Reminder: The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ) Library is pleased to announce the upcoming Book Break event on Monday, March 31, 2025.

Book Break: The Last Yakuza: A Life in the Japanese Underworld
By Jake Adelstein
Monday, March 31, 2025
A Dinner Event, from 5:45 pm to 8:30 pm
(The talk will be in English)

Famed Tokyo Vice author Jake Adelstein will appear at the FCCJ to discuss his latest work The Last Yakuza, a gripping true to life tale of organized crime in Japan.

https://www.fccj.or.jp/event/book-break-jake-adelstein-author-last-yakuza-life-japanese-underworld

Please sign up by email (front@fccj.or.jp) and pay by Wednesday, March 26, 2025.

[Admission]
3,000 yen for members, 4,000 yen for non-members.
No cancellations after Friday, March 28, 2025.

[Schedule]
Doors open at 5:45 pm with a casual "meet the author: cocktail time"
Dinner will be served from 6:30 pm.
The talk begins at 7:15 pm.

[Menu] Please choose from 2 options below.

Option 1: Seafood Salad, Sautéed Chicken Soy Sauce and Sesame Flavor, Bread, Today's Dessert, Coffee or Tea, and One beverage of choice (orange juice, oolong tea, red or white wine, beer)

Option 2 (Vegetarian): Green Salad, Vegetable Tomato Pasta, Bread, Fruits, Coffee or Tea, and One beverage of choice (orange juice, oolong tea, red or white wine, beer)

Please inform the club of food restrictions when reserving.

[Venue]
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan
5F Marunouchi Nijubashi Building
3-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005
(https://www.fccj.or.jp/article/access-contact)


The Last Yakuza (published by Corsair, 2023) is the story of one man's life in the shifting world of the Japanese underworld, spanning from the post-war black markets to the present day. At the heart of the book is Makoto Saigo, a yakuza boss who came of age in a time when the underworld adhered to codes of honor and brotherhood--before the rapid changes of the late 20th and early 21st centuries reshaped Japan's criminal syndicates into something far more corporate and far less romantic. For Jake Adelstein, this book was a deep dive into the history and transformation of Japan's underworld, drawing on decades of investigative reporting and personal relationships with those who lived within it.

Adelstein first explored Japan's crime world in Tokyo Vice (2009), a memoir of his time as a crime reporter for Yomiuri Shimbun, where he covered police corruption, human trafficking, and yakuza infighting. His second book, The Last Yakuza, expands on these themes, offering an intimate portrait of a man who lived by an unwritten code in a world that was rapidly disappearing. Adelstein's work has chronicled how government crackdowns, economic shifts, and the erosion of traditional values have left the yakuza at a crossroads--caught between history and the modern legal system that seeks to eradicate them. In this talk, Jake will read passages from The Last Yakuza and discuss the evolution of Japan's underworld, the characters who shaped it, and what its transformation means for the country at large.

Jake Adelstein is an investigative journalist and author specializing in organized crime and corruption in Japan. Born in Missouri, he moved to Japan in the 1980s to study Japanese literature and later became the first non-Japanese reporter at Yomiuri Shimbun, one of Japan's largest newspapers. His reporting has exposed political collusion with the yakuza, human trafficking networks, and the inner workings of Japan's criminal underworld. His books include Tokyo Vice (2009), The Last Yakuza (2023), and Tokyo Noir (2024).  He also co-hosted the award-winning podcast, "The Evaporated" (2023) examining the phenomenon of missing people.

His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, GQ and The Japan Times, and he has consulted for film and television productions, including the HBO Max adaptation of Tokyo Vice. Adelstein continues to write and investigate organized crime while also launching tours in Japan that explore the history and legacy of the yakuza.

Doors open at 5:45 pm with a casual "meet the author/cocktail time" from 6:00 pm. Dinner will be served from 6:30 pm and the talk begins at 7:15 pm.

The menu is Seafood Salad, Sautéed Chicken Soy Sauce and Sesame Flavor, Bread, Today's Dessert, Coffee or Tea, and One beverage of choice (orange juice, oolong tea, red or white wine, beer). A vegetarian option is available. Please choose the menu of your choice from 2 options. Please inform the club of food restrictions when reserving. Price: 3,000 yen for members, 4,000 yen for non-members.

The member reservation deadline is 2 pm March 31, non-members must reserve and pay by Wednesday, March 26, 2025. No cancellations after Friday, March 28.

This Book Break will not be available for online attendance.

Library, Archives & Workroom Committee
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ)