Book Reviews Reviews

Book Review: Confessions of a Yakuza (1989) Junichi Saga

Confessions of a Yakuza cover

Having a doctor writing the biography of a patient who happens to be a former Yakuza boss is not an everyday deal, and the result is as unique as the circumstances. By chance, doctor “stumbled” upon 73-year-old Eiji Ijichi, who was sick but did not want to attend a hospital, and whom eventually proved so eager to share his story as Saga was to write it.

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Confessions of a Yakuza cover

Starting from when he was 15-years old, Ijichi narrates a unique life that had the son of a wealthy merchant ending up as a yakuza boss. Beginning his “career” as a lackey for local gambling games to his entering a yakuza, experiencing the Great Earthquake of 1920, to his days in prison, the army during WWII, and the post-war Japan, his life is as much as portrait of himself as of Showa-era Japan. His relationships with women which actually dominated, and to a point, dictated his life also take a large part of the narration, with his history with them giving a more than fitting, and somewhat shocking ending to the book, even if the narration of that part comes from Hatsuyo, the woman who stayed with him when he met the doctor, and not Ijichi himself.

More than anything however, the value of the book lies with the presentation of the lives the Yakuza actually had, which actually revolved around gambling, intricate inner politics and an even more complex code of honour, rather than violence. Ijichi makes a point of mentioning repeatedly how the movies have it all wrong, with the actual atmosphere during the gambling games being a distinct sample. At the same time, he makes a point of highlighting the sadistic tactics of the police of the time, who, in his mind, are the real villains.

Saga’s language is simple, as I imagine Ijichi’s words should be, a tactic that allows, though, the narration to flow very smoothly and resulting in a book that could be easily read in one take.

Presenting entertainment through history (realism if you prefer) is always a great accomplishment and Junichi Saga has achieved just that with a very compelling read.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

Panagiotis (Panos) Kotzathanasis is a film critic and reviewer, specialized in Asian Cinema. He is the owner and administrator of Asian Movie Pulse, one of the biggest portals dealing with Asian cinema. He is a frequent writer in Hancinema, Taste of Cinema, and his texts can be found in a number of other publications including SIRP in Estonia, Film.sk in Slovakia, Asian Dialogue in the UK, Cinefil in Japan and Filmbuff in India.

Since 2019, he cooperates with Thessaloniki Cinematheque in Greece, curating various tributes to Asian cinema. He has participated, with video recordings and text, on a number of Asian movie releases, for Spectrum, Dekanalog and Error 4444. He has taken part as an expert on the Erasmus+ program, “Asian Cinema Education”, on the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course.

Apart from a member of FIPRESCI and the Greek Cinema Critics Association, he is also a member of NETPAC, the Hellenic Film Academy and the Online Film Critics Association.

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