Tokyo Noir

in and out of Japan's underworld
Jake Adelstein

‘Journalist Adelstein follows up The Last Yakuza with another illuminating blend of memoir and reportage … As always, the author’s ability to boil down Japan’s complex sociopolitical dynamics in sharp, often-humorous prose impresses … For true crime fans, this is a treat.’

Publishers Weekly

‘Mafioso, dirty dealings, true crime — it’s all inherently interesting. And Tokyo Noir is exactly the sort of sequel you’d want to the now-seminal Tokyo Vice.’

Unseen Japan

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Praise for The Last Yakuza:

‘Journalist Adelstein parlays decades of reporting on Japanese organised crime into a propulsive history of the yakuza. Drawing on interviews with both his yakuza and Japanese law enforcement contacts, he examines how yakuza groups obtained power … He’s especially good at tracing the yakuza’s political influence in Japan, explaining how they bribed and blackmailed legislators into opposing bills that would have curbed their influence. Painstakingly reported and paced like a thriller, this is a must read for anyone interested in organised crime.’

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Tokyo Vice:

‘Tokyo Vice is about Japanese subculture. Adelstein instructs us in the vagaries of Japanese journalism and provides a gamy, colourful tour of the morally flexible areas of Japan, particularly in Tokyo. He also shows how Japanese police work and interact with journalists. Adelstein shares juicy, salty, and occasionally funny anecdotes, but many are frightening … Adelstein doesn’t lack for self-confidence … but beneath the bravado are a big heart and a relentless drive for justice.’

Carlo Wolff, The Boston Globe

Praise for Tokyo Vice:

‘[Adelstein’s] juicy and vividly detailed account of investigations into the shadowy side of Japan shows him to be more enterprising, determined, and crazy than most … Adelstein builds his stories with as much surprise and grit as any Al Pacino or Mark Wahlberg movie, blurring the lines between the cops, the crooks, and even the journalists … Tokyo Vice is often so snappy and quotable that it sounds as if it were a treatment for a Scorsese movie set in Queens … [E]ven as he is getting slapped around by thugs and placed under police protection, Adelstein never loses his gift for crisp storytelling and an unexpectedly earnest eagerness to try to rescue the damned.’

Pico Iyer, Time

Praise for Tokyo Vice:

‘In this dark, often humorous journey through the underworld of Tokyo, Jake Adelstein captures exactly what it means to be a gaijin and a reporter. Whether he is hunting for tips in Kabukicho or pressing yakuza for information, it is an adventure only he could write. For anyone interested in Japan or journalism, this is a must read.’

Robert Whiting, author of Tokyo Underworld

Praise for Tokyo Vice:

‘A gripping and absorbing read. Very few foreigners ever come close to discovering what’s really going on in Japan’s closed society. Adelstein chases two major stories that pull him into a vortex of destruction, threatening his friendships, his marriage, and even his life. As he battles with profound issues concerning truth and trust, Tokyo Vice approaches a heart-pounding denouement. This is a terrifying, deeply moral story which you cannot put down, and Adelstein, if occasionally reckless, is an extremely courageous man.’

Misha Glenny, author of McMafia: a journey through the global criminal underworld

‘It might be packaged as a hard-boiled, gonzo tour through Japan’s underworld, but this intricate tale keeps unfolding in unexpected ways … It’s tempting to call this story Chandleresque, but there’s a depth of feeling and undercurrent of spiritual questing that goes beyond Chandler’s remit.’

The Sydney Morning Herald

A darkly comic sequel to Tokyo Vice that is equal parts history lesson, true-crime exposé, and memoir.

It’s 2008, and it’s been a while since Jake Adelstein was the only gaijin crime reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun. The global economy is in shambles, Jake is off the police beat but still chain-smoking clove cigarettes, and Tadamasa Goto, the most powerful boss in the Japanese organised crime world, has been banished from the yakuza, giving Adelstein one less enemy to worry about — for the time being. But as he puts his life back together, he discovers that he may be no match for his greatest enemy — himself.

And Adelstein has a different gig these days: due diligence work, or using his investigative skills to dig up information on entities whose bosses would prefer that some things stay hidden.

The underworld isn’t what it used to be. Underneath layers of paperwork, corporations are thinly veiled fronts for the yakuza. Pachinko parlours are a hidden battleground between disenfranchised Korean Japanese and North Korean extortion plots. TEPCO, the electric power corporation keeping the lights on for all of Tokyo, scrambles to hide its willful oversights that ultimately led to the 2011 Fukushima meltdown. And the Japanese government shows levels of corruption that make the yakuza look like philanthropists in comparison. All this is punctuated by personal tragedies no one could have seen coming.

In this ambitious and riveting work, Jake Adelstein explores what it’s like when you’re in too deep to distinguish the story you chase from the life you live.

Publishers Weekly

‘Mafioso, dirty dealings, true crime — it’s all inherently interesting. And Tokyo Noir is exactly the sort of sequel you’d want to the now-seminal Tokyo Vice.’

Unseen Japan

View all reviews

Praise for The Last Yakuza:

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Tokyo Vice:

Carlo Wolff, The Boston Globe

Praise for Tokyo Vice:

Pico Iyer, Time

Praise for Tokyo Vice:

Robert Whiting, author of Tokyo Underworld

Praise for Tokyo Vice:

Misha Glenny, author of McMafia: a journey through the global criminal underworld

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 234mm × 153mm

Extent:320pp

ISBN (13):9781761380235

RRP:$36.99

Pub date:14 May 2024

Rights Held: World English

High-res cover:Download Image

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AUTHOR

Jake Adelstein

Jake Adelstein has been an investigative journalist in Japan since 1993, writing in Japanese and English. He authored Tokyo Vice (now an HBO series), The Last Yakuza (2023), and Tokyo Noir (2024). He co-hosted the award-winning podcast The Evaporated: gone with the gods. A recognised expert on Japan’s organised crime, he’s reported for The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Times, Tempura, and VICE. He is also a low-ranking Zen Buddhist priest, trying hard to be kinder and occasionally exorcising hungry ghosts. Adelstein frequently appears as a commentator on Japanese crime and culture, working as a writer and consultant.