
Tokyo Noir
In and out of Japan's Underworld
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Narrated by:
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Jake Adelstein
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Shoko Plambeck
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By:
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Jake Adelstein
About this listen
A darkly comic sequel to Tokyo Vice that is equal parts history lesson, true-crime exposé, and memoir.
It’s 2008, and it’s been a while since Jake Adelstein was the only gaijin crime reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun. The global economy is in shambles, Jake is off the police beat but still chain-smoking clove cigarettes, and Tadamasa Goto, the most powerful boss in the Japanese organized crime world, has been banished from the yakuza, giving Adelstein one less enemy to worry about—for the time being. But as he puts his life back together, he discovers that he may be no match for his greatest enemy—himself.
And Adelstein has a different gig these days: due diligence work, or using his investigative skills to dig up information on entities whose bosses would prefer that some things stay hidden.
The underworld isn’t what it used to be. Underneath layers of paperwork, corporations are thinly veiled fronts for the yakuza. Pachinko parlors are a hidden battleground between disenfranchised Korean, Japanese, and North Korean extortion plots. TEPCO, the electric power corporation keeping the lights on for all of Tokyo, scrambles to hide its willful oversights that ultimately led to the 2011 Fukushima meltdown. And the Japanese government shows levels of corruption that make the yakuza look like philanthropists in comparison. All this is punctuated by personal tragedies no one could have seen coming.
In this ambitious and riveting work, Jake Adelstein explores what it’s like when you’re in too deep to distinguish the story you chase from the life you live.
©2024 Jake Adelstein (P)2024 Dreamscape MediaListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Essential for anyone interested in Japanese culture, this unsurpassed masterwork opens an intriguing window on Japan. The World War II-era study by the cultural anthropologist Ruth Benedict paints an illuminating contrast between the people of Japan and those of the United States. The Chrysanthemum and the Sword is a revealing look at how and why our societies differ, making it the perfect introduction to Japanese history and customs.
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Fascinating Even If A Little Dated
- By Than on 12-07-22
By: Ruth Benedict
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Three Tigers, One Mountain
- A Journey Through the Bitter History and Current Conflicts of China, Korea, and Japan
- By: Michael Booth
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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There is an ancient Chinese proverb that states, "Two tigers cannot share the same mountain." However, in East Asia, there are three tigers on that mountain: China, Japan, and Korea, and they have a long history of turmoil and tension with each other. In his latest entertaining and thought-provoking narrative travelogue, Michael Booth sets out to discover how deep, really, the enmity is between these three "tiger" nations and what prevents them from making peace.
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Not much new here if you are already familiar
- By Neil Richert on 07-13-20
By: Michael Booth
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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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Rice, Noodle, Fish
- Deep Travels Through Japan's Food Culture (Roads & Kingdoms Presents, Book 1)
- By: Matt Goulding
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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An innovative new take on the travel guide, Rice, Noodle, Fish decodes Japan's extraordinary food culture through a mix of in-depth narrative and insider advice. In this 5,000-mile journey through the noodle shops, tempura temples, and teahouses of Japan, Matt Goulding, cocreator of the enormously popular Eat This, Not That! book series, navigates the intersection between food, history, and culture, creating one of the most ambitious and complete books ever written about Japanese culinary culture from the Western perspective.
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Starts strong tapers off
- By Craig Bryan on 01-02-21
By: Matt Goulding
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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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Bushido: The Soul of Japan (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Inazo Nitobé
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Through a study of the way of the samurai, Nitobe identifies the seven virtues most widely recognized by the Japanese: rectitude, courage, benevolence, politeness, veracity, honor, and loyalty. In sharing these moral guidelines, handed down over generations, Nitobe gives the world unique insight into a previously unexplored code of honor.
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Contemplative
- By J. Eastman on 02-05-21
By: Inazo Nitobé
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The Foundations of Western Civilization
- By: Thomas F. X. Noble, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Thomas F. X. Noble
- Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
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What is Western Civilization? According to Professor Noble, it is "much more than human and political geography," encompassing myriad forms of political and institutional structures - from monarchies to participatory republics - and its own traditions of political discourse. It involves choices about who gets to participate in any given society and the ways in which societies have resolved the tension between individual self-interest and the common good.
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Not Engaging or Very Interesting
- By Tommy D'Angelo on 03-05-17
By: Thomas F. X. Noble, and others
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Japan Travel Guide
- Things I Wish I'D Known Before Going to Japan
- By: Yuki Fukuyama Ken Fukuyama
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In this Japan Travel Guide 2024 edition, Yuki Fukuyama and Ken Fukuyama will share with you: The ultimate Japan itineraries that are improvised for more than 40+ times. All the essential information like operating hours, prices, transit tips etc. Everything you need to know about Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Hokkaido. The best winter destinations. Detailed and updated maps of Japan. The latest super cheap budgeting tips. The best accommodation tips. Japan’s best kept secrets. All the best local cuisines. Events and festivals in Japan. And much, much more!About Yuki Fukuyama and Ken Fukuyama ...
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47 Ronin
- By: John Allyn, Stephen Turnbull - foreword
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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For those looking for the real story behind the fictionalized movie account of the 47 Ronin story, this is the definitive, fascinating account of this unforgettable tale of a band of samurai who defied the Emperor to avenge the disgrace and death of their master, and faced certain death as a result. It led to one of the bloodiest episodes in Japanese history, and in the process, created a new set of heroes in Japan.
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Neither fish nor....
- By David on 11-05-14
By: John Allyn, and others
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The Japanese Mind
- Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture
- By: Roger J. Davies, Osamu Ikeno
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Listeners of this book will gain a clear understanding of what makes the Japanese, and their society, tick.
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Bad Pronunciation of Japanese terms
- By Joseph O'Donnell on 05-19-20
By: Roger J. Davies, and others
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Hagakure
- The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai
- By: Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Alexander Bennett - translator
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The comprehensive and accurate edition of the Hagakure is a must-have for serious martial artists or fans of samurai and the Bushido code.
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awesome book on samurai history.
- By Christian Knight on 10-02-20
By: Yamamoto Tsunetomo, and others
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A History of Japan
- Revised Edition
- By: R. H. P. Mason, J. G. Caiger
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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A classic of Japanese history, this audiobook is the preeminent work on the history of Japan. Newly revised and updated, A History of Japan is a single-volume complete history of the nation of Japan. Starting in ancient Japan during its early pre-history period, A History of Japan covers every important aspect of history and culture through feudal Japan to the post-Cold War period and collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s. Recent findings shed additional light on the origins of Japanese civilization and the birth of Japanese culture.
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Content great - pronunciation not so much
- By A. Weber on 03-08-19
By: R. H. P. Mason, and others
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This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends
- The Cyberweapons Arms Race
- By: Nicole Perlroth
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices and move around undetected. One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal, a zero day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone, dismantle the safety controls at a chemical plant, alter an election and shut down the electric grid (just ask Ukraine). For decades, under cover of classification levels and non-disclosure agreements, the United States government became the world’s dominant hoarder of zero days.
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Decent story, cringeworthy narration and editing
- By since1968 on 02-13-21
By: Nicole Perlroth
A great ride!
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Jake Adelstein's story is wildly entertaining
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Tokyo Vice is an all time favorite book and I've revisites it on multiple occasions. Both The Last Yakuza and Tokyo Noir are excellent follow ups. Jake has really lived a one of a kind life for a gaijin and his knowledge and insights into the Japanese business, political and underworlds is incomparable. I want to read the exposes his colleagues wrote that were mentioned in this book as well.
Excellent, heartbreaking continuation
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par for the course
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The portion about Michelle stood out the most.
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Since visiting Japan in 2016, many of the questions I’ve had since then were answered here. Chapters flew by, with both introductory and in-depth explanations of tightly kept secrets hidden in plain sight. Giving a 101 on hot topics like the mistreatment of Koreans in Japan, the Yakuza, and nuclear power after Fukushima, Jake Adelstine juggles his new identity as a private investigator while revealing his own life with admirably brave honesty. Jake may have never made it as a stand-up comedian, but his attempts at keeping an otherwise extremely heavy book light highlight the personality of the man behind the words.
I do believe that, no matter how many reservations one may have about Jake or his book, it is an incredibly powerful, educational, and sentimental timepiece. One can’t help but respect Jake’s humility, honesty, and bravery. It’s an inspiration to me and a book I will refer to often—a compelling read that I finished as soon as I picked it up. I’d recommend Tokyo Noir and Tokyo Vice to anyone interested in journalism, truth, and Japan (and anyone upset that Tokyo Vice the TV show didn’t get a season 3). This is a must-read book. 10/10.
The Author in your Ear
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This is an older, wiser, Jake Adelstein. It is enjoyable as a personal memoir, but it also teaches one a lot and is infused with Jake's sense of humor. Jake is a fabulous narrator--he is convincing as himself, and Shoko Plambeck does a great job reading for Michelle Brandt.
Can't recommend this one highly enough.
Fabulous narration by the Author Himself
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A personal story
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Highly recommend!
Great followup to Tokyo Vice!
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Jake with another fantastic book
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