Random House

Published: 2009 (Random House and Pantheon)

Setting: Saitama and Tokyo, Japan

Summary: Jake Adelstein is a reporter, one with a code and a conscience and eventually an axe to grind. Through his various run-ins with cops, sex workers, other reporters, and the yakuza Adelstein learned that the underbelly of Japan is ultimately as dark and exploitative as any other. Adelstein worked his way up, from cub reporter to reporting hitman of the yakuza, with a colorful cast of characters in his steed. Adelstein balances insight and critique of Japan in a way that is nuanced, and sometimes scathing. Adelstein paints the yakuza as full of people with different codes, but as an organization that lost its way amid the success of their financial reach and power.

Quote of the book: "Paradise didn't last long" (145). This quote encapsulates Adelstein's journey through Saitama and Tokyo as a reporter. Whatever trouble Adelstein ended up getting into in his next assignment, it came fast. 

Favorite character: Sekiguchi, this cop seemed like the hero of Adelstein's story and memory of his time on the beat. 

Favorite setting: The Old Saitama Office, Adelstein described it as if it was out of a hard-boiled detective novel. 

Please Stay for: The deep and profound insights Adelstein gives the reader regarding the yakuza, the drug trade, and sex crimes. It is apparent that Adelstein knew what he was good at and fully exercised those skills. 

Please Question: Adelstein's hubris, even though it's why he is good at his job he comes across as a pompous at times, and self-congratulatory at others. Anyone who would write a memoir falls into that category though, it comes with the territory.