Joshua Lawrence "Jake" Adelstein (born March 28, 1969) is an American journalist,

crime writer Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

, and blogger who has spent most of his career in Japan. He is the author of '' Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan'', which inspired the 2022

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

original Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...

streaming television series ''Tokyo Vice'', starring

Ansel Elgort Ansel Elgort (born March 14, 1994) is an American actor and singer. He began his acting career with a supporting role in the horror film '' Carrie'' (2013). He gained wider recognition for starring as a teenage cancer patient in the romantic d ...

as Adelstein.

Early life

Adelstein grew up in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

and graduated from

Rock Bridge High School Rock Bridge High School is a public high school located in southern Columbia, Missouri, United States. The school serves grades 9 through 12 and is one of four High Schools in Columbia Public Schools. It is located next to the Columbia Area Career ...

. As a teenager he volunteered at KOPN and co-hosted a

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

music program on the air. In 1988, he moved to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

at age 19 to study Japanese literature at

Sophia University Sophia University (Japanese language, Japanese: 上智大学, ''Jōchi Daigaku''; Latin: ''Universitas Sedis Sapientiae'') is a private List of Jesuit educational institutions, Jesuit research university in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1913 by ...

. Hessler, Peter. "All Due Respect
Profile
''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', January 9, 2012.

Career

On April 15, 1993, Adelstein became the first non-Japanese staff writer at the ''

Yomiuri Shimbun The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ''The Asahi Shimbun'', the ''Chunichi Shimbun'', the ''Ma ...

'' newspaper in

Urawa, Saitama was a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. On May 1, 2001, Urawa was merged with the cities of Ōmiya and Yono to create the city of Saitama. Since April 1, 2003, the area of former Urawa City has been divided into 4 wards: Urawa-ku, ...

, where he worked for 12 years.Mark Willacy
"Exposing Japan's Insidious Underbelly"

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

, October 20, 2009; accessed November 20, 2010. After leaving the ''Yomiuri'', Adelstein published an exposé of how an alleged crime boss, Tadamasa Goto, made a deal with the FBI to gain entry to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for a liver transplant at the

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Cal ...

(UCLA). In 2009, Adelstein published a memoir about his career as a reporter in Japan, '' Tokyo Vice'', in which he accused Goto of threatening to kill him over the story.Jake Adelstein
"This Mob Is Big in Japan"
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', May 11, 2008, Accessed November 20, 2010 An April 2022 article by ''The Hollywood Reporter'' raised doubts about the veracity of the events described in the memoir and the many quotes he has attributed to anonymous sources in his journalism. According to the article, Adelstein initially offered to provide evidence that his anonymous sources existed, but then declined to do so.THR Magazine
"Insiders Call B.S. on ‘Tokyo Vice’ Backstory"

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

, April 29, 2022; accessed May 2, 2022. In November 2022, ''Esquire'' reported that Adelstein had released via Twitter a folder of source materials which he claimed supported his versions of events.Esquire
"The Gripping True Story Behind ‘Tokyo Vice’ and Jake Adelstein's Tussles With the Yakuza"
''Esquire'', November 24, 2022; accessed December 27, 2023. In June 2023, a team of three European investigative journalists published an article in Belgian magazine ''Le Soir'' that also cast doubt on the content of his memoir, as well as his career at the Yoimiuri. The Japanese newspaper went on record for the first time about Adelstein in the article, stating that he was never part of the reporting teams for organized crime and had only written a very small number of articles about the yakuza during his time there

Adelstein was subsequently a reporter for a

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

investigation into

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

in Japan, and now writes for the ''

Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

,'' ''

Vice News Vice News (stylized as VICE News) is Vice Media's alternative current affairs channel, producing daily documentary essays and video through its website and YouTube channel. It promotes itself on its coverage of "under-reported stories". Vice Ne ...

'', ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'' and other publications. He is a board member and advisor to the Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims (formerly Polaris Project Japan). On April 19, 2011, Adelstein filed a lawsuit against

National Geographic Television National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Entertai ...

, which had hired him to help make a documentary about the yakuza, citing ethical problems with their behavior in Japan. However, the court dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the plaintiff is barred from bringing that claim in another court.

Personal life

Adelstein is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. Jake was formerly married to Sunao Adelstein with two children; both of them live in Missouri after 2005 due to threats made by Goto towards them.

Works

* * ''Operation Tropical Storm: How an FBI Jewish-Japanese Special Agent Snared a Yakuza Boss in Hawaii'' ( Kindle Single). . June 7, 2015299_ James Stern –Yakuza Japanese Mob, Operation Tropical Storm
/ref> * * *
The Evaporated: Gone with the Gods
'. Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment. 2023. *
Witnessed: Night Shift
'. Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment. September 1, 2024. *

Interviews

Tokyo Vice Goes on Sale October 14th
*
"How I escaped the Japanese gangsters who wanted to kill me": Jake Adelstein
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''
"Hard Lessons Learned from Tough People"
��Jake Adelstein at TEDxKyoto 2012

References

External links

Japan Subculture Research Center Editor-in-chief Jake Adelstein

Profile
on Goodreads.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Adelstein, Jake 1969 births Living people 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American crime reporters American expatriates in Japan American male journalists American male non-fiction writers American non-fiction crime writers Japanese-language writers Jewish American journalists Jewish American non-fiction writers Jews from Missouri Journalists from Missouri Organized crime in Japan Rock Bridge High School alumni Writers from Columbia, Missouri