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Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter | 
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| Author: Shoko Tendo
Creators: Miyazaki Manabu, Louise Heal
Publisher: Kodansha International
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $11.99
You Save: $10.96 (48%)
New (34) Used (13) from $11.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 73775
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 4770030428
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1092
EAN: 9784770030429
ASIN: 4770030428
Publication Date: July 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Yakuza Moon is the shocking, yet intensely moving memoir of 37-year-old Shoko Tendo, who grew up the daughter of a yakuza boss. Tendo lived her life in luxury until the age of six, when her father was sent to prison and her family fell into terrible debt. Bullied by classmates and terrorized at home by a father who became a drunken, violent monster after his release from prison, Tendo rebelled. A regular visitor to nightclubs at the age of 12, she soon became a drug addict and a member of a girl gang. At 15 she was sentenced to eight months in a juvenile detention center.
Adulthood brought big bucks and glamour when Tendo started working as a bar hostess during Japan's booming bubble economy of the nineteen-eighties. But among her many rich and loyal patrons there were also abusive clients, one of whom beat her so badly that her face was left permanently scarred. When her mother died, Tendo plunged into such a deep depression that she tried to commit suicide twice.
Tendo takes us through the bad times with warmth and candor, and gives a moving and inspiring account of how she overcame a lifetime of discrimination and hardship. Getting tattooed, from the base of her neck to the tips of her toes, with a design centered on a geisha with a dagger in her mouth, was an act that empowered her to start making changes in her life. She quit her job as a hostess. On her last day at the bar she looked up at the full moon, a sight she never forgot. The moon became a symbol of her struggle to become whole, and the title of the book she wrote as an epitaph for herself and her family.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Yakuza Moon - Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter September 29, 2008
Entertaining read, a very short rushed biography i thought it was not detailed as a biography should be.
 Yakuza? September 25, 2008
I read an article about the author of this book, with a photo shoot of her tattoos and short description of the book as a candid and open look of being apart of a Yakuza family. I was very much intrigued, but the book really isn't "memoirs of a gangster's daughter" and has very little to do with the Yakuza at all. The book is an autobiography about a troubled childhood with a wild father, which then leads to a rebellious adolescence and then a string of doomed relationships, interspersed with the author's regret and apologies to her family. Although her father and some of her boyfriends have been Yakuza members, there's no insight to how her life has been affected by the Yakuza organization. The book reads like she had a deadbeat dad who she then dates cabon copies of. There is very little to do with understanding the Yakuza organization or the organization's involvement in her life.
If you disregard the misleading title, the book topic wise is an interesting account. The language is very simple, where details are clipped to the point of emotional detachment. For example she describes feelings of love, but there's very little said to make the reader understand why. However, something have been lost in its translation.
Closing summary: Should not be called Yakuza moon, since it has nothing to do with the Yakuza.
 I couldn't put it down! August 4, 2008
Shoko Tendo's Yakuza Moon is an amazing recollection of her life as a Yakuza daughter. I couldn't put it down and finished the book in 2 hrs. I just could not put the book down. I look forward to reading more books written by Shoko.
 Sad and Inspiring Tale, Average Writing June 24, 2008
Her life story was interesting, sad, and compelling to read. I thought this book was a good insight to 1980's-90's Sub-Culture in Japan. This book was an easy read, and the writing is a little Below par, but don't let that make you not give this book a whirl. I give it a B. I have lent it to a friend, who also likes it as well*
Shoko Tendo is Amazing April 1, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Yakuza Moon by Shoko Tendo is an excellent novel. Her memoirs kept me reading and shocked me at times. Her life is very interesting and intertwined with the Japanese mafia made it all the better. If your into true life stories, the Yakuza, and aren't afraid to be shocked then I recommend this book.
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