TOKYO VICE
If you’ve already watched the Tokyo Vice adaptation on HBO Max[01], you might want to skip ahead to the interview.
For those unfamiliar with Jake Adelstein's work and investigative crime journalism, his exploration and obsession with investigative techniques led him to become intricately involved with the underbelly shadows of Japanese society—where the worlds of crime, politics, and law enforcement collide in ways few outsiders have ever witnessed firsthand.
His 2009 book, Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan[02], lays out a bare, naked report of Japan’s economy. The adaptation on HBO Max, also titled Tokyo Vice, was filmed in Japan during and after the COVID-19 lockdown, with the first season premiering on April 7, 2022. And the second season premiering on February 8, 2024.
I first reached out to Jake through email just before the release of Tokyo Vice Season 2, after watching Season 1 more than once—maybe even three times (lol).
At 19, Jake left his hometown of Missouri, to pursue studies at Sophia University (上智大学) in Japan.
After graduating in 1993, he became the first Gaijin[03], staff writer at Yomiuri Shimbun[04], one of Japan’s largest newspapers.
Over the next 12 years he covered and reported crime while also building a network of sources within law enforcement and the Yakuza[05].
As Jake's career progressed, he became focused on unravelling the shadows of Japanese society with emphasis on the Yakuza and their deep-rooted influence within Japan’s economy and even western society…
His investigations pulled him into a world full of corruption, host clubs, underground sex work[06], back door deals, and human trafficking.
A good chunk of western society views Japan as a beautiful country. And surely, it's a warm and pleasant place. Rich with culture, and morals- and safe.
But Jake’s discoveries unravel a different narrative. A dark one.
The lengths Jake goes to for the sake of the paper are nothing short of inspiring. Anyone who has ever been consumed by their work can relate to that same kind of passion, obsession, and drive- never settling for a dead end.
To see and hear about this other side of Japan through Jake’s lens is something I couldn't help but want to know more about—the secrets, the depths, and what it means to be privy to such information as an investigative crime journalist.
<INTERVIEW WITH JAKE STARTS HERE>
KYLE MCKENZIE: BEYOND TOKYO, WERE THERE OTHER PARTS OF JAPAN OR OTHER CULTURES ENTIRELY WHERE YOU FELT YOUR PASSIONS BEING DRAWN TO OR CHALLENGED?
JAKE ALDESTEIN: It wasn't just Tokyo. My journey took me across Japan, to places where the underbelly wasn't so hidden, where the yakuza weren't just characters from a story but real people with real influence. These places, and sometimes other cultures entirely, drew me in, challenged my preconceptions. There's a vastness out there, a depth to Japan that goes beyond the neon lights of Tokyo. Each place had its own rhythm, its own secrets, and in uncovering them, I felt both my passion and my resolve being tested.
I found myself spending a lot more time in the Seaside of KYOTO in recent years, because there is nothing to remind me of crimes past or tragedies unsolved.
KYLE: WHEN RECOUNTING EXPERIENCES DURING YOUR TIME REPORTING IN TOKYO DO YOU FIND YOURSELF MENTORING OR ADVISING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS?
JAKE: The story I find myself coming back to, the one I share with young journalists cutting their teeth on the tough grind of investigative work, is about persistence. It's about following the thread, no matter how it twists and turns, no matter how dark the alley it leads you down. The Yakuza, the police, the victims and the perpetrators - they're all part of a complex dance.
I tell them about the nights spent waiting, watching, the moments of fear, of doubt, and the sheer, unadulterated thrill of the chase. It's not just a job; it's a calling, a way to hold power to account.
KYLE: ARE THERE UNTOLD STORIES OR EXPERIENCES THAT DIDN'T MAKE IT INTO 'TOKYO VICE' THAT YOU FEEL EQUALLY SHAPED YOUR TIME IN JAPAN OR YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON JOURNALISM?
JAKE: There were stories, so many stories, that didn't make it into 'Tokyo Vice.' Like fragments of a dream, they linger. Stories of people living on the margins, stories that didn't fit the narrative but shaped my understanding of Japan, of humanity. They were about the small, the quiet, the moments in between. These tales, though untold, were not unimportant. They were the backdrop against which the larger drama played out, informing every word I wrote.
Sometimes it’s also the silly stories that stick with you. Like the people that get their palms surgically altered[07] so the faint lines on their hand change hoping that this will in fact change their destiny.
And sometimes it does.
KYLE: CONSIDERING THE PERSONAL SACRIFICES AND THE RISKS YOU TOOK, ARE THERE MOMENTS YOU WISH YOU COULD'VE APPROACHED DIFFERENTLY, NOT AS A JOURNALIST, BUT AS AN INDIVIDUAL SEEKING BALANCE?
JAKE: Looking back, there are moments when I wonder if the balance could have been different. The nights spent in shadow, the risks that felt thrilling at the moment but left a mark. Maybe there was a way to tread softer, to find a harmony between the drive for the story and the need for peace, for some semblance of a normal life. But then, would the stories have been the same? Would I?
KYLE: IN THE MIDST OF THE CHAOS, WHERE OR HOW DID YOU FIND MOMENTS OF PEACE OR SANCTUARY IN TOKYO?
JAKE: In the chaos, peace was a rare commodity, found in fleeting moments. The quiet of a temple just at dawn, the soft murmur of a backstreet Izakaya late at night, the solitude of a long walk under the cherry blossoms.
Tokyo, for all its frenzy, has pockets of calm, sanctuaries where the world seems to slow down, just for a moment. It was in these spaces that I found the strength to continue, to face another day, another story.
It’s not been all gloom and doom and there have been moments of bliss and extended periods of happiness in my life. But if you read Tokyo Noir[08], you’ll see that the period of time between 2011 till the end of 2012 were dark times indeed for me.
KYLE: BEING PRIVY TO SO MUCH HIDDEN INFORMATION, HOW DID YOU NAVIGATE THE RESPONSIBILITY AND WEIGHT OF KNOWING THINGS THAT COULD DRASTICALLY AFFECT PEOPLE'S LIVES?
JAKE: The weight of what I knew, the secrets and lives in my hands, was sometimes a heavy burden. It was a delicate balance, deciding what to reveal, what to hold back. The responsibility to inform, to enlighten, but also to protect. Each decision was a line walked tight, a choice between the public's right to know and the potential harm that knowledge could cause. It was about finding the truth, yes, but also about understanding the power of that truth, and the consequences of its revelation.
In this work, in this life, the stories we tell are as much about the spaces in between as they are about the words on the page. It's about the unseen, the unsaid, the moments of connection and isolation that define us. And always, always, it's about the relentless pursuit of truth, in all its shadowed complexity.
PC:
ROBERT GILHOOLY
ANTON KUSTERS
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