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.
