{"product_id":"lady-joker-kaoru-takamura-first-edition-as-new","title":"Lady Joker, Kaoru Takamura - 1st Edition","description":"\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Default\" style=\"margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; mso-hyphenate: none;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Aptos Display',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;\"\u003eAs New:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Aptos Display',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;\"\u003e The book is in pristine, original condition as if just published. No signs of use or handling. The dust jacket (if present) is equally flawless. This grade applies to any book that has remained untouched in storage for years.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eDescription\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst Edition: As New, Unread.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eSet in Tokyo in the mid‑1990s, \u003cem data-start=\"108\" data-end=\"120\"\u003eLady Joker\u003c\/em\u003e follows a disparate group of five men—meeting weekly at the racetrack, each bearing their own wounds from a society they feel has let them down—who unite to execute a dramatic act of extortion: the kidnapping of the president of a giant beer conglomerate. As the conspiracy unfolds it becomes entangled in decades of corporate malfeasance, hidden discrimination (especially against Japan’s burakumin and Zainichi Korean populations), shadowy finance and police investigations. Through the slow‑burn build‑up of both the perpetrators’ backstories and the corporate\/police response, Takamura uses the kidnapping as a prism to examine post‑war Japanese society: the alienation, the structural injustice, the moral corrosion lurking beneath the booming economy.\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb style=\"color: rgb(23, 67, 119);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: Arial;\"\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":null,"offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52568174100819,"sku":"2041","price":32.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/1469\/6787\/files\/57_0e69bdb8-1b2b-4303-bc0a-8790e4fa1212.jpg?v=1765459270","url":"https:\/\/broadhurstsbooks.com\/products\/lady-joker-kaoru-takamura-first-edition-as-new","provider":"Broadhursts Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}