Hard Lessons Learned From Tough People: Jake Adelstein at TEDxKyoto 2012

Investigative Journalist and author Jake Adelstein shares his eye-opening and often eyebrow-raising insights as he leads us through his experiences with both the Yakuza and the police while reporting on crime in Japan for the last nineteen years.
Jake Adelstein
Investigative journalist
How often do we really think about the darker facets of our society? Most of us read a newspaper article now and then, or perhaps watch a documentary online or on television. Whether we actively avoid thinking about the very real hidden dangers around us, or are simply too busy to take the time, we must be thankful that there are people like Jake Adelstein in the world. Jake is an investigative journalist who has worked from 1993 to 2005 for the Yomiuri Shimbun as a crime reporter. He is also the author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter On The Police Beat in Japan, and anticipates his next book The Last Yakuza: A Life In the Japanese Underworld to be published in 2014. Considered to be the foremost Western expert on Japanese organized crime, Jake actively shares his expertise and findings as a contributing writer to The Atlantic Wire, as the manager of the website japansubculture.com and as a pro-bono board member for the Polaris Project Japan, which combats human trafficking and the exploitation of women and children. Jake and his colleagues do much more than simply report the dangers around us. They bring the actions of Japan's subculture into the light and into our awareness, a powerful step towards building a safer society for all of us.
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ジェイク アデルスタイン
調査ジャーナリスト
いわゆる「社会の闇」というものについて、わたしたちはどれだけ真剣に考えているでしょうか。普段、新聞やテレビ、インターネットなどでこまめに情報収集をしている人も、いざ自分の身の周りに潜む危険となると見て見ぬふりをしがち。さらには、忙しくてニュースさえもチェックする余裕がないという人も少なくないでしょう。そんな時代だからこそ、ジェイク・アデルスタインさんのような、調査報道を専門とするジャーナリストが世界中で活躍していることが重要なのです。アデルスタインさんは、1993年から2005年まで事件記者として読売新聞に勤務。現在は、アメリカのオンライン紙「アトランティック・ワイヤー」に執筆したり、日本の闇社会の実態を暴く「japansubculture.com 」を運営。さらに人身売買や、性的搾取、子供に対する労働力搾取の撲滅を目指すボランティア組織「ポラリスプロジェクト・ジャパン」の役員としても活躍しています。身の周りの危険を報道するだけでなく、日本の闇社会に光を当て警鐘を鳴らすことで、安全な社会を目指し力強く歩んでいるのです。著書に、日本の警察事情や裏社会について書いた「Tokyo Vice」、2014年には 「The Last Yakuza: A Life In the Japanese Underworld」を出版予定。
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About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
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