Japan Society becomes your gateway to the seamy side of Japan on Feb. 16 with Tokyo Underworld 2012: An Evening with Robert Whiting. At this special appearance, the celebrated author will discuss the intractable role of yakuza in virtually all areas of modern day society in Japan. (It also echoes a 2011 Japan Society lecture by crime expert and Tokyo Vice author Jake Adelstein.)
Whiting first came to Japan with U.S. Air Force intelligence in 1962, where he was assigned to work for the National Security Agency in the U-2 program. He graduated from Tokyo's Sophia University in 1969 with a degree in Japanese politics. His research into the ties binding Japan’s leading politicians to Yakuza bosses gained him entrée into the Higashi Nakano wing of Tokyo’s largest criminal gang, the Sumiyoshi-kai, where he became an “informal advisor.” He worked for Encyclopedia Britannica Japan as an editor until 1972, whereupon he moved to New York City and wrote his first book, The Chrysanthemum and the Bat. He later worked for Time-Life in Tokyo for a year before becoming a professional author.
Also considered to be the dean of all English writers on Japanese baseball, Whiting has written the landmarks You Gotta Have Wa (MacMillan), a work on Japanese society as seen through the adopted sport; The Meaning of Ichiro (Warner Books), about Japanese ballplayers in America; and Tokyo Underworld (Pantheon). The latter is currently being made into a series for HBO, with Martin Scorsese the executive producer. Whiting’s sequel to Tokyo Underworld is slated to publish with the release of the HBO series. At the Japan Society lecture, he will discuss the sequel to Tokyo Underworldand share insights into the genesis of the HBO project, as well as the recent National Geographic documentary Crime Lords of Tokyo, in which he appeared.
First published in 1999, Tokyo Underworld: The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan follows former GI Nick Zappetti—also former black marketer, failed professional wrestler, bungling diamond thief—who became “the Mafia boss of Tokyo and the king of Roppongi.” It is the story of the intimate relationships shared by Japan's ruling party, its financial combines, its ruthless criminal gangs, the CIA, American big business, and perhaps at least one presidential relative. Publisher’s Weekly noted: “Whiting's probe of Japan's gangsters, corrupt entrepreneurs and political fixers reads like a James Bond thriller yet manages intelligently to illuminate the seamy underside of Japan's postwar economic boom.”
A reception will follow with an opportunity to meet the author in person.
Robert Whiting appears at Japan Society (333 East 47th Street between First and Second Avenues) on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $12/$8 Japan Society members. For more information, click here.
For more information on presenters and performers, click here. Purchase tickets for Saturday's event for $20 at http://www.asianinny.com/?p=16088.
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