Lady Joker

One of Japan s great modern masters, Kaoru Takamura, makes her English-language debut with this two-volume publication of her magnum opus. Tokyo, 1995. Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses. They have little in common except a deep disaffection with their lives, but together they represent the social struggles and griefs of post-War Japan: a poorly socialized genius stuck working as a welder; a demoted detective with a chip on his shoulder; a Zainichi Korean banker sick of being ostracized for his race; a struggling single dad of a teenage girl with Down syndrome. The fifth man bringing them all together is an elderly drugstore owner grieving his grandson, who has died suspiciously after the revelation of a family connection with the segregated buraku community, historically subjected to severe discrimination. Intent on revenge against a society that values corporate behemoths more than human life, the five conspirators decide to carry out a heist: kidnap the CEO of Japan s largest beer conglomerate and extract blood money from the company s corrupt financiers. Inspired by the unsolved true-crime kidnapping case perpetrated by the Monster with 21 Faces, Lady Joker has become a cultural touchstone since its 1997 publication, acknowledged as the magnum opus by one of Japan s literary masters, twice adapted for film and TV and often taught in high school and college classrooms.