{{Short description|American journalist (born 1969)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}} {{Infobox writer | name = Jake Adelstein | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = | image = Jake Adelstein (born 1969) in the video 'Jake Adelstein - Tokyo vice'.png | alt = | caption = In a 2017 interview | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pseudonym = | birth_name = Joshua Lawrence Adelstein | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1969|03|28}} | birth_place = Columbia, Missouri, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Investigative journalist, writer, editor, blogger | language = | nationality = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = True crime, non-fiction, journalism | subject = | movement = | notableworks = ''Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan''<br />''The Last Yakuza: A Life in the Japanese Underworld'' | spouse = | partner = | children = 2 | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | years_active = | module = | website = [http://www.japansubculture.com/ www.japansubculture.com] | portaldisp = }}
'''Joshua Lawrence''' "'''Jake'''" '''Adelstein''' (born March 28, 1969) is an American<ref>Jake Adelstein, [https://twitter.com/jakeadelstein/status/614343052086259713 "Yakuza, strippers, drugs, an undercover Japanese-Jew FBI special agent? Pulp non-fiction."], ''Twitter'', June 26, 2015. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305150805/https://twitter.com/jakeadelstein/status/614343052086259713 |date=March 5, 2016 }}</ref> journalist, crime writer, 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 original streaming television series ''Tokyo Vice'', starring Ansel Elgort as Adelstein.
==Early life== Adelstein grew up in Columbia, Missouri and graduated from Rock Bridge High School.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ganey |first=Terry |title=Gaijin Journalist: American reporter covered cops and crime in Tokyo. |url=https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/politics/government/2009/11/01/gaijin-journalist-american-reporter-covered/21550565007/ |access-date=2024-02-29 |website=Columbia Daily Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref> As a teenager he volunteered at KOPN and co-hosted a punk music program on the air. In 1988, he moved to Japan at age 19 to study Japanese literature at Sophia University.<ref name=Hessler>Hessler, Peter. "All Due Respect" [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/09/120109fa_fact_hessler Profile], ''The New Yorker'', January 9, 2012.</ref>
==Career== On April 15, 1993, Adelstein became the first non-Japanese staff writer at the ''Yomiuri Shimbun'' newspaper in Urawa, Saitama, where he worked for 12 years.<ref name="ABC">Mark Willacy, [https://web.archive.org/web/20091021133706/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/20/2718773.htm "Exposing Japan's Insidious Underbelly"], ABC News, October 20, 2009; accessed November 20, 2010.</ref>
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 for a liver transplant at the University of California Los Angeles (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.<ref name="adelstein post">Jake Adelstein, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050902544.html "This Mob Is Big in Japan"], ''The Washington Post'', May 11, 2008, Accessed November 20, 2010</ref> 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.<ref name="The Hollywood Reporter">''THR Magazine'', [https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/tokyo-vice-problematic-source-material-1235135828/ "Insiders Call B.S. on 'Tokyo Vice' Backstory"], The Hollywood Reporter, April 29, 2022; accessed May 2, 2022.</ref> In November 2022, ''Esquire'' reported that Adelstein had released via Twitter a folder of source materials which he claimed supported his versions of events.<ref name="Esquire">Esquire, [https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a42051771/tokyo-vice-true-story/ "The Gripping True Story Behind 'Tokyo Vice' and Jake Adelstein's Tussles With the Yakuza"], ''Esquire'', November 24, 2022; accessed December 27, 2023.</ref> 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 written only a very few articles about the yakuza during his time there.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.lesoir.be/518473/article/2023-06-09/infiltre-chez-les-yakuzas-le-journalisme-flou-du-justicier-jake-adelstein |title=Infiltré chez les yakuzas: le journalisme flou du 'justicier' Jake Adelstein |trans-title=Infiltrating the Yakuza: The Blurred Journalism of "Vigilante" Jake Adelstein |first1=Louis |last1=Colart |first2=Antoine |last2=Harari |first3=Clément |last3=Fayol |newspaper=Le Soir |publication-place=Brussels, Belgium |language=fr |date=2023-06-09 |access-date=2026-02-25}}</ref> {{Ill|Tomohiko Suzuki|ja|鈴木智彦}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Suzuki Tomohiko |url=https://www.nippon.com/en/authordata/suzuki-tomohiko/ |access-date=2025-12-31 |website=nippon.com |language=en}}</ref> one of Japan's foremost yakuza experts, responded to followers questioning the credibility of ''Tokyo Vice'', stating, "I don't trust it at all.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tomohiko Suzuki (December 11, 2018) |url=https://x.com/yonakiishi/status/1072480486084235265 |url-status=live | website=Twitter| date=2018-12-11| access-date=2026-01-01 | language=ja}}</ref>" He further questioned the very notion that Adelstein is treated as a yakuza expert in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tomohiko Suzuki (October 12, 2018) |url=https://x.com/yonakiishi/status/1050714948353941504 |url-status=live | website=Twitter| date=2018-10-12| access-date=2026-01-01 | language=ja}}</ref>
Adelstein was subsequently a reporter for a United States Department of State investigation into human trafficking in Japan,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-11-09 |title=An American In Japan, Investigating The 'Tokyo Vice' |url=https://www.npr.org/2009/11/09/120237244/an-american-in-japan-investigating-the-tokyo-vice |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=NPR}}</ref> and now writes for the ''Daily Beast,''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-10-31 |title=Jake Adelstein |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/jake-adelstein |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=The Daily Beast |language=en}}</ref> ''Vice News'', ''The Japan Times''<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-03-24 |title=Jake Adelstein |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/author/238/jake-adelstein/ |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=The Japan Times |language=en}}</ref> and other publications.<ref name="NY">{{Cite magazine |last=Hessler |first=Peter |date=2012-01-01 |title=All Due Respect |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/09/all-due-respect |access-date=2024-03-24 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref>
On April 19, 2011, Adelstein filed a lawsuit against National Geographic Television, which had hired him to help make a documentary about the yakuza, citing ethical problems with their behavior in Japan.<ref>{{cite news| first = Eriq| last = Gardner| title = NatGeo Delays Japanese Mafia Show at Center of Lawsuit (Updated)| newspaper =The Hollywood Reporter| date = May 10, 2011 | url =http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/natgeo-delays-japanese-mafia-show-187052| access-date =August 1, 2015}}</ref><ref name=Superior>{{Cite web|url=http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/05/06/Yakuza.pdf|title=Superior Court of the District of Columbia. April 19, 2011.}}</ref> However, the court dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the plaintiff is barred from bringing that claim in another court.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.courthousenews.com/2011/05/06/Notice%20of%20Dismissal%20with%20Prejudice.pdf|title=Superior Court of the District of Columbia. May 4, 2011.| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728140345/https://www.courthousenews.com/2011/05/06/Notice%20of%20Dismissal%20with%20Prejudice.pdf | archive-date=July 28, 2014 }}</ref>
==Personal life== Adelstein is Jewish.<ref>[https://www.hachette.co.uk/contributor/jake-adelstein-2/#:~:text=Jake%20Adelstein%2C%20a%20Japanese%2Dschooled,Japan%27s%20largest%20newspaper%2C%20Yomiuri%20Shinbun. Jake Adelstein] ''hachette.co.uk''</ref><ref>[https://jewishjournal.com/podcasts/twonicejewishboys/217254/episode-31-tokyo-vice-jewish-journalist-yakuza-jake-adelstein/ A Jewish journalist against the Yakuza with Jake Adelstein] Naor Meningher and Eytan Weinstein, ''The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles'' (March 29, 2017)</ref><ref>[https://forward.com/culture/490358/tokyo-vice-is-a-portrait-of-the-reporter-as-a-terrible-coworker/ 'Tokyo Vice' is a portrait of the reporter as a terrible coworker] Irene Katz Connelly, ''The Forward'' (April 11, 2022)</ref><ref>[https://www.thejc.com/life-and-culture/tokyo-vice-tv-review-an-outsider-jew-in-japan-s1n1fpul Tokyo Vice TV review: An outsider Jew in Japan] Josh Howie, ''The Jewish Chronicle'' (December 22, 2022)</ref><ref>[https://www.australianjewishnews.com/an-insight-into-the-japanese-underworld/ An insight into the Japanese underworld] Sharyn Kolieb, ''The Australian Jewish News'' (May 7, 2024)</ref> 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. <ref name="NY"/> He now{{when|date=January 2026}} resides in Tokyo with his Brazilian girlfriend Jessy Nakamura.{{cn|date=January 2026}}
== Works == * {{Cite book |last=Adelstein |first=Jake |title=Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan |year=2009 |publisher=Pantheon Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-307-37879-8 |oclc=699874898 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zhlK-43rInEC}} * ''Operation Tropical Storm: How an FBI Jewish-Japanese Special Agent Snared a Yakuza Boss in Hawaii'' (Kindle Single). {{ASIN|B00Z7DUV7W}}. June 7, 2015<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg4FcPfWWKY 299_ James Stern –Yakuza Japanese Mob, Operation Tropical Storm]</ref> * {{Cite book |last=Adelstein |first=Jake |author-mask=2 |title=Pay the Devil in Bitcoin: The Creation of a Cryptocurrency and How Half a Billion Dollars of It Vanished from Japan |year=2017 |publisher=Pantheon Books |location=New York City }} * {{Cite book |last=Adelstein |first=Jake |author-mask=2 |year=2023 |title=The Last Yakuza: A Life in the Japanese Underworld |publisher=Scribe Publications |location=Minneapolis, Minn.}} * ''[https://www.sonymusic.com/sonymusic/campside-media-and-sme-debut-the-evaporated-gone-with-the-gods/ The Evaporated: Gone with the Gods]''. Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment. 2023. * ''[https://podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/witnessed-night-shift/id1578324041 Witnessed: Night Shift]''. Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment. September 1, 2024. * {{Cite book |last=Adelstein |first=Jake |author-mask=2 |year=2024 |title=Tokyo Noir: In and Out of Japan's Underworld |url=https://scribepublications.com/books-authors/books/tokyo-noir-9781957363912 |url-access= |edition= |location=Minneapolis, Minn. |publisher=Scribe |isbn=9781957363912 |oclc=1415747543 |access-date=}}
==Interviews== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20091004040208/https://www.japansubculture.com/2009/09/322/ Tokyo Vice Goes on Sale October 14th] * {{cite web | last=Adelstein | first=Jake | title=Tokyo Vice's Jake Adelstein: Everything You Wanted to Know (But Were Mildly Afraid to Ask) | website=Unseen Japan | date=12 April 2022 | url=https://unseen-japan.com/tokyo-vice-jake-adelstein-everything-you-want-to-know/ | access-date=24 March 2024}} * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIy8C1RFbgA "How I escaped the Japanese gangsters who wanted to kill me": Jake Adelstein], ''The Times'' * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5iKAqZ9yVU "Hard Lessons Learned from Tough People"]—Jake Adelstein at TEDxKyoto 2012
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * Hessler, Peter (9 January 2012). [http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/09/all-due-respect "All Due Respect"]. ''The New Yorker'', Volume LXXXVII, No. 43, pp. 50–59. * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqH14H8As80 Book Break: Robert Whiting and Jake Adelstein - "Beyond Tokyo's Vices and the Underworld"], 16 March 2022, Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan via YouTube * {{cite news |date=October 27, 2009|title=On the 'Tokyo Vice' beat with Jake Adelstein |url=https://www.tokyoreporter.com/japan-news/special-reports/on-the-tokyo-vice-beat-with-jake-adelstein/ |work=Tokyo Reporter |access-date=January 7, 2021 }} * [https://app.box.com/s/u93smlba1wbyck0iofxqxlrsgw8b0zmh Source materials used to write ''Tokyo Vice''] at box.com * {{cite web | title=Tokyo Vice: The Book | website=Japan Subculture Research Center | date=13 May 2022 | url=https://www.japansubculture.com/tokyovice/ | access-date=24 March 2024}}
==External links== * [https://www.japansubculture.com/tag/jake-adelstein/ Japan Subculture Research Center Editor-in-chief Jake Adelstein]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelstein, Jake}} Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American Jews Category:20th-century American journalists Category:20th-century American male writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American Jews Category:21st-century American journalists Category:21st-century American male writers Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:American crime reporters Category:American expatriates in Japan Category:20th-century American male journalists Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:American non-fiction crime writers Category:Japanese-language writers Category:Jewish American journalists Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers Category:Jews from Missouri Category:Journalists from Missouri Category:Organized crime in Japan Category:Rock Bridge High School alumni Category:Writers from Columbia, Missouri Category:21st-century American male journalists