Among the Yakuza: Haruto Hoshi Photographs Jake Adelstein

For Peter Hessler’s profile of the American crime reporter Jake Adelstein in the January 9th issue of the magazine, the photographer Haruto Hoshi shadowed Adelstein through the Tokyo underworld about which he writes. Hoshi was an obvious choice to photograph Adelstein. While in his late twenties, Hoshi sold drugs for his best friend, who had recently joined the yakuza. Unhappy with the direction his life had taken, Hoshi was unsure how to right his path without abandoning his friend. Fate and the police intervened, and Hoshi was arrested and served time in prison. It was during his incarceration that he first considered becoming a photographer, and upon his release he enrolled in night school. The rest, as they say, is hisutori.

We asked Adelstein to caption Hoshi’s photos from their time together, and he kindly obliged. For more photographs, with Adelstein’s captions: http://nyr.kr/xjGJ3U