Hokkaido Popsicle

By Isaac Adamson and Айзек Адамсон

Book Overview

After an altercation with the director of Wildman for Geisha -- a movie based on ace reporter Billy Chaka's life -- Chaka finds himself in Hokkaido on mandatory vacation. Trouble starts when the elderly porter of the Hotel Kitty stumbles into Billy's room and dies. That same night, the lead singer of Japan's most popular rock band turns up dead in a sleazy love hotel in Tokyo.

Billy Chaka goes to Tokyo to cover the story for Youth in Asia magazine and soon finds out there's more to the rocker's apparent drug overdose than meets the eye. A Beatles-obsessed record executive, a mute DJ, two giant kickboxing twins with an encyclopedic knowledge of pop music, a Swedish stripper working at the Purloined Kitten Club -- each play a part in the hard-boiled hilarity that ensues as Billy Chaka discovers that the rock star and the elderly hotel porter just might share a very strange link.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380812924
• ISBN13: 9780380812929
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

A fast-paced, dizzying romp through Tokyo pop culture!

Bought this book on the advice of a friend just before RETURNING to Tokyo from summer holiday. What a great way to ease back into the Tokyo Metropolis! Isaac Adamson has managed to craft an exciting page-turner that pegs Tokyo and pop culture in Japan to a T. The characters are three dimensional, the plot keeps you glued to book, the twists and turns difficult to predict and...the story (or at least MOST of it) believable. My only disappointment was that I could not get my hands on Tokyo Suckerpunch before reading this book (I have ordered it though). I will be recommending this to my Japanese and Gaijin friends. Oh...great cover! I noticed quite a few Tokyoites checking out the cover on the Chuo train during rush hour. Looking forward to Billy Chaka's next adventure...Gambatte o kudasai!

Pow!! Bam!!

It's Philip Marlowe as played by Bruce Campbell doing a Lupin the 3rd meets Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop in a Sam Raimi production. Isaac Adamson nailed a genre in his second book. This is not only a really good murder mystery, it's a really good noir tale, an extremely funny story, and a pretty adept caricature of Japanese Pop Culture. Or should that be characterization?The lines are certainly blurred between the real Tokyo and the hyper-kinetic, overly neon pink, city of all things cute and quirky Tokyo as written by Adamson in Hokkaido Popsicle. Some would take exception to this book as being "insensitive" to Japanese and Japan by stereotyping. My thoughts are, if you can't make caricatures of teen beat journalists, yakuza bosses and henchmen, strippers, self absored rock stars, or cops with chips on their shoulders then who can you make caricatures of?This book is a romp from beginning to end. The dialogue and narration is inspired and genuinely funny throughout. The plot is quite well conceived and pulled off. And each and every character is unique, interesting, and given their moment to shine at one point or other during the story.Billy Chaka, the protagonist, is a great launching pad for a slew of follups to Adamson's Tokyo Suckerpunch and the, in my opinion, better 2nd book, Hokkaido Popsicle. Adamson has created a character you love to love and hate through all of his bumbling, fetishistic adventures. Chaka is irreverant and driven in his pursuit for the truth, whether it be in his spiritual calling to write bubblegum articles for teenagers in Youth in Asia magazine, or his next murder mystery investigation he gets drawn to like a moth to a flame.Adamson has developed as a writer since his initial Billy Chaka adventure. There's less exposition, explanation, or asking of permission in the narration where Billy Chaka's wisecracks are concerned, so now you either get Chaka or you don't. Sometimes things can be obtuse, but if you give in to Chaka's mannerisms and thought patterns, it all falls into place naturally and is much more enjoyable.Adamson has gone all out in crafting the dialogue this time around so that every line is interesting in phrasing and context, making it more rich than his work in his first book, Tokyo Suckerpunch. And it pays off in spaids! Tokyo Suckerpunch gives the reader a nod to what can be done with these characters in this setting, Hokkaido Popsicle takes it and runs!

Even better than the first

These aren't sequels, so you can pick either one up and read them. I can't believe how good Adamson is...I started writing again because I was so inspired by him, and promptly remembered that I['m bad]. This stuff is smart and modern, and I can't wait for the next one. Gamers: just imagine how much fun it would be if Adamson wrote the next Duke Nukem story.

go billy chaka!

This one is as good as Tokyo Suckerpunch, with the same manic energy and humor. Part of the fun is the many bizarre but believable band names the author creates (like "Phantom Limb"), and the many pop music allusions - especially from Maki and Aki, the huge twin bodyguards who continually banter in pop lyrics from well-known songs. The journey through Japan's urban underside propels the reader, and Billy's cynicism about the music scene hits just the right notes. It looks like there will be more Billy Chaka books, and I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Adamson gets better with each novel!

HOKKAIDO POPSICLE is the follow-up to Adamson's Tokyo-Pop classic TOKYO SUCKERPUNCH. This sophomore effort has the return of high-kicking American journalist, Billy Chaka, who falls into a mystery deeply-rooted in the rarely seen world of Tokyo's rock scene. HOKKAIDO POPSICLE is witty, bizarre, fun, and a wonderful slice of east meets west. Like in CATCHER IN THE RYE, once the clever title is explained in the end, its profundity will resonant with you long after you've closed the book. The title is so clever, the big twist ending will put a smile on your face. Do yourself a favor and find out what HOKKAIDO POPSICLE means. If you liked TOKYO SUCKERPUNCH, you'll love HOKKAIDO POPSICLE.