This misery memoir is a catalogue of poor decisions and domestic abuse. The author offers no real insights into anything she does and there is little self reflection or analysis of her situation. Despite using Yakuza in the title, there is no insight into the yakuzas other than a string of violent boyfriends, and her father quits being a gangster in the second chapter.

The afterword, by Manabu Miyazaki, offers more context to the account we have just read, where he explains how the brash lifestyle of yakuzas and easy access to credit invariably leads to debts and financial ruin. This afterword slightly redeems the book and means it is not a total waste of time. ( )

I will keep this short as my review has been removed multiple times due to phone errors

I read this book in only a few hours and enjoyed it very much

This book may prove to be one in a long line of books that is not meant to be inspirational and yet proves to be so for me

A long hard life of bad decisions and hard times leads Shoko to reinvent herrself many times, each time with more and more difficulties... Although obviously her difficulties are more difficult than most of ours I think we can all relate to this


And though in the end we don't know how things turn out for her, at the end of the book at 32 years old she has reinvented yourself again and seems optimistic... The implied outcome is that even at this age we can all still reinvent ourselves and find happiness


As a 34-year-old woman, I read this and hope for the future ( )

This is Shoko Tendo's first book and it is well written. I'm sure it must have been painful for her to relive so much of her past. It's a very interesting bit of history into what the Yakuza are like and being raised around that type of environment. ( )

Shoko Tendo grew up as the daughter of a Yakuza boss in 1980’s Japan. Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster’s Daughter is her story of those years. While not a particularly well written book, I did admire her brutal honesty and the fact that she doesn’t make any excuses for herself, she simply tells us of her life.

Unfortunately this is not a book that supplied much detail about the Yakuza. Her father managed to run himself into tremendous debt and had to get out from the protection of the mob while she was still quite young. Her memories of her early age are of being bullied and called names due to her father’s connections, her father’s violent rages, and his time spent in prison while her mother had to run the businesses and his gang.

Shoko’s story is mostly about her own downward spiral, starting with running with a wild crowd at the ago of twelve, getting into sniffing paint thinner, advancing into speed. Rebelling against her parents, she instead fell into one abusive and controlling relationship after another.. She finally found personal empowerment by having herself vividly tattooed and changing her lifestyle.

I found the closing chapter of the book rather strange. It appears to be a rambling declaration asking for her parents forgiveness. I think she was actually accepting her past and forgiving herself. Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster’s Daughter is certainly far from the best book I have read this year, but I think it will be one that I remember. ( )

Introduction

Yakuza Moon is a memoir of a gangster s daughter. The story describes Shoko Tendo's experiences. This story takes place in Japan. There are various settings such as juvenile homes, home, school, and the streets. Most of the story takes place at Shoko's apartment that Shin (her "boyfriend") bought for her.

Shoko Tendo, comes from a family of 6 altogether. She has been through so much as the daughter of a yakuza leader. Hiroyasu, her father and the leader of a yakuza gang is a very up tight and strict father. He would always come home drunk and go on rampages in the middle of the night leaving Shoko and her little sister Na-Chan scared. Hiroyasu eventually loses his title and goes into depth. Satomi, Shoko's mother is described as a kind, humble, loving and sometimes strict person. Shoko looks to her for advice and says "she can't live without her." Daiki, her older brother who's fiance left him because of his father. Daiki's fiance had a very strict family that refused to let her marry the son of a Yakuza. Maki, her older sister is a party girl/ yanki who like Shoko gets sent to juvenile homes around the age of 15. Na-Chan, the youngest sibling is hardly in this story but she has a few conversations with Shoko.

Rising Action

After introducing her family Shoko begins to tell about her childhood experiences. Members of the school used to bully and call her names because of the fact that her father was a Gang leader. Teachers also rebelled against her until one day she finally cracked and told teacher "Who do you think you are talking to?" Shoko's father began losing all his money to the point where he couldn't keep up with paying his depths. He became very stressed. Tax collectors would come to their home everyday and ransact the place until there was nothing left.

Climax

Things began to go down hill for Shoko. One day she caught her older sister Maki sneaking out. In fear that Shoko would tell on her, Maki invited Shoko to come along with her. Shoko met many young gang members that filled the streets of Japan. She officially became a yanki that night. Shoko began skipping school for weeks at a time. Drugs became an addiction and it wasn't something that was easy for her to give up. When her parents saw that Shoko was changing into a very rebellious child they sent her to juvenile detention.

When she was released Shoko went back to her old ways and chose drugs and friends over her own family. Every night she would get shot up with speed and eventually got addicted to that also. One of her father's friends named Majiema met Shoko at one of the disco's around town and insisted that they see each other.

Shoko had met another man named Shin at the time she and Majiema were hooking up. She tried to leave Majiema but he would always b eat her to the point that she could not take it. Then, he would make it up to her by getting her shot up on speed.

Falling Action

Maki moves into Shoko's apartment and gets a divorce from her husband. Maki is also pregnant at the same time as Shoko. Shoko eventually gets out of her abusive relationship with Majiema and breaks up with Shin. She then meets another man that she gets pregnant from. Her mother dies towards the end of the story and she goes into a deep depression. She feels very lost without her mother.

Resolution

Shoko's daughter is born and kind of pulls her out of that depression. She spends almost 10 years trying to get her life back together and works her way to the top. She finally gets enough money to buy a plot for her mother and fathers ashes to be buried. She found one that was very close to where she lived and also where cherry blossoms bloomed during spring. She loved it because the cherry blossoms reminded her off her childhood. Good memories were all that came back to her when she looked at the tree.

This book was really awesome. Shoko takes you to a place where you can feel that you're actually in the story experiencing her experiences. Her writing really gets you all into it and makes you not want to stop reading. Overall, she did a really good job of describing her life. Her experiences of abuse, drugs, and gangs have taught her that things aren't always what they seem.

The plot of the story was very well organized. There was no part of the story that didn't make sense. Everything fit together very well. The one thing that kept me reading this story was the suspense that kept building up as the story was progressing and how new things constantly kept happening. There was a purpose for everything in this memoir. I give this book a thumbs up.

(I left some of the good parts out because you have to read it yourself.)