**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.
