Books Feb 18, 2010 at 4:00 am

Musing on Journalism's Cost in Tokyo Vice

Comments

1
I don't see it as a question of "moral character". That's a slippery slope, especially in America where goodness and righteousness have a Christian flavor.

It's jumping the line that grates. And then not delivering on a deal. The FBI should have made him wait like everyone else and only let him go through with the operation if he delivered the goods.
2
Thank you (I think) for clarifying that you only think of him as an asshole as a person outside of his profession. And where exactly do you draw the line? You were not clear on why he's "kind of an asshole."
3
I'm not sure he's entirely clear, either. And are any of us? That's what made interviewing him so interesting.
4
Matt,
I liked the article. I'll accept that I'm a "bit of an asshole" as long as I can keep the "reporter's reporter" accolade. Well, one of the investigative reporters I used to admire at the Yomiuri, Suzuki Eiji, once said, "If everyone likes you, you're a lousy reporter. If you're not pissing off someone, you're not doing your job." However, I don't have a self-destructive streak--I have a self-sacrifice streak which outbalances my self-preservation streak. It just LOOKS like I have a self-destructive streak.
I don't doubt I'll make it Powell's in one piece. I've got a bruised vertebrae says the Doc, #4 on my lumbar region and the fractured scapula is doing better. I just have to move my arm every day to keep a range of motion so it doesn't become the dreaded "frozen shoulder"--which sounds like something you buy in meat department of a grocery store.
5
Nice. Look forward to seeing you in town. And I'm obviously a bit of an asshole too.
6
Jake Adelstein is an endearing a-hole. There are a-holes & then there are a-holes. But endearing a-holes are what separate the men from the boys. That`s why the women like him.
7
The book was indeed fascinating, but the truth of the matter is... he's ruining his life for no reason other than to entertain people.

The world is full of scum-bags, & it always will be... Tokyo Vice or not. The Polaris project on the other hand is another story.
8
Jake's book on Tokyo's crimes was fascinating, especially because of the anthropological comments -- Japanese often take off their shoes and socks before committing suicide, reporters butter up cops and take gifts to their houses to gain case information, the yakuza push younger criminals to confess to crimes they may not have committed in order to later "promote" them, there are "host" bars for lonely women to waste money on greedy Romeos, etc. It's also a wrenching portrayal of sexual slavery and abuse of foreign women who get worked over for three months until their visas expire and whose wretched lot is often ignored by the cops because these women are merely foreigners. My heart goes out for the tragic and evil loss of Helena with whom he wanted to share investigative excitement. Jake is to be admired for his continuing efforts to combat sexual exploitation in Japan.

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