Jake Adelstein on Tokyo's yakuza

Investigative journalist Jake Adelstein was embedded with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police for years breaking stories on people trafficking and the city's dark underbelly.
Here he talks about how the yakuza works within the system with some surprising insights.
Adelstein appeared as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival.

[@ramencoke]

Who’s here from Tokyo vice ?

[@user-ov1ps7go4m]

Me

[@hadidaoud7930]

Hello 👋

[@ValCronin]

This show is excellent. It takes a good quality show to keep my attention. This is the first show I've been able to get into in weeks.

[@ramencoke]

yeah ... im super excited for season 2 @@ValCronin

[@iSpacewalker]

Yo ho yo ho!

[@robisacomedian572]

Those gloves are criminal.

[@phalinvij]

Found this after watching Tokyo Vice 2022

[@raptorhacker599]

so its based on this guy?

[@retertivelag]

@@raptorhacker599 basically

[@kev1119]

Had no idea it was based on a true story

[@the20minutegym89]

Yes same here. I'm wondering if he was referring to sato as the yakuza friend

[@Marc-io8qm]

Like many other liberal Jews this guy seeks to dissolve unique cultures by promoting mixing and multiculturalism etc. Jews like me see him as an enemy to what’s beautiful in the world. We should preserve all of our cultures- not let them be homogenised so they are more easily controlled by globalists. Adelstein writes articles about how Japan needs to be more Diverse (see article about Japan •needing• foreign blood) while Israel has walls. Japan survived nuclear bombs to remain Japanese but would be destroyed rapidly by mass forced migration. An old culture destroyed by the greed of others. I call it evil. Once a unique culture is gone it is gone forever. Do not let these people dissolve the rest of the cultures in the world like they have to the West. And don’t let them use their weaponised words like “racist” etc to silence you from helping preserve the beauty in each unique culture.

[@cadillacmac7099]

Now I can't read his book without imagining him in the fingerless gloves.

[@flyingcucumber]

Exactly! what the hell! He's supposed to be cool🥲

[@crobeastness]

@@flyingcucumber they were cool in 1999. He never adapted to the times it seems.

[@WellActualllyyy]

can’t unsee

[@flyingcucumber]

@@crobeastness I'd also like to live in the 90s forever. It was a simpler time, when yakuza was still a thing and Yomiuri Shimbun was still printed on paper

[@Leon-zu1wp]

@@flyingcucumber He is cool but he's Japan cool

[@juggaknott1]

Lost me with the gloves

[@kaguth]

He's going for that Judd Nelson in the Breakfast Club look

[@AA-ok5jz]

An assessment of Jake Adelstein by the world's best yakuza experts. "Not only do they misrepresent the yakuza, they make themselves into the heroes of crime novels and start telling the world that they are yakuza experts. It is tedious, time-consuming, and frequently causes trouble. I have learned the hard way that my name and work are often used to enhance the credibility of this work."

[@annarky2161]

In the US, insurance companies skim 30% of every healthcare dollar, the big banks get unlimited amounts of tax money, we pay at the pump a gas price inflated by speculators, and students can't afford their loan payments, yet we think "organized crime" is something exotic, like the yakusa, or the mafia....

[@stoffelthedestroyer3741]

9 years later, and shit only gets worse xDDDDD

[@bambi.nisseni]

@@stoffelthedestroyer37412 years later and things look worse

[@vonbeaver99]

I like how’s he’s talking about the yakuza like it’s the worst thing ever…

[@rltiger11]

the gloves really...

[@marcin5690]

Who is watching Tokyo Vice on HBO?

[@DaMazzaf97]

"Ohhh jake-san, where arr your pretty groves????"

[@zambimaru]

"No plea bargaining, very little wire tapping, no witness protection, no witness relocation, no undercover work". How the hell do the police get anything done?

[@red2977]

Conviction rate in Japan is over 99% its just top yakuza don't go down

[@ewah-sy8dy]

@@red2977 their conviction rate is dubious

[@lastsummerday]

They don’t….

[@neinlives9424]

@@red2977 that is a horse shit statistic mate

[@rreaves]

@@red2977 its high because they wont prosecute cases they cant win

[@Nuuccii92]

Maybe he rides a bike to get from place to place being a reporter and being in Tokyo can't always be convenient to drive a car.

[@patwhw]

And now Yakuza are just phony scam callers. So much have changed after this interview. A lot of anti yakuza laws. Yamaguchi-gumi which he says has 40 000 members in this interview had 8500 members last year.

[@melodyal3357]

I didn't have idea who he was, found out just after watching Tokyo Vice. Amazing show, knowing it was inspired by true events, wow. Can't wait for season 2. Btw why the gloves? :DDDDD

[@MrRanger559]

Now that I know it’s based on a true story, I’m pretty sure Jake wasn’t really sleeping with all them women lmfao

[@evanpetelle5669]

Oh, he probably was. He just had to pay for it.

[@maxcady360]

I dig those fingerless gloves, bro.

[@Victor-fm3xd]

Those fingerless gloves instantly invalidated anything he says.

[@neinlives9424]

why is jake in a suit and Rocky Philly street thug gloves

[@transvestosaurus878]

There's just something about this guy that's incredibly untrustworthy

[@Nuuccii92]

Life is full of contradictions. Also remember his book takes place over about 15years (not written over that time i'd think) so his views will change over time and maybe even revert over another period of time.

[@JoeHeine]

I read the Yakusa expose by Kaplan in college. Very interesting and deep history.

[@nandimri]

They risk turning one mans obsession in to a crusade. That is why he still lives.

[@SethMcFartlane]

Anytime someone has a fanciful story you should be dubious. If they are being paid for said fanciful story, if they go on to work for Vice and DailyBeast then you'll need a wheelbarrow full of salt if you're going to swallow anything they say.

[@Southpaw_canvass]

Great book!. Incredible TV series. My favorite series in a very long time. It's perfect.

[@tylertheguy3160]

Why's he wearing fingerless gloves?

[@arlindblaze4148]

because he is badass

[@Victor-fm3xd]

@@arlindblaze4148 definitely not

[@ValCronin]

@@Victor-fm3xd He is 10 times more badass than you'll ever be. Imagine the balls on someone necessary to live the life he has lived.

[@trent2kg813]

@@ValCroninare you being sarcastic?

[@ValCronin]

@@trent2kg813 Not even a little bit, nor would it be logical to hold that point of view.

[@redsoxfox]

This guy is real, just finished Tokyo Vice

[@thedolphin5428]

No, this guy is only half as full of shit as the show.

[@TheSaltyAdmiral]

What's up with the Halloween store leather gloves?

[@hananokuni2580]

If the Yamaguchi-gumi really wanted him dead, he would not be giving this interview. As well, Jake has lived in Japan long enough to know what's up with the Yakuza gangs. The way these gangs operate is highly fascinating, at least for me.

[@maximaaliguyon8089]

I am also amazed how he can get out of Japan when people can be killed like dirt...somethings a bit questionable here. I was there and witnessed that people are burned infront of their embassy by the YAKUSA in the 80's!

[@erdenejargalbathishig812]

Look at those fingerless gloves...

[@jollywong1118]

why does he wear gloves?

[@bloodsports94]

This dude is a lot less cool than Ansel lol.

[@alfonsoportugal6754]

The book is excellent, well written and very revealing. So many things I didn't know about Japan.

[@vonbeaver99]

So the creators obsession with yakuza is even crazier than the show

[@Jesse-cx4si]

Did he get off a small motorcycle as the interview began??

[@gohmifune]

@zambimaru They don't really. He makes that point in his book. The rig and cover up things to make it seem that they are productive, but aren't.

[@Victor-fm3xd]

This dude doesn’t seem very believable lmao

[@ChosenOne1991]

Dude. He was the first ever foreigner to become a top journalist and crime reporter in one of Japans 5 major news companies. This was unheard of at the time. Working for nearly 20 years on the beat. Hes always been the go to guy for Yakuza info. Especially from other famous media channels. Nat Geo, Vice News, BBC, Daily Beast, CNN, etc. An they just made a semi- biography show on HBO based on events from his career. So yeah. No hes not full of shit.

[@YoWasupImADude-xv6hi]

​@@ChosenOne1991 It's literally just the gloves.

[@Nuuccii92]

There's a difference in liking a person but hating what the Yakuza are :S

[@sbakernyc5761]

😅😅 what the fuck are rhe gloves 😅😅😂😂

[@dylangraf7626]

I’ve heard a lot of rumors about this guy lying about his stories. Anyone care to provide some context to these rumors?

[@SpencerLewis-tg8xz]

There are websites about inconsistencies if you look for them. I just finished the book Tokyo Vice and my bullshit detector was going off for a lot of it and that was without reading that any of it could potentially be false. The book IS good though; just go in treating it like a work of fiction.

[@Dornenkrone]

Bear in mind, he is a CIA informant. Hence, that book is definitely authority approved.

[@davidetre]

@lonewolf1147 yes the gloves really bother me, is he trying to be cool or something? ...

[@steveomcbigarms]

Fingerless gloves ehhh

[@hananokuni2580]

Not much has changed since the days of the samurai. After the Meiji Restoration, some ex-samurai were employed by the Yakuza and afterwards these gangs became more and more like the samurai fiefdoms of previous eras, at least in their organizational cultures. Like the samurai who served his liege, a soldier in the Yakuza exists to serve his oyabun - and treachery is good if it helps complete the mission.

[@erick2853]

Boss:"take care of our city councilman" Henchman: *murders councilman* Boss: "bro i meant like take him on a night on the town, ya know a nice steak dinner, some drinks, women, etc"

[@jamal.k]

Christmas is coming🤔 -fingerless gloves

[@anthonymontali3551]

i thought everything was interesting until i saw the gloves what a goofy dude

[@CaleSchmitz]

Journalist gets himself into more trouble than he cared for.

[@chrissycuz]

What’s with those lame gloves

[@bkn4]

I though it was the Dice man

[@williamwalker6058]

Food looks interesting

[@ProDoucher]

Wait this dude isn’t a fictional character?

[@dmitrydagaev2750]

wtf this is real story? wow!

[@peacemen6460]

WTF he is not fiction at all?! Tokyo Vice has flaws but still interesting to watch.

[@RoastyPotato]

How much of it is true has been challenged by many.

[@decred5710]

Jake can't say much, he seems nervous because he can barely say anything.

[@CaleSchmitz]

But what about those stylish finger gloves.Journalism requires not looking cool intentionally.

[@ValCronin]

I want to read his book but I'm not going to pay for it.

[@johnm84]

The Yakuza have been declining and the Yakuza are not as big and powerful as they use to.

[@Wojciech_Gola]

Maybe Yakuza wants us to think about them that way? Money like silence

[@jimbean7652]

yeah a yt guy again telling people how things work

[@happyface2373]

Interi yakuza

[@fajaralfakir8455]

Tokyo vice

[@user-tk1jj1cp9x4]

The most interesting foreign journalist writing about Japan today. Was great when Peter Hessler, the equivalent for China, went and profiled Jake for the New Yorker.

[@maximaaliguyon8089]

maybe his pinkie was removed too...like the Yakusa or trying to make us think so his book will sell but I bought it and it seems real BUT when he talks...somethings not right!

[@tarajordan1385]

でたらめ。。。。

[@Victor-fm3xd]

Yup

[@wes788411]

This guy looks like he’s full of it.

[@josefshopovich7584]

He is a cute guy. I like the interview.

[@TheNarutodude1995]

You mean to tell me this nigga looks like Adam Sandler

[@CampfireHeadphase]

its a jew thing

[@ValCronin]

@@CampfireHeadphase Exactly what I was going to say.

[@ChosenOne1991]

They reference that in the tv show.

[@trent2kg813]

😂😂