Joshua Lawrence “Jake” Adelstein (born March 28, 1969) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

journalist,

crime writer True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...

, 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

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

's 2022 television series of the same name 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) and gained wider recognition for starring as a teenage cancer patient in the romantic dr ...

as Adelstein.

Career

Adelstein grew up in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

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 ...

. He moved to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

at age 19 to study Japanese literature at

Sophia University Sophia University (Japanese: 上智大学, ''Jōchi Daigaku''; Latin: ''Universitas Sedis Sapientiae'') is a private research university in Japan. Sophia is one of the three ''Sōkeijōchi'' (早慶上智) private universities, a group of the to ...

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

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', January 9, 2012. In 1993, Adelstein became the first non-Japanese staff writer at the ''

Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are t ...

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

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

, October 20, 2009; accessed November 20, 2010. After leaving the ''Yomiuri'', Adelstein published an exposé of how an alleged crime boss,

Tadamasa Goto ''The Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi Complete Databook 2008 Edition'' : "Tadamasa Goto" (p.137–138), February 1, 2005, Mediax, is a retired yakuza. The US Treasury department put him on a watch-list in December 2015 and he is still engaged in criminal ...

, made a deal with the FBI to gain entry to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

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. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

(UCLA). In 2009, Adelstein published a memoir about his career as a reporter in Japan, ''

Tokyo Vice ''Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan'' is a 2009 memoir by Jake Adelstein of his years living in Tokyo as the first non-Japanese reporter working for one of Japan's largest newspapers, ''Yomiuri Shinbun''. It was publi ...

'', 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'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', May 11, 2008, Accessed November 20, 2010 There have been many doubts about the veracity of the tales described in the memoir.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. Adelstein was subsequently a reporter for a

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

investigation into

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

in Japan, and now writes for the ''

Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', ''

Vice News Vice News (stylized as VICE News) is Vice Media's 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 News was create ...

'', ''

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 General En ...

, which had hired him to help make a documentary about the yakuza, citing ethical problems with their behaviour in Japan. Adelstein withdrew the lawsuit a month later, after reaching a settlement.

Works

* * *

References

External links

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

Career

Works

References

Further reading

External links