The Last Yakuza A Life in the Japanese Underworld

'Sacred, ferocious, and businesslike, Adelstein describes the Japanese mafia like nobody else.' Roberto Saviano, on Tokyo Vice

When acclaimed journalist Jake Adelstein hires a former Yakuza boss, known as the 'Tsunami', to be his driver and bodyguard, he soon finds himself swept into the violent heart of Tokyo's organised crime syndicates.

From gambling rackets and ritualised killings, to the forbidden pleasures of 'soapland', Adelstein's unlikely friendship with the 'Tsunami' gains him unprecedented access to the Yakuza - now under threat after years of tacit acceptance from Japanese society. But in a culture that prizes loyalty and honour above all else, how far can they go in their quest for truth about Tokyo's criminal underworld?

A riveting history of the Japanese mafia, featuring an unforgettable cast of supporting characters, The Last Yakuza is an electrifying - but ultimately uplifting - story of one man's life of crime.

[Barcode: 9781472109156]
[insert Corsair logo]
www.constablerobinson.com
[Insert Jacket design credit]

'The Last Yakuza might be a work of non-fiction, but it reads more like a thriller... a gripping read' - Irish News

'Sacred, ferocious, and businesslike, Adelstein describes the Japanese mafia like nobody else' Roberto Saviano, on Tokyo Vice

Makoto Saigo is half-American and half-Japanese in small-town Japan with a set of talents limited to playing guitar and picking fights. With rock stardom off the table, he turns toward the only place where you can start from the bottom and move up through sheer merit, loyalty, and brute force - the yakuza.

Saigo, nicknamed "Tsunami", quickly realizes that even within the organization, opinions are as varied as they come, and a clash of philosophies can quickly become deadly. One screw-up can cost you your life, or at least a finger.

The internal politics of the yakuza are dizzyingly complex, and between the ever-shifting web of alliances and the encroaching hand of the law that pushes them further and further underground, Saigo finds himself in the middle of a defining decades-long battle that will determine the future of the yakuza.

Written with the insight of an expert on Japanese organized crime and the compassion of a longtime friend, investigative journalist Jake Adelstein presents a sprawling biography of a yakuza, through post-war desperation, to bubble-era optimism, to the present. Including a cast of memorable yakuza bosses - Coach, The Buddha, and more - this is a story about the rise and fall of a man, a country, and a dishonest but sometimes honorable way of life on the brink of being lost.