Good afternoon everyone I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this fabulous book today.
I have a bit of a fascination with gangs so this book really intrigued me. I’ve not heard anything about the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) before so I’m looking forward to learning more about them.
Find out more about the book below!
Huge thanks to Katy from Little Brown for sending me a copy of this book.
Book Synopsis:
Makoto Saigo is half-American and half-Japanese in small-town Japan with a set of talents limited to playing guitar and picking fights. With rock stardom off the table, he turns toward the only place where you can start from the bottom and move up through sheer merit, loyalty, and brute force – the yakuza.
Saigo, nicknamed “Tsunami”, quickly realizes that even within the organization, opinions are as varied as they come, and a clash of philosophies can quickly become deadly. One screw-up can cost you your life, or at least a finger.
The internal politics of the yakuza are dizzyingly complex, and between the ever-shifting web of alliances and the encroaching hand of the law that pushes them further and further underground, Saigo finds himself in the middle of a defining decades-long battle that will determine the future of the yakuza.
Written with the insight of an expert on Japanese organized crime and the compassion of a longtime friend, investigative journalist Jake Adelstein presents a sprawling biography of a yakuza, through post-war desperation, to bubble-era optimism, to the present. Including a cast of memorable yakuza bosses – Coach, The Buddha, and more – this is a story about the rise and fall of a man, a country, and a dishonest but sometimes honorable way of life on the brink of being lost.
About The Author:
Between writing books, I’m currently editing http://www.japansubculture.com. I was born in Missouri and first went to Japan in 1988 as an exchange student at Sophia. I spent most of my time in college living in a Zen Buddhist temple in Tokyo, failing to obtain enlightenment or even a little, tiny satori. I became a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper (circ. 10,000,000 daily) and was there from 1993 until close to the end of 2005, primarily as a crime reporter. I worked for a year on a human trafficking study of Japan sponsored by the US State Department from 2006-2007. Currently, I travel back and forth between Japan and the United States, writing both in English and Japanese for various publications under my own names and pen names. I do some consulting work on occasion. I’m also the temporary public relations representative for Polaris Project Japan, which combats human trafficking and other exploitation issues in Japan.
I hope you enjoyed the book or at least got something out of it. If you’re interested in the dark side of the sun–the problematic, interesting and strange aspects of Japanese society, please see our sporadically updated blog at http://www.japansubculture.com. I’m also hoping to add supplementary materials in Japanese and English that will be useful for people want to know more about crime in Japan and its other less talked about aspects.
Over The Rainbow Blog 