction to Japanese culture as a cub reporter in the suburbs of Tokyo, the next third is what he learned about Japan while working his way, and the remainder is his vendetta against the corrupt and backwards ways crime and graft seep into all levels of Japanese administration through the black hand of the Yakuza.Looking back, this part is the least interesting— enterprising, selfish reporter makes good by taking on the cause of human trafficking and sex slavery. I’ve heard that one before. Still, an awakening is nice to see even if Adelstein’s wife and children suffer while he saves the world (by the way, Jake, at some point you completely stopped writing about your family, rendering your son’s birth to a footnote. That’s cold, man).Still, Adelstein is a good recounted of anecdotes, self deprecating (in a self satisfied way), and can be very funny. I enjoyed this quick read and recommend it while on a trip to Japan.

I am a Korean, lived in Japan when I was a child, lived and studied in the US. As such I have been an observer of Japanese society with an outsider perspective, sometimes feeling like a Japanese but never feeling completely like one. This book hits it on the head. It is always engaging, often hilarious, and at times heartbreaking. Strong recommend to people interested in Japan.

Heavy on humor, light on tragedy: the way a good autobiography should be. Adelstein makes plenty of observations that can be translated into advice for use outside his professional purview; another sign of a good autobiography. All told, “Tokyo Vice” is a solid mix of information and anecdote. It makes for quick reading that is sometimes educational.Recommended for: people looking for insight on international journalism; people interested in learning about Tokyo's underbelly (at least in a topical sort of way); people researching the sex industry or human trafficking and it's consequences (especially in one of the biggest, most developed cities in the world).Be warned: the discussions about, and descriptions of, what goes on in the sex industry are particular frank and at times unsettling. This seems by design, given Adelstein's later work on investigating human trafficking for the US State Department.Some examples of Adelstein's writing:“Heroes are just people who have run out of choices. You still had a choice. You made the right choice.”“On my way home from the film, I spotted a funny-looking tarot fortune-telling machine at the entrance of an arcade. In my uncertain state of mind, I figured it couldn't hurt to consult an expert.”“That led us into a twenty-minute discussion of the differences between Japanese and U.S. Porn. The reporters were shocked to learn that octopuses and other animals of the sea were rarely used to drape the genitals in American porn and that sex through panty hose wasn't a popular theme. I was asked to bring back some videotapes on my next visit to America.”“Objectivity is a subjective thing.”“The Japanese believe there's a right way to live, to love, to induce female orgasm, to chop off your pinkie, to take off your shoes, to swing a bat, to write an article about homicide, to die -even to kill yourself. There's a right way -a perfect way- to do everything.”

Of all things to recommend as an introduction to Japanese/American culture, this is certainly an odd choice (dealing with Japan's rotting underbelly, rather than their clean streets or high academic standards, say), but that's exactly what I did. A friend of mine is collaborating with Japanese colleagues at work (entirely legitimate), and I suggested he read this book as cultural background.In addition to all the TRUECRIME stuff, this book covers a lot of mundane cultural topics, transferable between journalism at a large company to other work in a large company, to relations between professionals in other aspects of Japanese life, etc.... and then there are the psychotic Yakusa, and Japan's attitudes towards sex, etc... wild stuff.I suspect Adelstein is following a contemporary Japanese literary tradition in journalist monographs in lying his head off whenever it can improve the story without distorting the facts. Once you appreciate that this is a) to protect sources b) doesn't change the ultimate facts c) makes for a better story and d) is (probably) what other Japanese authors are doing... I got over it, but this structure was the main draw-back for me.

I got bored with American crime dramas decades ago...same old pattern: drugs, booze, sadistic hoodlums, bosses, bad women and s*x for money. But the Japanese people look at life and the world and especially crime in a way that's totally different. This is the true story of Jewish man working as a crime reporter in Tokyo (I know! I said: 'why?' too). This story is unique. In this true story you'll see life, personal relations, s*x and crime through the lens of the oriental mind. Shocking, bizarre and tragically comedic. I've changed my mind about 'all over the world we're all basically the same'. Not even close!

I found this to be a fascinating & absorbing read. It is not a book wholly about the Japanese organised crime syndicates, more commonly known as The Yakuza but more about Jake Adelstein's life in Japan from the time he takes the entrance exams to become a journalist, his working life as a police beat journalist and through this, how he finds out and uncovers various stories about the crime syndicates themselves.Adelstein details various aspects of Japanese culture (especially how he is treated as an American Jewish guy working in Japan) and the way things are done by a journalist with regards to talking to police officers and making friends with them (and therefore cultivating very useful sources of information) so much so that he becomes very close to one of them, who he sees as his mentor and adviser when his life and that of his family is being threatened because he uncovers a story relating to a Yakuza boss going over to the US to get a liver transplant.He mentions his work and family environment and the various sleazy locations he had to investigate, as well as mentioning the Lucie Blackman murder, the human trafficking problems in Japan, loan sharking and various other criminal activities the Yakuza are involved in as well as how corporate these gangs have become.I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about true crime because it has extremely interesting details about crime in Japan in general as well as the Yakuza and how it is structured although I must stress, it is more about Adelstein's life as a journalist rather than an out and out book on Yakuza but this makes it is more entertaining and easier to read. I think it would interest people who would like to read about Japanese culture because Adelstein talks about work and personal relationships, the media and areas of Japanese criminal culture that are probably not covered in travel guides or history books.Adelstein's life in Japan is certainly an interesting one and he writes about it very well keeping the reader engaged and interested. Certainly worth reading.

Despite some excessively long parts in the first half of the book, when Adelstein is describing his early days as a reporter in Japan, this book is a gripping read, especially in the second half, when he gets more deeply involved in investigating the sordid and murky world of the yakuza. The key question is, "is it all true?", as the book presents itself as autobiography not fiction. Many people on the web have questioned Adelstein's credentials and reliability, but they may just be his yakuza enemies trying to discredit him. he was of course a crime reporter in Japan, but the question is whether it is the plain truth or embellished or exaggerated for the sake of a good book. I must warn readers that the book does not have a happy ending, but ends with an account of a very brutal murder which made me feel physically sick. The ending really hits you like a punch in the stomach, though you can see it coming far ahead. If this account turned out to be not true, then I would feel very exploited by the book. If the book is all true, then Adelstein must be an extremely damaged person as a result of his experiences, and I feel sorry for him and his family.

Jake Adelstein, like his book, is unconventional, entertaining, intelligent and flawed. A Jewish American who acquired Japanese language skills sufficient to be recruited as the first foreigner ever to work for Japan's top selling newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun (not to be confused with its English offshoot, the Daily Yomiuri), "Tokyo Vice" is the tale of Adelstein's unique experiences, including his near fatal run-in with one of Japan's major crime bosses and his admirable exposure of an important scandal.This true story starts off with a frightening encounter with a member of the Japanese mafia, the Yakuza, who threatens Adelstein's life. From this dramatic opening we return to Adelstein's early years on the Yomiuri crime beat, which while interesting for the sheer novelty of its gaijin take on the world of Japanese newspaper reporting and routine police work, lacks the drama of the second half of the book. For it is from around the half-way point that this until then merely adequate book takes off, as Adelstein stumbles across information suggesting that a Yakuza kingpin was granted a US visa by the FBI so that he could buy his way to the top of the liver transplant queue at UCLA hospital.Is this book written or structured to the very highest standards? Perhaps not. Would we all have made the same judgements as Adelstein? Unlikely, since most of us are both less obsessive and less brave than he. But this is a fascinating story that disabuses those like me who previously saw the Yakuza as a joke mafia, and also touches on the deeper scandal of the tolerance and even support they receive from parts of the Japanese establishment. An important, informative and at times thrilling book.

Jake Adelstein, American Jew, working in Japan as a journalist for a major Japanese newspaper; sounds like quite the concoction doesn't it?This book is a collection of some of Jake's most notorious experiences with the Japanese criminal underworld (which is not as hidden as one may expect) and the bizarre Japanese criminal justice system. The book is divided into a series of chapters which focus on the main cases which had a profound affect on the author's career and personal life.I was absolutely fascinated by the insight that this book gave into Japanese crime, policing, journalism and post-war culture. That for me was the highlight of the book; I always knew that Japan was a unique country, but I was completely unprepared for some of the discoveries I made whilst reading `Tokyo Vice'.I'm not sure that I could have done some of the things that the author did to obtain his information and results, but I do appreciate that he was living and working in a totally alien culture where working practices and customs were vastly different to those we are familiar with here in the West.This book is to be recommended to those who are interested in real life crime and all things Japanese.Completely compelling reading.

Really well written and very hard to put down. I have lived and worked in japan for a short while so I get more of a sense of things, perhaps. It illustrates the good side and the bad side of Japan and how difficult it is to get your head around how the Japanese really think. I don't buy everything he puts in the book as it seems a bit 'author biased' to me, but its a good read and informative but don't take everything too literally. Its a story as well as an auto biography. Aringato Jake San.