Jake Adelstein – Tokyo Vice – Review

 

This is an informative and entertaining memoir of Adelstein's experiences as the first gaijin (foreigner) to work in Japan's largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, as a cub reporter to rise to a criminal investigative journalist. We get an inside look into Japanese culture, from the essential customs of the middle class to the seedy underworld of prostitution, murder, fraud, and human trafficking. Adelstein's work with Japan's infamous yakuza (Japan's mafia) reveals a different kind of policing and a unique relationship between law enforcement and Japan's organized crime.

This is a very personal text. A significant part of a working journalist in Japan is creating relationships with the police and the criminals. Protecting one's source is universal for a journalist; however, it is a life and death rule as a journalist on Japan's crime beat. Trust is essential, and betraying that trust destroys careers and lives.

Adelstein's persistence, charm, and 'gift of the gab' ensured his success with his colleagues, connections, and sources. First and foremost, working on the crime beat, and getting the elusive scoop is essential. It is understood that working for a company like Yomiuri Shimbun  everything else in your life takes a back seat. Working 18-hour days is the norm. Sleeping at the office is commonplace. Wining, dining, and gifting sources is an absolute. In the west, this method is akin to bribery. In Japan, however, it is a sign of respect and knowing your place in the social hierarchy.

There is no doubt that Adelstein's talent for painting about the many characters he meets and works with throughout the text. Similar to a good novel, we come to know these people and gain a particular affection for them. Detective Sekiguchi, for me, is one such character.

In the beginning, Adelstein seeks the Detective out on the beat. Over time, what we see is a growing relationship with Sekiguchi and with his entire family. In the truest sense, Sekiguchi was Jake's mentor for creating relationships, protecting sources, and giving the young journalist a window into the yakuza. Through Jake's connections to the yakuza, his investigations lead him to betrayal within the yakuza leadership and a vast human trafficking ring spanning across Japan and the world.

What Adelstein reveals about the Tokyo yakuza put him and his family in great danger, causing them to leave Japan. From 2006 to 2007, he traveled back as a chief investigator for the US State Department-sponsored study of human trafficking in Japan. Through these investigations, many antiquated sex laws in the country were changed. But as many people know, human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide.

I found this book fascinating on many levels: primary culture and customs, attitudes to crime in general, and Japan's law enforcement methods and techniques, including their unique relationship with the press.

Tokyo Vice is educational and highly entertaining from beginning to end.