BOOKS: Teriyaki

UENO PARK, IN TOKYO, was ordained by the Meiji Emperor in the late 19th century as a public space in which Japanese could pay homage to ancient shrines and native traditions. Nowadays, it is a mess of illegal Iranian immigrants selling phony telephone cards and cocaine. The statue of Takamori Saigo, a Meiji-era samurai, is surrounded by junkies seeking out teriyaki (heroin) or shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine). Indeed, when Choco Bon- Bon, star of such Japanese porn classics as Tales of a Hard Banana, needs a fix, he goes shopping in Ueno and then goes home to the Hotel Queen DeGaulle to...