The reason I read this book was because of an awesome interview with the author on KUOW - one of the local National Public Radio Station here in Seattle, WA. During this interview Adelstein talked a lot about the fascinating stories he tells in his book. He talked about how he got a job with one of the major newspapers in Japan - which was no small feat in itself; how he got on the hit list of the local Japanese mob (the Yakuza) and had to eventually leave Japan, and his time cultivating friendships with hookers and policemen alike because they were his most important sources. Some of these people became his friends and each of them added to the richness of his life and the tales in the book.
Fair warning: This book is not for the squeamish or the moralist. He worked in the trenches and he dealt daily in murder and the sex industry. The latter of which was legal in Japan as long as there was no actual sex. Everything but sex was allowed and that industry thrived and hummed to its own base and sordid tune.
I found this book to be funny - laugh out loud funny. He describes someone in the book and says the gentleman has a comb-over hairstyle. He then informs you that in Japan, this is called a 'bar-code'! There are many things like this where you get a feel of the Japanese culture and you realize it isn't as foreign as maybe you once thought it was.
By the way - the reason he was on the Yakuza hit list? He'd stumbled on a story about top Yakuza men getting organ transplants in the US. These folks technically weren't even allowed in the US, yet somehow they had not only gotten in, but they'd managed to get on the transplant list here and gotten the operations.
All of Adelstein's prurient talk of sex and murder and murder and sex are inter-woven with the stories of his deep friendship with one of the cops, his love for his wife and son and his distaste for the sex industry and human trafficking. The last chapter of this book, more than any other shows the enduring humanity of the author and makes you wish that the book would never end.
Rating: 9 / 10
ISBN: 9780307378798
Publisher: Pantheon
Edition: 1st Edition