Blizzardboy | A Kiwi in Japan is the blog of Simon Gibson, a New Zealander living in Tokyo, Japan. Focused on New Zealand, Japan, web design and other shiny things.
# Title: Tokyo Underwold: The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan
# Author: Robert Whiting
# Publisher: Vintage (September 26, 2000)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0375724893
# ISBN-13: 978-0375724893
No, Tokyo Underwold isn’t an announcment for yet another visit by British electroheads Underwold tour to Japan to play yet another version of Hello Slippy to all their Japanese fans, rather it is a fascinating look at the seedier side of Japanese life and business.
In 1945 when the Allied forces began their occupation following the surrender of Japan, the country was in a right and utter mess. This left the field wide open to all sorts of dodgy entrepreneurs to set up shop. Tokyo was in ruins after heavy bombing by the allies, and food supplies were very short. The black markets which sprung up within days of the surrender being announced served in many ways to keep the population of Tokyo alive during those very difficult times. Tokyo Underworld starts from this point, and develops by recounting the mindboggling corruption and nefarious goings on in the post war period, including tales of both Japanse gangsters as well as the GI’s of the occupying force who stood to make a great deal of money at this time.
Two characters from Tokyo’s colourful past stood out in particular. First was Rikidozan, a former sumo wrestler who was almost at the top of the sumo ladder when the end of the war brought the sport to a crashing holt. He became a professional wrestler and for many Japanese an icon of the rebuilding as he fought and won against many much larger and stronger American opponents. Little did the populus know, or want to know, that both these fights were fixed, and also of his Korean parentage. Such are the machinations of a defeated nation.
The other character who provides much of the backbone of Robert Whiting’s well-written book, was an American from New York’s Italian East Harlem, Nick Zappeti. An amazing character who was once known as “the King of Roppongi and the Mafia Boss of Harlem” he seems almost to have stepped out of a Martin Scorsese film. Involved heavily in black market trading during the occupation, and then later moving out into more legitimate business Zappeti’s risa and fall, mirrored in an oblique way much of what has befallen Japan in the post-war era.
I particularly enjoyed reading this book and learning a lot about what went on back then, as well as picking a great deal of information about our local areas history. That this is non-fiction, and not fiction, makes it all the more worth reading.
This video of Japanese commuters on the Chuo Line which runs into Tokyo’s busiest station Shinjuku. Not sure which station this is but it looks like a feeder into Shinjuku which was used by an average of 3.52 million people per day in 2006. Watching it makes me feel really glad I live in central Tokyo, not out in the sprawling bed towns.
I have only ridden on trains that packed a couple of times, and yes, while the video is a bit old, people are still employed in the mornings to push people onto the trains. They make a little over $10 an hour for the pleasure.
Imagine if all these people decided to drive to work - wouldn’t that be even crazier. Not that there would be enough places for them to park. Japan’s public transport system is really great for the environment, especially if you don’t have to use it.
Pickpocketing isn’t a problem that I have heard of, although groping is, and a number of lines now have women only cars at the front of the train to give Japanese women a bit of a break from the marauding hands of Japanese salarymen.
Interestingly there have been recent calls for mens only cars - this to stop men being accused of sexually harassing female passengers - here is an article from the Mainichi newspaper about this: Train companies close doors on men’s only carriages, giving free pass to groping scams. There have been quite a few cases of people being questionably arrested for groping. Some people will do anything for money!
Above is a print by the Edo period printmaker Hiroshige depicting a hawk. It is in the style of Kage’e or shadow print, something I hadn’t seen before I stumbled on the post Kage-e: Shadow pictures over at the Pink Tentacle blog. You can see more shadow prints at that page.
Snapped this photo with my mobile phone on the way back from the office yesterday morning.
If you head down the hill from Meguro Station, you will come to a river bank with some wonderful cherry blossoms in bloom. They should be in bloom for another week or so, and further along other trees will come into bloom soon.
It is the season for cherry blossom drinking parties, with many Japanese people heading off to their local park to wine and dine - or mostly just wine under the pretty pink petals.
We are heading to Yokohama on the weekend to partake. Looking forward to it!
A nice video from National Geographic showcasing Tokyo architect Yasuhiroi Yamashita’s Penguin House. It is quite fascinating to watch this and to see how he utilises the height of rooms to give a greater feeling of spaciousness to the houses he works on.
What interests me with Japanese architecture is how they manipulate space and light to create some beautiful living environments. Little in the way of traditional building techniques and materials are evident - for me, I would rather go all the way - completely traditional, or on the other hand something like the penguin house.
# Title: Tokyo Underwold: The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan
