
The Last Yakuza
Life and Death in the Japanese Underworld
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Narrated by:
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Brian Nishii
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By:
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Jake Adelstein
About this listen
The Last Yakuza tells the history of the yakuza like it’s never been told before.
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 “The 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―The 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.
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Performance
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It's men like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone who gave Hell's Kitchen its name. In the mid-1970s, these two longtime friends take the reins of New York's Irish mob, using brute force to give it hitherto unthinkable power. Jimmy, a charismatic sociopath, is the leader. Mickey, whose memories of Vietnam torture him daily, is his enforcer. Together they make brutality their trademark, butchering bodies or hurling them out the window.
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Great book
- By Julio on 06-28-18
By: T. J. English
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Across the Nightingale Floor
- Tales of the Otori, Book One
- By: Lian Hearn
- Narrated by: Kevin Gray, Aiko Nakasone
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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A tour-de-force novel set in ancient Japan filled with passion, fantasy, and feuding warlords. The first volume in the highly anticipated Tales of the Otori trilogy.
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Wonderful epic story
- By Jody R. Nathan on 10-04-03
By: Lian Hearn
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Borgata: Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia
- Borgata Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Louis Ferrante
- Narrated by: Louis Ferrante
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In this first volume, Ferrante traces the mafia's phenomenal "rise of empire" through larger-than-life characters and legendary mobsters as they provide alcohol to the American public during Prohibition, penetrate industrial labor unions, practically take over the island of Cuba and, with extraordinary vision, create the gambling mecca of Las Vegas.
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Ferrante hits the trifecta
- By Richard P Paczynski on 04-12-25
By: Louis Ferrante
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The Snakehead
- An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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A mesmerizing narrative about the rise and fall of an unlikely international crime boss. Based on hundreds of interviews, Patrick Radden Keefe's sweeping narrative tells the story not only of Sister Ping, but of the gangland gunslingers who worked for her, the immigration and law enforcement officials who pursued her, and the generation of penniless immigrants who risked death and braved a 17,000 mile odyssey so that they could realize their own version of the American dream.
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But Is It a Crime?
- By Roy on 08-23-09
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Riding with Evil
- Taking Down the Notorious Pagan Motorcycle Gang
- By: Ken Croke, Dave Wedge
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Longtime ATF agent Ken Croke had earned the right to coast to the end of a storied career, having routinely gone undercover to apprehend white supremacists, gun runners, and gang members. But after a chance encounter with an associate of the Pagan Motorcycle Gang created an opening, he transformed himself into “Slam,” a monstrous, axe-handle wielding enforcer whose duty was to protect the leadership “mother club” at all costs.
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Hooked from the First Line
- By J.A.Vess on 03-23-22
By: Ken Croke, and others
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Live as a Man. Die as a Man. Become a Man.
- By: Enson Inoue
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Live as a man. Die as a man. Become a man. Yamatodamashii is roughly translated as Samurai Spirit or old spirit of Japan and has become synonymous with Enson Inoue. He was given this nickname by the Japanese people because of the way he carries himself inside and outside of the ring. This philosophy permeates throughout Enson’s experiences, helping him gain a different perspective on life with every new challenge that has come his way. He is the first World Shooto Heavyweight Champion, UFC fighter, Pride fighter, and pioneer of modern MMA. He gives an in-depth account of his philosophical...
By: Enson Inoue
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Shogun
- The Life and Times of Tokugawa Ieyasu: Japan's Greatest Ruler
- By: A.L. Sadler, Stephen Turnbull - foreword, Alexander Bennett - foreword
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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For 700 years, Japan was ruled by military commanders who waged war against one another incessantly. Shogun tells the fascinating story of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the man who finally unified and brought lasting peace to the nation. He established a new central government which enabled his descendants to rule Japan for the next 260 years—a period in which Japanese culture as we know it today flourished.
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This is a boring reference book
- By Antone Ferreira on 05-25-24
By: A.L. Sadler, and others
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American Kingpin
- The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road
- By: Nick Bilton
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2011, a 26-year-old libertarian programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine website hosted on the Dark Web where anyone could trade anything - drugs, hacking software, forged passports, counterfeit cash, poisons - free of the government's watchful eye. It wasn't long before the media got wind of the new website where anyone - not just teenagers and weed dealers but terrorists and black hat hackers - could buy and sell contraband detection-free.
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An honest portrait of DPR
- By Victor on 05-18-17
By: Nick Bilton
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A Brief History of Japan
- Samurai, Shogun and Zen: The Extraordinary Story of the Land of the Rising Sun
- By: Jonathan Clements
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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With intelligence and wit, author Jonathan Clements blends documentary and storytelling styles to connect the past, present, and future of Japan, and in broad yet detailed strokes reveals a country of paradoxes: a modern nation steeped in ancient traditions; a democracy with an emperor as head of state; a famously safe society built on 108 volcanoes resting on the world's most active earthquake zone; a fast-paced urban and technologically advanced country whose land consists predominantly of mountains and forests.
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A Brief Review of the Book
- By Than on 12-07-19
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Abroad in Japan
- By: Chris Broad
- Narrated by: Chris Broad
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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When Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he'd made a huge mistake. With no knowledge of the language and zero teaching experience, was he was about to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan's history? Abroad in Japan charts a decade of living in a foreign land and the chaos and culture clash that comes with it. Packed with hilarious and fascinating stories, this book seeks out to unravel one the world's most mysterious and impenetrable cultures.
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Met Expectations
- By N. S. W. on 10-30-23
By: Chris Broad
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Tracers in the Dark
- The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency
- By: Andy Greenberg
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the last decade, a single innovation has massively fueled digital black markets: cryptocurrency. Crime lords inhabiting lawless corners of the internet have operated more freely—whether in drug dealing, money laundering, or human trafficking—than their analog counterparts could have ever dreamed of. By transacting not in dollars or pounds but in currencies with anonymous ledgers, overseen by no government, beholden to no bankers, these black marketeers have sought to rob law enforcement of their chief method of cracking down on illicit finance: following the money.
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Could not put this down
- By Mike Reaves on 01-28-23
By: Andy Greenberg
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Musashi
- By: Eiji Yoshikawa, Charles S. Terry - translator
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 53 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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The classic samurai novel about the real exploits of the most famous swordsman. Miyamoto Musashi becomes a reluctant hero to a host of people whose lives he has touched and by whom he has been touched. Inevitably, he has to pit his skill against the naked blade of his greatest rival.
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Good Historical Novel
- By The Walking Dude on 08-11-19
By: Eiji Yoshikawa, and others
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Not a Very Good Murderer
- By: Ronan Farrow
- Narrated by: Ronan Farrow
- Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
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In this wild, genre-bending audio documentary, New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Ronan Farrow dives deep into the strange and storied life of high-society socialite and former Miss Arizona Celia (Cece) Doane.
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Entertaining, but....
- By David P on 03-28-25
By: Ronan Farrow
The summary promised a dizzying look into the Yakuzza and that was definitely true. There were a lot of people, factions, and life philosophies spread out over decades and even centuries. It was interesting … to a point. It was a little odd to hear the dry, matter of fact narration as we’re told about people being violently beaten or coerced. I was also never much sold on the protagonist Saigo, and I’m not sure if that’s because, as the author stated, his character was a combination of different real-life people, or if it was because I wasn’t meant to root for him or his organization.
“He was just the hammer of karma.”
I was most fascinated by the descriptions of prison life, as well as of the Yakuzza’s decline, which seemed to have been accomplished in large part due to white collar crime laws against fraud or transacting business with known criminals rather than prosecuting members for violent criminal acts.
All told, an excellent and fair deep dive into Japan’s criminal underworld.
Darkly fascinating
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Learned a lot about Japan
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Great book, great narrator.
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Basically, Yakuza Goodfellas
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window into a riveting world
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A great companion to the story
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Great
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Simply phenomenal
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Fantastic fun and insight into the Yakuza
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Yakuza
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