Tokyo Vice

A riveting true-life tale of newspaper noir and Japanese organised crime from an American investigative journalist. Now a Max Original Series on HBO Max

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EITHER ERASE THE STORY, OR WE’LL ERASE YOU. AND MAYBE YOUR FAMILY. BUT WE’LL DO THEM FIRST, SO YOU LEARN YOUR LESSON BEFORE YOU DIE.

From the only American journalist ever to have been admitted to the insular Tokyo Metropolitan Police press club: a unique, first-hand, revelatory look at Japanese culture from the underbelly up.

At nineteen, Jake Adelstein went to Japan in search of peace and tranquility. What he got was a life of crime . . . crime reporting, that is, at the prestigious Yomiuri Shinbun. Working eighty-hour weeks for twelve years, he covered the seedy side of Japan, where extortion, murder, human trafficking and corruption are as familiar as ramen noodles and sake. But when his final scoop brought him face-to-face with Japan’s most infamous yakuza boss – and the threat of death for him and his family – Adelstein decided to step down . . . momentarily. Then, he fought back.

With its visceral descriptions and detailed exploration of the modern-day yakuza, Tokyo Vice is a deeply thought-provoking book: equal parts cultural exposé, true crime and hard-boiled noir.


‘Expertly told and highly entertaining’ GEORGE PELECANOS, writer and producer of The Wire

‘Sacred, ferocious, and businesslike, Adelstein describes the Japanese mafia like nobody else’ ROBERTO SAVIANO, author of Gomorrah

‘Gripping and absorbing . . . A terrifying, deeply moral story that you cannot put down’ MISHA GLENNY, author of McMafia