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Written by Jake Adelstein

• Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon
• On Sale: October 13, 2009
• Price: $26.00
• ISBN: 978-0-307-37879-8 (0-307-37879-9)

about this book

From the only American journalist ever to have been admitted to the insular Tokyo Metropolitan Police press club: a unique, firsthand, revelatory look at Japanese culture from the underbelly up.

At nineteen, Jake Adelstein went to Japan in search of peace and tranquility. What he got was a life of crime . . . crime reporting, that is, at the prestigious Yomiuri Shinbun. For twelve years of eighty-hour workweeks, he covered the seedy side of Japan, where extortion, murder, human trafficking, and corruption are as familiar as ramen noodles and sake. But when his final scoop brought him face to face with Japan’s most infamous yakuza boss—and the threat of death for him and his family—Adelstein decided to step down . . . momentarily. Then, he fought back.

In Tokyo Vice, Adelstein tells the riveting, often humorous tale of his journey from an inexperienced cub reporter—who made rookie mistakes like getting into a martial-arts battle with a senior editor—to a daring, investigative journalist with a price on his head. With its vivid, visceral descriptions of crime in Japan and an exploration of the world of modern-day yakuza that even few Japanese ever see, Tokyo Vice is a fascination, and an education, from first to last.

“Jake Adelstein writes in the classic hard-boiled Dashiell Hammett manner–complete with stubbed out cigarettes and a shot of whiskey shared with his cop informant–but this is not San Francisco or New York, it’s Tokyo, and it’s not fiction.  Those who live and work in Japan will recognize reality on every page.  It’s at times a harsh and ugly reality, but depicted humorously with whimsical details of Japan’s twilight world that we only dreamt of. A guaranteed page-turner.” –Alex Kerr, author of Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan

“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 Kabukichô 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

“Jake Adelstein's razor straight reporting from the mean streets of Tokyo is a coming of age story that reveals more than it pretends to—because he has the guts to find the truth, and the gall to tell it."—Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.
“A tale of a gaijin who stumbled onto a story so important and so dangerous that it put his life at risk. A yakuza offered him half a million dollars not to tell it. He wrote this book instead.” —Peter Hessler, author of River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze
“Anyone interested in tattooed yakuza, ‘soapland’ brothels, and the various other aspects of Japan's lurid underbelly is guaranteed to be electrified by Tokyo Vice. Why is a manual on the perfect way to commit suicide a Japanese bestseller? Who goes to sexual harassment clinics? What's it like to spend a night in a male hostess bar? Tokyo Vice reveals all this and more. It's a story of lust and profit; a chronicle of fear and determination; most of all, a modern bildungsroman that simultaneously illuminates the soul of its narrator and that of modern Japan through the underside of Tokyo, the world's most fascinating city. I loved this book for many reasons—its humor, its pathos, its insight, its honesty—and maybe most of all, for reminding me of how lucky I am to live here.”—Barry Eisler, author of Fault Line

“Terrific. With gallows humor and a hardboiled voice, Jake Adelstein’s memoir takes readers on a shadow journey through the Japanese underworld and examines the twisted relationships of journalists, cops, and gangsters. An unusual reading experience, expertly told and highly entertaining.”—George Pelecanos

"Vivid, insightful, and totally revealing of the decadent, seedy and sexual parts of Japanese society, Tokyo Vice is ripping fun."--Karl Taro Greenfeld, author of Speed Tribes: Days and Nights with Japan's Next Generation

"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

“Sacred, ferocious and businesslike. This is the Japanese mafia that Adelstein describes like nobody else.”—Roberto Saviano, author of Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System

“Not just a hard-boiled true-crime thriller, but an engrossing, troubling look at crime and human exploitation in Japan.”—Kirkus

“Very colorful . . . very entertaining.”—The Seattle Weekly
“[A] gripping story. . . . Fascinating. . . . Pulls the curtain back on a sordid element of Japanese society that few Westerners ever see. In addition to his clash with [a] yakuza boss, Adelstein details the more notable cases from his 12-year career at the Yomiuri, including "The Chichibu Snack-mama Murder Case" and "The Emperor of Loan Sharks”. . . . Adelstein's Tokyo is a veritable Gomorrah where nearly every act of intimacy is legally bought and sold.”—San Francisco Examiner

[A] gripping story. . . . Fascinating. . . . Pulls the curtain back on a sordid element of Japanese society that few Westerners ever see. In addition to his clash with [a] yakuza boss, Adelstein details the more notable cases from his 12-year career at the Yomiuri, including "The Chichibu Snack-mama Murder Case" and "The Emperor of Loan Sharks”. . . . Adelstein's Tokyo is a veritable Gomorrah where nearly every act of intimacy is legally bought and sold.”—San Francisco Examiner

“Debut author Adelstein began with a routine, but never dull, police beat; before long, he was notorious worldwide for engaging the dirtiest, top-most villains of Japan’s organized criminal underworld, the yakuza. Thanks to [Adelstein’s] immersive reporting, readers suffer with him through the choice between personal safety and a chance to confront the evil inhabiting his city. . . . Adelstein also examines the investigative reporter’s tendency to withdraw into cynicism (“when a reporter starts to cool down, it’s very hard… ever to warm up again”) but faithfully sidesteps that urge, producing a deeply thought-provoking book: equal parts cultural exposé, true crime, and hard-boiled noir.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review