Word: yakuza
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...widely acclaimed 1999 debut, Ghostwritten: a dystopian and dysfunctional Japan, one-part William Gibson, two-parts Murakami-Ryu and Haruki. Like a cyberage Holden Caulfield, 19-year-old, fresh-from-the-countryside Miyake plods his way through Tokyo's cityscape, rubbing elbows with Uber-hackers, war veterans, playboys and yakuza-cum-spiritualists. Along the way he gets lost, kidnapped, chased, stoned, hired and falls in love. The pizza delivers him to his father-but, without giving away the twist in the tale, it's not the kind of meeting you might expect...
...miracle"?a word employed by Western commentators who failed to see rapid growth coming. It may be that the demographic and financial meltdowns Japan faces will trigger another volcanic transition, and soon. It may be that this change will promote meritocracy, protect the environment, modernize the economy, strangle the Yakuza, muzzle corruption and, crucially for my family's future, usher in a broader definition of what it is to be Japanese. I hope so. I have a strong affection for our child's Asian homeland, an affection that I want him or her to share as a native...
...yakuza runs these joints, and it lures girls into them with live bait. Handsome young men called "catch" hover in the alleys of Shibuya and Kabuki-cho, swooping down on young targets. They're pretty boys who begin by flattering a girl, acting unthreatening, and then moving swiftly to temptation by dangling the promise of quick money and easy work. It's a lucrative job, says Eiji, a bottle-blond catch with a bronzed face wearing a skinny black suit. Once he reels a girl in to his employer, he collects up to $200. "The younger and cuter," Eiji explains...
...died when she was in third grade, and her older sister ran away shortly afterward. She never had a father. Now she lives with her grandmother in a 3LDK?three-bedroom, living room, dining room and kitchen dwelling?on the 10th floor of a public-housing building. The yakuza controls most of the area, so kids use the kind of slang spoken by motorcycle gangs and low-life creeps...
...unfolds regularly on Channel 2, which claims some 8 million hits a day and is the country's eighth most accessed site. The bulletin board wasn't meant to be a soapbox for deranged malcontents but rather a rare haven for Japanese to discuss normally taboo subjects, like the yakuza, the royal family and discrimination against Koreans?topics the mainstream media either sanitizes or simply won't touch. "The Emperor is a war criminal. How is it that we haven't yet done away with the Imperial system?" asks an outspoken visitor to the history page. "In Japan, the press...