Why I would rather work for the yakuza than National Geographic Television - Jake Ade

[Longname]

I have been working as a consultant on a National Geographic Television documentary on the yakuza since the summer of last year. I resigned on February 24th. I also asked that my name be removed from the program.

http://www.japansubculture.com/2011/03/why-i-would-rather-work-for-the-yakuza-than-national-geographic-television-my-resignation-apologies-and-words-of-caution-to-anyone-involved-with-production-ngt%E7%95%AA%E7%B5%84%E3%81%AB%E9%96%A2/

Joshua "Jake" Adelstein is an American journalist and writer who has spent much of his career in Japan covering vice and organised crime. For 12 years, Adelstein was a crime reporter for the Yomiuri Shinbun and was the first American to work for a Japanese newspaper as a Japanese language reporter. He left the newspaper after receiving threats against his life and family and was subsequently an investigative reporter for a US State Department investigation into organised crime in Japan. He has written the book Tokyo Vice about his years in Japan and its underworld.

[IparryU]

good on him...

fug NGT by the way.

[tone]

this guy is a true FG

[Taro Toporific]

Wait damn minute--I thought Adelstein said he had to leave Japan after/because he wrote his book Tokyo Vice.
WTFBBQ is Jake doing back here poking at the yakuza again when he said he was a "marked man"? At the end his book Tokyo Vice, he admitted that he played it too fast-and-loose with his yakuza reporting and he needed to leave before the yakuza became less "bemused" with him. Wasn't Tokyo Vice supposed to be a Fuck-You-and-Sayonara Japan book?

From before Adelstein signed up with a NatGeo production, he knew was going to do "reconstructions" of various situations and crimes of the yakuza---He set himself up for trouble.

Anyone can understand why resigned from the super-sleazy NatGeo project, but I cannot imagine why Adelstein's lawyers are letting him publicly vent so much (it's counter-productive and makes Jake sound unbalanced).


The program in question:

Gangland Tokyo
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/4830/Overview
Overview
Tokyo. Orderly...modern...and seemingly safe. But this vast neon city hides a dark secret. For the millions who live here, its something you dont see every day, and you may never encounter it face to face. For people on the inside, however, nothing could be more obvious than the power of Japans infamous organized crime syndicates known as the yakuza. This evocative and groundbreaking documentary takes you inside this secretive underworld to meet the real yakuza, thugs and high-ranking bosses, plus the people who write about their every move, and the cops who track them down. Incredible personal stories and candid interviews reveal an organization both honorable and corrupt, violent and restrained, compassionate and driven by an insatiable greed.

[matsuki]

LOL, shit is gonna be even bigger with this added publicity. Interested to see if there is anything new in this though...not expecting much

[TennoChinko]

[Taro Toporific]

And, this:
http://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/f6d4n/underage_japanese_girls_learning_to_sell/c1dqmsi

Yikes! Those reddit comments are harsh.
There are several FGs here that will vouch for Jake being a good guy, but damn, he sure has collected some detractors over the years: Fake Adelstein.

I read his book Tokyo Vice, seen parts his interviews and in both he seems to talk-the-talk-and-walk-the-walk. I would rather sad if Tokyo Vice was the work of a "novelist" as yakuza kingpin Tadamasa Goto said (then again why should I believe a J-mobster).

[Samurai_Jerk]

Yikes! Those reddit comments are harsh.
There are several FGs here that will vouch for Jake being a good guy, but damn, he sure has collected some detractors over the years: Fake Adelstein.

I read his book Tokyo Vice, seen parts his interviews and in both he seems to talk-the-talk-and-walk-the-walk. I would rather sad if Tokyo Vice was the work of a "novelist" as yakuza kingpin Tadamasa Goto said (then again why should I believe a J-mobster).

The problem with a lot of those kinds of books is even if they are legit, they get one agenda-driven gangster's version of events he probably has very good reason to lie about. I know because a good friend of mine is featured in this book and everything that's written about him is based on interviews with the boss who is now serving time. My friend claims it's a lot of BS.

[Taro Toporific]

Hey, Jake makes grrreat fodder for the Daily Show!

Click to view on thedailyshow.com...


[yt]GXnuGtDelfw[/yt]

[Catoneinutica]

Yikes! Those reddit comments are harsh.
There are several FGs here that will vouch for Jake being a good guy, but damn, he sure has collected some detractors over the years: Fake Adelstein.

I read his book Tokyo Vice, seen parts his interviews and in both he seems to talk-the-talk-and-walk-the-walk. I would rather sad if Tokyo Vice was the work of a "novelist" as yakuza kingpin Tadamasa Goto said (then again why should I believe a J-mobster).

The harsh reddit comments actually seem to boil down to one asshole, "wolframite" with some kind of axe to grind against Adelstein. Perhaps wolframite has some vested interest? Is receiving payment from Goto to tongue his gotoballs? Woframite's criticisms reek of clueless noob (tm); for example, he finds it implausible that Adelstein's Jewishness should be slanged by a nipponeser, when in fact Jewishness and the putative advantages it confers seems to be a bit of an obsession among oyaji here - indeed, books have been written on the subject.

Remember the skepticism Adelstein met with on this very forum (hey greji!) when he broke the Goto liver-transplant story? Adelstein deserves to be cut a lot of slack, IMO. Certainly he must've known that those NatGeo shows are no better than "America's Most Wanted" in their use of re-enactments. In any case, he's generating publicity, and that's been his professed goal, to stay in the limelight, since he left the Yomiuri.

[Fullback]

I don't begrudge anyone for writing books, marketing themselves or making money from it. I applaud it.

However, as I watched that WNYC interview, I was was struck at how I, a lowly moron, could have answered the questions better and with more panache and accuracy.

Look, the number of people killed by guns in Japan every year is usually less than a dozen. The yakuza probably carry and use guns less than one neighborhood in Detroit in a month, so let's put that in perspective instead of leaving the listeners with the false image of them being a mob of roving Al Pacinos.

Is the truth so out of fashion and uncool now?

[Mock Cockpit]

Have one guess who owns NGT?

National Geographic Channel, launched in January 2001, is a joint venture of National Geographic Television & Film and Fox Broadcasting Company

Rupert is gonna fuck him with every cock he can manage to gather. Shame, as from reading some of his posts here, he seems a pretty solid guy so I'm inclined to believe his version of events. Might have bitten off more than he can chew here.

[Marked Trail]

Have one guess who owns NGT?
Rupert is gonna fuck him...

Who knows what the REAL story is---All we have is the whining of Jake to go on and no 3rd party opinions of the matter.

[Mulboyne]

Who knows what the REAL story is---All we have is the whining of Jake to go on and no 3rd party opinions of the matter.

That sums it up pretty well.

I find Jake to be a plausible guy. "Tokyo Vice" is written in a spicy style, which isn't to everyone's taste, but the basic narrative seems true enough.

When I first read his letter, though, it seemed to me he was overreacting, perhaps feeling guilty that he was naive in his dealings with National Geographic. There may well be more substance to his complaints than is so far apparent - and there are others involved who may yet be able to shed some light on the affair - but he doesn't help himself by making the absurd claim about "rather working for the yakuza".

[Taro Toporific]

When I first read his letter, though, it seemed to me he was overreacting, perhaps feeling guilty that he was naive in his dealings with National Geographic... he doesn't help himself by making the absurd claim about "rather working for the yakuza".

I'm very conflicted about this too...From the moment I saw Jake's NatGeo complaint I thought, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

[TennoChinko]

[Mock Cockpit]

Don't know what all of the above is supposed to prove. Sounds more like a case of FG envy.

[Yokohammer]

I'm sort of in the eye-roll camp on this one, because I just can't figure out what Adelstein is, or is trying to be.

Is he a journalist or a celebrity?

There's a heck of a lot of self-promotion going on. That in and of itself is not a bad thing, but I do think that if the goal is journalism then the self-promotion should be kept more in the background. Jake features prominently in his own stories, and that, to my mind, is incompatible with journalism.

Journalism should never be treated as a ticket to stardom.

As for "FG envy", I'm just guessing, but I wouldn't be surprised if a good dose of FG envy over Robert Whiting's success with "Tokyo Underworld" is what inspired him to sit down and write "Tokyo Vice." Nothing wrong with that, but I do like to keep things in perspective.

[Mulboyne]

...Journalism should never be treated as a ticket to stardom...

Why one earth not? Do you think Woodward and Bernstein were wrong to take advantage of their scoop? Surely the promise of being congratulated and celebrated for your work is a key incentive for journalists to break a story.

As for "FG envy", I'm just guessing, but I wouldn't be surprised if a good dose of FG envy over Robert Whiting's success with "Tokyo Underworld" is what inspired him to sit down and write "Tokyo Vice." Nothing wrong with that, but I do like to keep things in perspective.

I don't think that's the case at all. Whiting has been very supportive of Adelstein.

As I said, I'm not yet convinced that Adelstein has been hard done by in his recent dealings but I'm not going to take that as a reason to question everything he's done.

[Yokohammer]

Why one earth not? Do you think Woodward and Bernstein were wrong to take advantage of their scoop? Surely the promise of being congratulated and celebrated for your work is a key incentive for journalists to break a story.

Because it interferes with the journalism. It colors the truth.

I understand that totally unbiased journalism is a virtually unattainable goal, but I believe that it is a noble one.
Of course incentive and motivation are essential, but I think the self-promotion needs to be handled with a bit more discretion.

I don't think that's the case at all. Whiting has been very supportive of Adelstein.

That's good to hear, but at the same time there's obviously no way Adelstein could have missed "Tokyo Underworld." As I implied, I don't think it's wrong to try and build on the success of others, and it's perfectly OK if envy plays a driving role, that's progress. But as I also said, I like to keep things in perspective.

[Mulboyne]

Because it interferes with the journalism. It colors the truth.

Are you seriously arguing that the only good journalist is one who never wants credit for being a good journalist?

[Yokohammer]

Are you seriously arguing that the only good journalist is one who never wants credit for being a good journalist?

Of course not!

What I am saying is that the good journalist does not insert too much of himself or herself into the journalism itself. The credit that a good journalist receives comes from the way the story is presented (i.e. well-researched facts, without distortion), not from tooting his/her own horn, especially if it's done within the story.

[hundefar]

Of course not!

What I am saying is that the good journalist does not insert too much of himself or herself into the journalism itself. The credit that a good journalist receives comes from the way the story is presented (i.e. well-researched facts, without distortion), not from tooting his/her own horn, especially if it's done within the story.

Doesn't that depend on what kind of journalism one does? There are other forms than the classic one you seem to be referring to, as I am sure you know. If that is not your taste, then fair enough, but Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson and others have inserted themselves quite a bit in their stories. Point is, it doesn't necessarily make for better journalism to always strive for the classic ideal of journalism.

[Yokohammer]

Doesn't that depend on what kind of journalism one does? There are other forms than the classic one you seem to be referring to, as I am sure you know. If that is not your taste, then fair enough, but Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson and others have inserted themselves quite a bit in their stories. Point is, it doesn't necessarily make for better journalism to always strive for the classic ideal of journalism.

I won't argue with that. Taste certainly comes into it. Everything I write or say is my opinion (I'm not a "journalist," see).

But I will say that I don't consider what Hunter S. Thompson did to be journalism, even though it was branded as "gonzo journalism." I have to wonder if Thompson himself considered it to be journalism. It was brilliant, entertaining writing, and I always felt immersed in his stories, no matter what they were about, because they were presented in a way that placed the story and somehow even the reader at center stage, even when the author was part of the story. Great stuff, and I never saw even a glimpse of the writer's vanity in or between the lines. That, to me, is the big difference. Vanity, and how much of it comes through in the writing.

Since this has now been reduced to a matter of my taste vs. that of others, I will leave it at that.

[Iraira]

I won't argue with that. Taste certainly comes into it. Everything I write or say is my opinion (I'm not a "journalist," see).

But I will say that I don't consider what Hunter S. Thompson did to be journalism, even though it was branded as "gonzo journalism." I have to wonder if Thompson himself considered it to be journalism. It was brilliant, entertaining writing, and I always felt immersed in his stories, no matter what they were about, because they were presented in a way that placed the story and somehow even the reader at center stage, even when the author was part of the story. Great stuff, and I never saw even a glimpse of the writer's vanity in or between the lines. That, to me, is the big difference. Vanity, and how much of it comes through in the writing.

Since this has now been reduced to a matter of my taste vs. that of others, I will leave it at that.

I always saw Thompson as more of a sociologist, who embedded himself in the very thing he was studying, not only to get the story from the specimens themselves, but to have his own personal take on it. If Jake gets some spiffy tats and loses a few fingertips, he'd be gonzo.

[Mulboyne]

Adelstein has lost the plot. Here's a recent tweet:

The workers who stayed behind at the nuclear reactor, cops who don't go home, the yakuza hauling food supplies, the volunteers: all heroes.

Anyone who thinks it's appropriate to single out the yakuza for praise at a time like this should be ashamed of themselves.

[Mike Oxlong]

He has also been hyping their contribution on his homepage, and to Slate Magazine writers.

[omae mona]

Adelstein has lost the plot. Here's a recent tweet:



Anyone who thinks it's appropriate to single out the yakuza for praise at a time like this should be ashamed of themselves.

I accidentally ran across another tweet from him 2 days ago that further said he was planning to donate food supplies to the Yakuza so they could distribute.

[Iraira]

Is hyping them at a time like this considered atonement for the National Geographic thing?

[Kuang_Grade]

It gets worse....
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-18/japanese-yakuza-aid-earthquake-relief-efforts#

Golly, it is sure nice for those hard scrabble, down on their luck extortionists to reach deep down in their pockets filled with other's peoples hard earned money and give something back...