Yakuza Moon: The True Story of a Gangster's Daughter

2011 | Comics & Graphic Novels

This heartbreaking and informative account of the memories of a woman at the heart of Japanese organized crime is shocking and incredibly moving, especially since it is told in the first person. Shoko Tendo bathed in luxury from his birth in a wealthy Yakuza family. However, she becomes the victim of school harassment from students and teachers when she is labeled "Yakuza's daughter". To this are added the nocturnal alcoholic rages of his father. As his family crumbles in debt as his father's influence wanes, Tendo hangs out with the wrong gang and other men appear in his life. At barely fifteen, she is already a member of a gang, at eighteen she was addicted to drugs and spent the next decade in relationships with more violent men than others. Her situation only gets worse and worse, a victim in spite of herself as she tries to find her place as a woman in a violent, sexist and drug-corrupt world. It is only after the death of her parents and a failed suicide attempt that she reassesses her lifestyle through a difficult and saving introspection. And it is thanks to an almost anecdotal decision that she takes back the reins of her life and finally gets her head out of the water. Shoko Tendo saw his memoirs receive a very warm reception from the public and be translated into fourteen languages. She has participated in numerous documentaries on her own life, on tattooing and on the Japanese underworld in general.

Sean Michael Wilson (Author)