Don’t forget Japan’s gamblers, fraudsters, dreamers, spies

What if the rise of modern Japan wasn’t shaped just by its politicians, economists, and business leaders but also by a motley crew of gamblers, criminals, dreamers, and spies? What if the people who made the biggest impact on Japan’s post-war transformation weren’t the heroes of history books, but the outsiders who operated in the shadows?

Robert Whiting’s Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies: The Outsiders Who Shaped Modern Japan takes you on a journey into the lives of these very figures – risk-takers and rule-breakers who, through their daring and often illegal moves, changed the face of the country forever.

Whiting’s previous works such as Tokyo Underworld and You Gotta Have Wa have explored both the criminal underbelly and Japan’s love for baseball and in his latest work, Whiting brings us into the gritty, complex world of people who never quite fit into Japan’s rigid society but still managed to leave their mark. It navigates through a rogues’ gallery of characters who defied the norm to alter the country’s trajectory.

The individuals in this book span a wide spectrum—from post-war yakuza bosses and international spies to American hustlers and dreamers who saw Japan as a land of opportunity. Whiting masterfully draws out the connections between them, showing how their actions often altered the course of history in ways that went unnoticed by the general public.

Yoshio Kodama is not a main character in the book but whatever I can read about Kodama – whose life I’ve also written about in an article, “Who is Yoshio Kodama?” – is always fun. Whiting wrote about Kodama in Tokyo Underworld but he pops up again in this book.

Kodama’s story reads like a thriller, blending high-level political influence, deep ties to