A review by trin
Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake Adelstein

3.0

Compelling look at Japanese culture, the Japanese underworld, and Japanese journalistic practices through the eyes of an American reporter who worked for a major publication in Tokyo until his work brought him under fire from the yakuza. The yakuza thing seems like the major hook, but it wasn’t for me: Adelstein’s day to day work at the paper, his struggles as a foreigner in a place not terribly open to foreigners, and his insights into Japanese culture and tradition—which he seems to truly seek understanding of and respect—were what really drew me to this book. Adelstein isn’t what I’d call brutally honest—there are clearly things he withholds—but he’s not self-aggrandizing, either. (Read his review of his own book for a general sense of the tone.) This is both a solid, interesting true crime book, and a solid, interesting book about Japan.