Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan
Published last year (2009), Tokyo Vice was written by Jake Adelstein, an American born journalist who came to Japan at 19 and worked for 12 years in the Yomiuri Shinbun, a national Japanese language newspaper, as a crime reporter covering the famed Tokyo Metropolitan Police.
This book provides a sometimes humorous look at the unique Japanese culture as Adelstein embarked on his career as a Japanese salaryman working 80+ hour weeks and after work drinking gatherings. More seriously and sometimes worrisome, the story gave an inside look at the mysterious and dangerous Japanese crime world of the yakuza, sex clubs and human trafficking.
My wife and I both enjoyed reading the book as it brought back some fond memories of living in Tokyo (of course, without the yakuza and the sex clubs). Two thumbs up!
A short book excerpt was featured in Metropolis magazine last year.
Konnichiwa 