Confessions
of a Yakuza
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| The Cover of Confessions of a Yakuza |
Dr. Junichi Saga never thought his life would change so much when the man who he would treat for terminal cancer came to share his life with him. This patient was special, and Dr. Saga could see that from the moment the man took off his clothes to reveal extensive tattoos all over his body. The aging man, Eiji, knew that his time was coming to an end and wanted to share the story of his life as a yakuza to someone who would listen. Luckily for him, and for us, he came upon the right doctor who recorded their conversations in detail.
This is a marvelous book of a single account of what it means to be, and takes to be, a yakuza. This is not a glamorous tale, by any stretch of the imagination. It does not glorify the lifestyle or paint a devil-may-care fiction of beautiful women, fast cars, drugs, gambling, and the high life. Being a yakuza is tough work, and lonely and hard.
As a narrative which explores what kind of man becomes a professional gangster, this book leaves the reader ambivalent at the end. Certainly, it is a life full of adventure and struggle, but it is not one without pain, sacrifice, and serious hardship. For someone to live outside of society in the West is difficult enough, but to do so in Japan takes a particularly hard will. Dr. Junichi Saga's compassionate accounts of his patient are quite touching, but not melodramatic. We are provided a keen insight into the mind of such a man without editorial comments. It is refreshing to get such an account, especially from the Japanese themselves, and not from an editorialized stand-point.
This book is not a heavy read and is easy to follow. It is the tale of a single man who, cast out from his own world, is drawn into one of the few alternatives open to him in Japan. As an account of what it was like to be a yakuza during the formative years of the 20th century, this book is quite an eyeful.
Mark Groenewold
Kanazawa, Japan
December 2002
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