People Who Eat Darkness

Fascinating and heartbreaking. (Though content warnings: for sexual assault, particularly by use of GHB/Rohypnol; murder/abduction - the descriptions aren't graphic overall but it's a big part of the story, unfortunately, so be advised.) The author is a longtime foreign correspondent for the British press, and seems to do a good job telling the story without turning it into “look at those strange foreigners” gawking or exploitation.

I liked this book! I feel like I learned a lot about Japan including the complicated racial tensions between Japanese and Korean folks, the historical context for the police and their behavior in Japan, and his teasing in general. I liked it but didn't LOVE it - def didn't feel like I wasted my time but also didn't find myself wanting to run back to this book to figure out what comes next. Not for the faint of heart!

Incredibly sad and depressing read as one might expect. Look at all the rape culture where police don't follow-up on suspicious deaths of foreign women working in the sex industry! Look at the attempt to discredit the victims by describing them as drug-addicted prostitutes! Nevermind the expectation that the hostesses must go out to dinner outside the club culture, visiting a man alone was the women's stupid decision with no other exterior pressures! The book doesn't identify rape culture as such tho, don't expect that - it's a straight up attempt to account for the conflicting family perspectives and attempt to reveal the man who was druging and raping all these hostesses and ended up killing at least two of them. I'm not sure what the title has to do with anything tho? Definitely don't read this when you're feeling down about the patriarchy and women's objectification or if your family is difficult to deal with :/