Tag Archives: Japan

So, where to start? Well let's begin with the Japanese mafia, the Yakuza, and the desire of one mob boss to terminate (with extreme prejudice) the career of an American-born journalist. Of course that would be bad enough except for the fact that the mobster involved just happens to head up a faction of the yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's biggest crime syndicate. Now the journalist in question is Jake Adelstein, the first American ever hired as a regular staff writer for a major Japanese newspaper. For much of his time in Japan, Adelstein worked the police round, reporting on crime and its consequences. He left that job when he found out his life was under threat. And he's now living outside of Japan and rather bravely, or perhaps rashly, preparing to publish a book later this year on the Yakuza and the man who wants him dead. His story not only reads like a crime novel, it's also a good insight into the way the media operates in Japan.