The latest limelight and upcoming events info

A new interview with Jake Adelstein is up on World Policy Institute focusing on the recent yakuza crackdown, but also touching on some interesting recent topics like their popularity in pop culture, and current political ties. What had prevented the government from cracking down on yakuza before? Japan doesn’t have a RICO act. It has [...]

Dirty diapers: How the sumo scandal is a casualty of the National Police Agency war on the yakuza

Sumo, yakuza, and gambling–What started as a scoop by weekly magazine Shukan Shincho revealing a somewhat imaginable connection between the three has blown up into a huge scandal that has lost several wrestlers their jobs and cost the sport sponsorship, TV slots and, worst of all, face. Foreign media have given the issue more than [...]

Upcoming event: End Modern-day Slavery

Heads up to all our Japan-based readers! For its latest event, Polaris Project will host author Jake Adelstein and other representatives for an evening on Thursday, May 27 to speak on issues related to human trafficking and crime in Japan. Place: Tokyo 21c Club, near Tokyo Station Time: 7-10pm Entry: ¥5,000 (Soft drinks and a [...]

Less on livers, more on livelihoods

The Japan Times published in last Sunday’s paper a mammoth of an interview with Jake by Mark Schreiber, stretching almost two entire pages across the Time Out section. While the news media is in no shortage of interviews with Mr. ‘Viceman’ Adelstein, this one is worth the read because, as Jake put it, “there’s little [...]

NPR animates yakuza girlfriends, serial killers, and other exciting things

After Jake’s interview on NPR earlier this month, Thomas Dreisbach and other interns put their skills to work in editing a segment about Jake’s time covering the case of Gen Sekine, animal breeder turned serial killer in Saitama. It’s a fun, quick-and-dirty summary of “The Saitama Dog Lover Serial Disappearances, Part 1 & 2″ (pages [...]