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Yakuza Moon
Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter
Shoko Tendo
Translated by Louise Heal
Hardcover 192 pages
152 x 226mm
ISBN : 978-4-7700-3042-9 / 4-7700-3042-8
Publish : Jul, 2007
Price : $22.95 |
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[ About the Book ]
A shocking yet intensely moving first-person account of one woman's experience of growing up in Japan's yakuza society.
Born into the family of a wealthy yakuza boss, Shoko Tendo lives her early years in luxury. But labeled "the yakuza kid," she is the victim of bullying and discrimination from teachers and classmates at school, and of her father's violent rages at home. The family falls into debt, and Tendo falls in with the wrong crowd. By the age of fifteen she is a gang member, by the age of eighteen a drug addict, and her young adulthood is marked by a series of abusive and violent relationships with men.
After the death of her parents and her own attempt at suicide, Tendo turns her life around. A pivotal moment is the decision to get tattooed: an act of empowerment that helps her take control of her life.
This is the universally appealing story of a young woman's successful struggle to escape from a life of ostracism and abuse, and a rare glimpse into Japan's closed yakuza worldfrom an insider's viewpoint.
Praise for this best-selling memoir from the Japanese press
"The book and its story of the life of the daughter of a yakuza boss captured the imagination of the nation."
- The Asahi Shimbun
"Born a yakuza's daughter, by her teens plunged into a world of sex and drugs, tattooed in her twenties . . . Tendo's eyes have the knowing sparkle of someone who has been to hell and back."
- Josei Seven
"A roller-coaster life laid bare . . ."
- Fujinkoron
Shoko Tendo wins praise for "shining a light into a dark and little understood corner of modern Japan."
-The Guardian (U.K.)
Reviews
'...A fast read... And her best-selling book has been reprinted 11 times in Japan. Maybe it's because it tells it how it is, and it's hardly a romantic portrait of the gangster life.'
-Giant Robot
"Yakuza Moon is a very personal book about a young woman's struggle to survive in a hostile and brutal environment, and it gives a rare insight into 'life on the other side' in Japan."
-Asia Times Online
"Powerful"
-Bloomberg News Service
About the Author
Yakuza Moon is SHOKO TENDO's first book. She lives in Tokyo with her baby daughter, and works as a freelance writer.
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