"This is a book I wish I'd written. It's brilliantly researched, full of detail and illuminating…" --Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Ice Uncover the shocking world of the Japanese courtroom. In a country where nearly all defendants plead guilty, the interesting part is what happens between the plea and the sentencing. In True Crime Japan, journalist and longtime resident of Japan Paul Murphy delves into a year's worth of criminal court cases in Matsumoto, a city located 140 miles to the west of Tokyo. The nine defendants in these cases range from ruthless mobsters to average citizens with a variety of methods and motives. Using court documents and interviews, Murphy makes a point of including the perspectives of the defendants, as well as those of their families, neighbors, and lawyers. He explores not only the motives of offenders but the culture of crime and punishment in Japan. The nine cases include: "Late in Life" -- A wealthy octogenarian is put in jail for stealing fried chicken "Mama's Boys" -- A disbelieving family unveils their son's role as a yakuza gangster. "Mother Killers" -- A middle-aged carpenter beats his 91-year old mother to death and goes to work the following day, leaving the body for his wife to find. True Crime Japan provides an unusual lens through which to view Japanese society and its emphasis on honor, shame, and conformity. Murphy's in-depth analysis of the court system reveals Japan to be, perhaps surprisingly, a land of true individuals.

"A fascinating study of how criminal enterprise can infect the very heart of modern capitalism. Here is the backstage world of political influence and organized crime in the world's second largest economy... by far the most detailed and even-handed study of this important and neglected subject."—John W. Dower, author of Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II Reviews of original edition: "A superb study of Japan's underworld that is both entertaining and revealing. The authors miss none of the color and curious detail of the yakuza style, but at the same time go far beyond surface observations."—Far Eastern Economic Review "The book is laden with fascinating information, some of it heretofore unavailable in English."—Washington Post "Blend the Mafia with the Masons. Let them simmer a while, then fold in the Ku Klux Klan and you'll have the yakuza…. Important and timely…Yakuza will serve for years as the source document on Japanese organized crime."—San Jose Mercury News "State-of-the-art investigative reporting…must reading for those who consider themselves already highly conversant with yakuza activities…disturbing."—Journal of Asian Studies

NOW A MAX ORIGINAL SERIES. A riveting true-life tale of newspaper noir and Japanese organized crime from an American investigative journalist who "pulls the curtain back on ... [an] element of Japanese society that few Westerners ever see" (San Francisco Examiner). Jake Adelstein is the only American journalist ever to have been admitted to the insular Tokyo Metropolitan Police Press Club, where for twelve years he covered the dark side of Japan: extortion, murder, human trafficking, fiscal corruption, and of course, the yakuza. But when his final scoop exposed a scandal that reverberated all the way from the neon soaked streets of Tokyo to the polished Halls of the FBI and resulted in a death threat for him and his family, Adelstein decided to step down. Then, he fought back. In Tokyo Vice he delivers an unprecedented look at Japanese culture and searing memoir about his rise from cub reporter to seasoned journalist with a price on his head.

"A skillful, definitive history of one of the most notorious crimes of the past decade."--Page 3 of cover.

"A fascinating look at some fascinating people who show how democracy advances hand in hand with crime in Japan."--Mario Puzo In this unorthodox chronicle of the rise of Japan, Inc., Robert Whiting, author of You Gotta Have Wa, gives us a fresh perspective on the economic miracle and near disaster that is modern Japan. Through the eyes of Nick Zappetti, a former GI, former black marketer, failed professional wrestler, bungling diamond thief who turned himself into "the Mafia boss of Tokyo and the king of Rappongi," we meet the players and the losers in the high-stakes game of postwar finance, politics, and criminal corruption in which he thrived. Here's the story of the Imperial Hotel diamond robbers, who attempted (and may have accomplished) the biggest heist in Tokyo's history. Here is Rikidozan, the professional wrestler who almost single-handedly revived Japanese pride, but whose own ethnicity had to be kept secret. And here is the story of the intimate relationships shared by Japan's ruling party, its financial combines, its ruthless criminal gangs, the CIA, American Big Business, and perhaps at least one presidential relative. Here is the underside of postwar Japan, which is only now coming to light.

When nerve gas was dispersed in Tokyo's subway system in March 1995, Japanese and non-Japanese alike were shocked. Wasn't Japan supposed to be an orderly, peaceful, and above all safe society with virtually no crime? Not so. Mark Schreiber dispels this stereotype with a fascinating book in which he chronicles some of Japan's most astonishing crimes in the half-century since World War II: a bank robbery and murder in which the killings are carried out by poison; the theft of 300 million yen by a man who is able to peacefully convince four bank employees to step outside of their car for a moment; and, of course, the outrageous activities of Japan's most notorious religious group, AUM Supreme Truth. The social and cultural circumstances attending many of the crimes are equally bizarre, and Schreiber addresses these, as well. Why did Okubo Kiyoshi's rape victims continue meeting him for dates after he violated them? How did Japanese ethics step in, when the evidence didn't stand on its own, to condemn Miura Kazuyoshi for killing his wife? Why did none of the journalists recording the murder of Nagano Kazuo try to intervene to try to save his life?

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