nouveau

one of two English-language Yakuza books to be "accidentally" written; this other is [[book: Confessions of a Yakuza]]; Whiting went to Tokyo to write a general history of organized crime and instead ended up meeting the American Yak, Zappetti, who arrived in Japan with the Occupation forces and chose to stay.

1945 Japan - 1960s being a time of rebuilding, when an adventuruous non-unversity-educated American could make something of himself; and indeed Zappetti built a business empire of sorts, but ending up with only one restaurant.

a piece of historica, a piece of the vernacular. one understands early post-war Japan through this account better.