Zen Buddhist priest

3 weeks ago | unseen-japan.com | Jake Adelstein |Zen Buddhist priest |Yakuza Wonderland

This weekend, something unthinkable finally happened: Fuji Television—the once-untouchable giant of Japanese broadcasting—cut loose its longest-reigning shōgun, Hieda Hisashi. To the untrained eye, it looked like a retirement. A dignified sendoff. A “new chapter.”But to those who know the system, this wasn’t retirement. This was a ritual execution in a crumbling kingdom—an industry dinosaur finally thrown overboard as the network tried to keep from sinking under the weight of its own lies.

1 month ago | unseen-japan.com | Jake Adelstein |Zen Buddhist priest |Yakuza Wonderland

Jake Adelstein, a regular contributor to Unseen Japan, will be speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ) on March 31, 2025, about his latest book, The Last Yakuza: A Life in the Japanese Underworld. The book was reviewed by Noah Oskow on Unseen Japan, providing an in-depth analysis of Adelstein’s storytelling and investigative work.