The Last Yakuza

Resumen del libro

Makoto Saigo is halfAmerican and halfJapanese in smalltown Japan with a set of talents limited to playing guitar and picking fights. With rock stardom off the table, he turns toward the only place where you can start from the bottom and move up through sheer merit, loyalty, and brute force the yakuza.Saigo, nicknamed "Tsunami", quickly realizes that even within the organization, opinions are as varied as they come, and a clash of philosophies can quickly become deadly. One screwup can cost you your life, or at least a finger.The internal politics of the yakuza are dizzyingly complex, and between the evershifting web of alliances and the encroaching hand of the law that pushes them further and further underground, Saigo finds himself in the middle of a defining decadeslong battle that will determine the future of the yakuza.Written with the insight of an expert on Japanese organized crime and the compassion of a longtime friend, investigative journalist Jake Adelstein presents a sprawling biography of a yakuza, through postwar desperation, to bubbleera optimism, to the present. Including a cast of memorable yakuza bosses Coach, The Buddha, and more this is a story about the rise and fall of a man, a country, and a dishonest but sometimes honorable way of life on the brink of being lost.