Cover of Yakuza: A 400-Year History of the Japanese Underworld by Andrew Rankin

Yakuza: A 400-Year History of the Japanese Underworld

By Andrew Rankin

$32.00
$32.00
Save 0
Sold out

Member Price: $28.80

Description

The definitive history of Japanese organized crime, from its origins in samurai-era black markets and gambling rings to the shadowy syndicates of the present.

"The best book in English on this fascinating and misunderstood subject." ―Richard Lloyd Parry, author of People Who Eat Darkness

"Gripping." --Ian Buruma, New Yorker

Japan's gangster groups, known collectively as the yakuza, are among the oldest underworld societies in the world. With military-style organization and a code of absolute obedience, they have run Japan's black markets for centuries. They have remained strikingly conspicuous in Japanese society and as a cultural force beyond Japan, with movies and video games celebrating their exploits globally.

Andrew Rankin offers the first comprehensive history of the yakuza, from their emergence out of seventeenth-century samurai gang culture to the present day. Though their activities have always encompassed illegal gambling and sex trafficking, the yakuza have also aggressively maintained business interests in private security, the construction industry, the entertainment industry, and debt collection. Yakuza bosses acquired a degree of legitimacy by styling themselves as peacekeepers maintaining order at society's bottom end. Yet that legitimacy has come into doubt in recent years as Japan's contracting economy has pushed the yakuza into increasingly predatory criminal activities.

Featuring a lively cast of extortionists, smugglers, hit men, and corporate crime lords, Yakuza is a fascinating tour of Japan's sprawling mob syndicates and the cultural traditions with which they are so deeply intertwined.

ISBN-13

9781541607675

Publisher

Basic Books

Page Count

400 pages

Product Dimensions

9.62 x 5.84 x 1.51 in
Officially Licensed
Ethically Made In Certified Factories

FIND THE STORES

  • Harvard COOP
  • MIT COOP

Harvard Square COOP

1400 Massachusetts 
Avenue,
Cambridge, MA 02138 

Tel: (617) 499-2000

Monday – Saturday
10am – 8pm 

Sunday 
10am – 6pm

MAP

Harvard COOP

9 Brattle Street,
Cambridge, MA 02138

Tel (617) 499-2000


Monday – Saturday

10am – 8pm

Sunday 
10am – 6pm

MAP

Harvard Business School COOP

Spangler Center,
117 Western Ave,

Boston, MA 02163


Tel (617) 499-3248


Monday – Friday 
10am – 5pm

Saturday - Sunday

Closed

MAP

Harvard Law School COOP

1595 Massachusetts
Avenue,
Cambridge, MA 02138


Tel (617) 499-3255


Monday – Friday 
9am – 5pm
Saturday 11am – 5pm

Sunday Closed

MAP

The COOP Concept Store

40 Western Ave, Boston, MA 02134

Monday - Saturday 10am - 6pm

Sunday 10am - 3pm

Ground floor of The Atlas Hotel, across from Harvard Business School

MAP

Harvard Medical School COOP

Countway Library,
10 Shattuck St,
Boston, MA 02115

Tel (617) 499-3300

Monday – Friday 
10am – 5pm
Saturday – Sunday
Closed

MAP

MIT COOP at Kendall Sq.

80 Broadway, Cambridge,
MA 02142

Tel  (617) 499-3200


Monday - Saturday 
9.30am - 6pm
Sunday: Closed

MAP

MIT COOP at Stratton

84 Massachusetts Avenue,
Cambridge, MA 02139


Tel: (617) 499-3240 


Monday - Friday
9am - 5pm

Saturday 10am - 4pm

Sunday Closed

MAP

Harvard Square COOP

1400 Massachusetts 
Avenue,
Cambridge, MA 02138 

Tel: (617) 499-2000

Monday – Saturday
10am – 8pm 

Sunday 
10am – 6pm

MAP

Harvard COOP

9 Brattle Street,
Cambridge, MA 02138

Tel (617) 499-2000


Monday – Saturday

10am – 8pm

Sunday 
10am – 6pm

MAP

Harvard Business School COOP

Spangler Center,
117 Western Ave,

Boston, MA 02163


Tel (617) 499-3248


Monday – Friday 
10am – 5pm

Saturday - Sunday

Closed

MAP

Harvard Law School COOP

1595 Massachusetts
Avenue,
Cambridge, MA 02138


Tel (617) 499-3255


Monday – Friday 
9am – 5pm
Saturday 11am – 5pm

Sunday Closed

MAP

The COOP Concept Store

40 Western Ave, Boston, MA 02134

Monday - Saturday 10am - 6pm

Sunday 10am - 3pm

Ground floor of The Atlas Hotel, across from Harvard Business School

MAP

Harvard Medical School COOP

Countway Library,
10 Shattuck St,
Boston, MA 02115

Tel (617) 499-3300

Monday – Friday 
10am – 5pm
Saturday – Sunday
Closed

MAP

MIT COOP at Kendall Sq.

80 Broadway, Cambridge,
MA 02142

Tel  (617) 499-3200


Monday - Saturday 
9.30am - 6pm
Sunday: Closed

MAP

MIT COOP at Stratton

84 Massachusetts Avenue,
Cambridge, MA 02139


Tel: (617) 499-3240 


Monday - Friday
9am - 5pm

Saturday 10am - 4pm

Sunday Closed

MAP

FOLLOW

  • @harvardcoop
  • @mitcoop