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NEWS: Tokyo Vice Live-Action Series' 2nd Season's Trailer Reveals February 8 Premiere

I read the book a couple weeks back after mostly enjoying season 1 when it was released. Not a big fan of the book (though, mostly because I question the true nature of the sources). Worse yet, I now feel a significantly decreased desire to continue with the show. We'll see, I guess. At least it's getting made.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first season but haven't read the book. I've read a bit about Adelstein and while I don't doubt his journalistic integrity, I get the impression he likes to embellish his stories somewhat.

It won't stop me from enjoying the second season when it comes out.

Just out of interest, this series is what actually got me into Japanese entertainment. The series gave me a fascination into modern Japanese culture and then I moved over to Manga and Anime.

Since then, I haven't looked back

Belkov wrote:

I thoroughly enjoyed the first season but haven't read the book. I've read a bit about Adelstein and while I don't doubt his journalistic integrity, I get the impression he likes to embellish his stories somewhat. It won't stop me from enjoying the second season when it comes out. Just out of interest, this series is what actually got me into Japanese entertainment. The series gave me a fascination into modern Japanese culture and then I moved over to Manga and Anime. Since then, I haven't looked back

I agree with your assessment of the book; he does embellish a lot of little things (and skips several others, no doubt).
Clarifying my point a bit more, though, I also wouldn't say that his information is false or made up. What I was really getting at is that I seriously doubt that he actually had all these direct ties to yakuza members that he supposedly employed to do his work.
The more likely scenario is that those yakuza sources were indirectly feeding him information. They were informants for the CIA or some other American agency, and it was that agency that fed Adelstein his information on the underworld. Because, come on, what could a gaijin, rookie reporter do for the yakuza? There was a chapter where a mid-level yakuza straight up reached out to him early on in Adelstein's career for help in seeing from where in the cop shop a rumor about him was spreading; I believe that happened, but what I don't believe is that this yakuza member chose Adelstein because of his merit and integrity. Why not just choose a veteran police reporter who has even stronger police connections? I would think he was chosen because that informant's CIA handler said "Hey, we know a reporter who can make some inquiries into the local police for you. He's American, but you can trust him to handle this". That seems way more plausible than "When the Yakuza Come Calling" out of the blue, to quote the chapter title.
Adelstein tipped his hand when he wrote in the book that the CIA was very interested in the yakuza's dealings with North Korea (mostly guns, drugs, and money flowing into Japan, he writes). How did Adelstein get those CIA contacts? This is a bit tinfoil hat-y of me, I know, but I think the CIA wanted to know what he knew (or else recruited him before/when he joined the Yomiuri Shinbun) about the yakuza's stock dealings and financial impact, particularly. How embedded were they in the global (or just Japanese and/or American) economy? These are extremely important notes for any law enforcement agency: knowing your targets' assets. To get any inside information means informants, but another chapter in the book made it pretty clear that most yakuza members probably wouldn't know anything about their group's finances and investments. So, leave the investigating to local police and have an insider with a reputable newspaper relay that information in case it doesn't get published. Moreover, the insider could use his status to do some digging/paper trail following himself under his paper's name. It's not rocket science.
So, I don't expect the show to ever have the CIA involved while the Jake Adelstein character is still working at the Yomiuri Shinbun. If the agency does make an appearance, it would be far later, after he published his work on human trafficking in Japan. The first season pretty drastically shortens the timespan of the story (e.g. in real life, Adelstein was married before he started looking into hostess clubs as a result of the investigation into Lucie Blackman's murder, which is totally skipped in season 1).
Anyway, those are just my two cents on Adelstein's reporting and book.

But still, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book, too.
And I'm glad you found more things to enjoy!