Nintendo and the Yakuza

Recently I've taken a bit of an interest in Yakuza culture and have found myself reading articles here and there with great interest. Today I discovered something that truly amazed me-- that the world's beloved Nintendo video game company has connections to Japan's organised crime syndicates!

In order to explain this rather obscure and fascinating connection, I must first explain the origin of the word, やくざ ("yakuza"). This word comes from a combination of three very old Japanese words from a regional dialect: 八つ ("Yattsu" / Eight)　九 ("Kabu" / Nine) and　ざ ("Za" / slang word for 三 or "San" / Three). Yattsu-Kabu-Za ; 8-9-3. Take the abbreviated form of these three words and you get Ya-Ku-Za. Okay, so now that we've established that-- why "8-9-3?"

8-9-3 goes back to a very old Japanese card game called おいちょかぶ (Oicho-Kabu), which has some slight similarities to Blackjack. The game is not played with western-style playing cards, but with a Japanese 40-card deck called 株札 (Kabufuda). Oicho-Kabu was an integral part of Yakuza illegal gambling rings and became very popular for this reason. In Oicho-Kabu, 8-9-3 is the worst possible hand, and results in a score of Zero (yes, 20 = 0 in this game). Zero, being a losing hand is considered useless, and 8-9-3 or "Ya"-"Ku"-"Za," therefore, was used by regular folks to describe the "useless hands" of society. (Is that amazingly interesting or what!?)

Now that we've completed our history lesson, on to my main point-- Nintendo! What seems like it must be common knowledge to many folks was completely new and fascinating to me as I only found out about it this past weekend. When Nintendo was first founded in Kyoto back in 1889, owner 山内 房治郎 (Yamauchi Fusajiro)'s business was the production and sale of Kabufuda (and also 花札 (Hanafuda)) playing card decks! In fact, each deck of cards was hand-made by Yamauchi-san himself! When he could no longer keep up with the huge demand, he hired some employees to help him and that's how the company grew**. The obvious conclusion, therefore, is that a large percentage of Nintendo's first customers were Yakuza!

I would like to state, at this point, that I was not able to find any specific sources of information stating that Nintendo's first customers were, indeed, Yakuza. Based on the time period, and the two groups' respective line of work, however, it seems like a fairly obvious conclusion. Please feel free to leave a comment for me if you have any evidence or information that illustrates the opposite.

**Nintendo still makes Hanafuda (flower-card) decks. One of their modern versions has drawings of all the Mario characters on them.

27-May-2011: NEW UPDATE! Further exploration of this topic was recently posted by Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku.com in his review of the book, "The History of Nintendo."

Hollywood Anime/Game Rape - Updated List

The Hollywood rape of Japanese Anime, classic Film and Video Games seems to be more than just a passing fancy. In fact, the trend is quickly picking up momentum into a sickening pace. It seems like an industry that is completely devoid of original ideas has found a whole new world of "inspiration," and intends to continue down this disgusting path of systematic Americanisation of classic Japanese entertainment and art and casting these monstrosities with crap Hollywood actors that make me want to wretch.

Here is an updated list of what's in store or has recently been produced:

Anime and Film

• Death Note
  
• Ghost in the Shell
  
• The Seven Samurai
  
• Akira
  
• Speed Racer
  
• Cowboy Bebop
  
• Ninja Scroll
  
• Full Metal Panic
  
• Dragonball
  
• Sailor Moon

Video Games

• Metal Gear Solid
  
• Shadow of the Colossus
  
• Street Fighter
  
• Tekken

All hope is lost.

Onimusha on the silver screen!?

What is THIS? A movie is going to be made, based on one of my top favourite video game series of all time-- Onimusha? This is crazy! My initial reaction is one of both excitement and wariness. I mean-- an Onimusha MOVIE?? That is *awesome* but... can it really be good? It seems I am a little late with this "breaking story" as there has been talk of this for nearly two years already! Somehow, I completely missed it and just now found out about it for the first time.

The movie will be directed by Chrisophe Gans, who also directed the film-adaptation of Silent Hill. It has also been said that Gans has managed to cast Kaneshiro Takeshi-- the actor who was both the inspiration and voice actor for the Onimusha series' lead character - Samanosuke. The film was originally supposed to hit theatres at the end of this year, but doesn't it seem odd that there hasn't been more information available about it if that's that case? Well, other sites on the web seem to have new information that the film has been delayed until 2011. Other sites have claimed that production of the film is on indefinite hold. Damn... What's going on, I wonder?

If anyone has heard any concrete information about this, I would really appreciate some comments!

I cannot get enough of the Tactical Espionage Action!

Let me just say that I am extremely impressed with Metal Gear Solid 4! Honestly this has got to be one of the best games ever created. For me, the intensity and realism of the game-play has not yet been matched by any other game I know. MGS4 completely immerses players in the action of the game making it feel like a first-hand experience. Kojima Hideo did an absolutely amazing job creating this game, despite his own statements about his disappointment with the end result. The graphics, needless to say, are out of this world, thanks to the incredible talents of Shinkawa Yoji.

One of the elements of Metal Gear Solid 4 that make it different from others is the complex story line. Because of this, the game includes a few more cut scenes than usual, some of which are *quite* lengthy. Some gamers have expressed a preference to skip these and get back gaming, but I actually enjoy this aspect of the game since it really gets me involved in the plot and it's related history and character development.

Another quality that's unique to MGS4 are some of the unusual pieces of equipment that Snake carries with him on his missions. Some of them aid him in his incredibly creative approaches to stealth while others help provide comfort and reduce stress. He even has an Apple iPod!

All this and I still haven't even mentioned Snake's seemingly infinite possibilities for combining, re-combining and modifying his weapons. Very simply, Kojima thought of everything. Metal Gear Solid 4 has it all. It definitely deserves a TOP rating.

Link:
Wikipedia - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Grand Theft Auto IV kicks ass!

This is the game series that I have always enjoyed the most. The latest, Grand Theft Auto IV, was released this past Tuesday so of course I HAD to get my copy that very day. It's now day 3 and I've been playing every day after work for an average of 3 hours per evening. I'm really getting into it and the stories are now starting to get really interesting! This is definitely the best GTA release so far. My favourite, up until now, was GTA San Andreas. IV definitely has a new and unique twist that takes it to the next level.

In this new release of Grand Theft Auto, gamers play the part of Niko Bellic, a Bosnian immigrant who fled the homeland after the horrific experiences in the war. What makes this GTA different from the others is the choices that players are given during missions. Gamers are given the chance to explore the more merciful, good Niko, or can also allow the more violent, brutal, war-veteran Niko to come forth. Additionally, Niko has his choice of the people with whom he spends his time. The choices you make seem to effect the outcome of the missions. How cool! There are other distinct differences, too, of course. In this release, for example, Niko can pick up objects off the ground and throw them, and when stealing parked cars Niko has to break in and hotwire them. I am sure there are numerous other additions, too, that I haven't yet discovered.

I can see that I'll be fully engulfed in this new game for the next few weeks. I'm already addicted. Great job Rockstar Games!!