Jake Adelstein, a self-declared geek, which is also confirmed by public sources and my own direct personal sources who know him, makes a Clark Kent/Superman style transformation in the book going from a goofy geek, who cannot manage to wear the same socks half the time, to quasi-super-hero status as Super Jake investigates the Tokyo underworld, helps police solve crimes on repeated occasions, bravely stands up to underworld figures, battles corporate and government corruption, investigates, exposes and single-handedly busts up a white slaver operation bringing the perpetrators to justice while rescuing the victim and personally returning her home.

While doing all of this, the plucky geek exercises a variety of expert martial arts moves to fight thugs on repeated occasions and even a coworker and basically wins the admiration and or desires of a score of women who appear in the book. The reader would be hard pressed to find a woman in the book who does not try to get into Adelstein’s pants. There are a few, but not many.

Main Plot:

• Adelstein’s breaking the story on the Goto Gumi’s head, Tadamasa Goto, cutting a deal with the FBI for a liver transplant at UCLA and the subsequent threats that come from this person to “erase the story” or “be erased” himself. He later adds three other underworld figures to the liver transplant list at UCLA.

Sub Pots:

• Long-running friendship Saitama cop Sekiguchi who mentors, looks after and helps Adelstein who reciprocates by helping Sekiguchi solve crimes.

• Platonic friendship with Helena (an Australian prostitute) who also educates Adelstein about the ways of the street scene and helps Adelstein who in turn helps Helena’s friend. However, eventually her inquiries on Adelstein’s behalf get Helena tortured, murdered and vanished in dramatic fashion.

• Adelstein’s marriage falling apart due to the strains of the job and his immersion in vice, although Adestline himself was actively involved in the sex industry in Japan before he ever met his wife. This was both as a provider of sexual services, which is how Adelstein claimed to have worked his way through college, and as a buyer of sexual services, namely as a very regular patron of sex shop in Saitama called the Maid Station. Adelstein revisits both of these roles (provider and buyer) in the sex industry later in the book.
• Adelstein’s championing the cause of stopping human trafficking in Japan and at the same time helping its victims, including using his own money to take care of them.