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marlzipan's reviews
368 reviews
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
5.0
I love histories told through a specific, highly personal lens and this history of cults and cult-like institutions told from the perspective of a linguist is just that.
Shuna's Journey by Hayao Miyazaki
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Slavery
The Last Yakuza: life and death in the Japanese underworld by Jake Adelstein
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
It is a popularly held belief that life in Japan is is something like the depiction we see in Ghibli films and slice-of-life anime. And while peaceful coastal life, gorgeous natural vistas, delicious food and a culture of politeness and courtesy are all part of life in Japan, like all countries, it has its underbelly. There are few people who write about this underbelly the way Jake Adelstein does. A long-time investigate journalist who spent twenty years on the crime beat, largely writing for the Yomiuri Shinbun in Tokyo, as their first non-Japanese staff writer, Adelstein's first book, Tokyo Vice, chronicles this time. His most recent, The Last Yakuza is a memoir of one particular yakuza who Adelstein became friends with after employing him as a bodyguard (if you want to know why he needed a bodyguard, read Tokyo Vice to find out!). The Last Yakuza is fascinating, compelling, and through it's memoir-biographical lens, paints a very human picture of what motivates people to enter the world of organised crime.