New Books Network Robert Whiting, "Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies: The Outsiders who Shaped Modern Japan (Tuttle, 2024)
Mar 27, 2026
Robert Whiting, author and longtime Japan observer, shares colorful tales of Tokyo outsiders from the 60s and 70s. Stories include a boisterous Australian hostess famed for cutting patrons’ ties, a tattooed female yakuza with a revolver, North Korean drug-smuggling and meth’s rise, and how MK Taxi transformed rude cabs into polished service.
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Maggie's No Necktie Bar Made Tokyo Let Loose
- Maggie ran a noisy, no-necktie bar called Maggie's Revenge that became a hotspot for Tokyo businessmen, athletes, and foreigners.
- She cut customers' neckties with shears as a gimmick, angered co-owners by giving away champagne, and left after ties to drug-smuggling surfaced.
Shtokiri Jim And His Revolver Carrying Wife
- Vladimir Granby 'Shtokiri Jim' was a Russian-born yakuza who carried a sword while his gangster wife carried a revolver and got tattooed in the gang tradition.
- After a street fight with rival Kei Hanagata, Jim and his wife sought revenge; Jim was beaten, hospitalized, and later died from his injuries.
North Korea Used Drugs As Statecraft In Postwar Japan
- North Korea used drugs as statecraft: first heroin aimed at GIs and then methamphetamine sold in Japan to raise funds and destabilize opponents.
- The shift to meth created widespread use in the 1950s, with about a million users including taxi drivers and hostesses.
