Writer

Jake Adelstein

Jake Adelstein has been an investigative journalist in Japan since 1993, writing in Japanese and English. He authored Tokyo Vice (now an HBO series), The Last Yakuza (2023), and Tokyo Noir (2024). He co-hosted the award-winning podcast The Evaporated: Gone with the Gods. A recognized expert on Japan’s organized crime, he’s reported for The LA Times, Tempura, and VICE. He is also a low-ranking Zen Buddhist priest, trying hard to be kinder and occasionally exorcising hungry ghosts.

Articles by Jake Adelstein

12 articles

Entertainment

July 5 Is the End of the World. Come Celebrate With Me on July 6

Is Japan going to sink to the bottom of the ocean on July 5th? Not likely. But what does a manga author's…

A smiling woman and man sit at a table amidst ostentatious gilded surroundings that typify Japanese host clubs.

Law & Crime

The Host Is Toast: Japan Approves Law To Crack Down On Host Club Hustlers

Hosts, Japan's grey zone version of aggressive gigolos, are about to find themselves in serious trouble. The predatory practices of these good…

Yakuza style guys, both in suits and glasses and one with a purple shirt

Law & Crime

The Great Yakuza War is Over! (Maybe)

The conflict has cost over 90 lives in blood-soaked scenes that wouldn’t have been out of place in a Takashi Miike film.

Fuji TV building in background with pictures of both Nakai Masahiro and Hieda Hisashi in the foreground

Entertainment

How The Fuji TV Scandal Became a Cultural Reckoning For Japan

The Nakai Masahiro/Fuji TV scandal feels like the most impactful media scandal in decades in Japan. What set it apart?

A copy of Jake Adelstein's The Last Yakuza superimposed over the tattooed torso of a yakuza gangster.

Law & Crime

Last Chance To Learn All About The Last Yakuza

On March 31st, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan will host a talk by author Jake Adelstein on his book, The Last…

Women

伊藤詩織さんへの裏切り：正義の味方は誰でしょうか

ホテル側に直接取材した。結論は映画公開に何の異議も唱えていない。それなのに誰がこの映像の使用に怒っているのか？

Featured

The Betrayal of Itō Shiori: When Lawyers Do More Harm Than Good

Itō Shiori's award-winning documentary BLACK BOX DIARIES still can't be screened in Japan. Is that truly in the interests of justice?

Paired images of Luigi Mangione and former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

Law & Crime

Luigi Mangione: The Parallels to Abe Shinzo’s Assassin

Was Luigi inspired by Japan's most recent folk hero assassin? (Or was it the public healthcare system?)