‘Secret of Onomichi’ /some chronologies

 The nucleus of this blog is a series of approximately real-time observations that I made while playing “Yakuza 6: The Song of Life” during the summer of 2023. The original thing was that I decided to play “Yakuza 6” to kind of brush up on Kiryu’s narrative pre-Gaiden, and take notes. Specifically, since the release of Gaiden seems to be a new turning point for Kiryu, I wanted to reexamine the character and especially the significance of the idea that he never kills. I liked it-- made me seem like I was getting stuff done, instead of playing video games-- and let this kind of wonder into a sort of journal of stuff loosely connected to Yakuza movies and gaming. It’s a blog now because Gaiden is around the corner and if anyone ever wants to know what some random guy experienced while playing Yakuza 6, I figure it would be now. 


I had played Yakuza 6 twice in a row in the summer of 2018. So, I played it this summer, and took my notes, able to draw on my previous experiences playing the game, ‘knowing’ how it ended. 


The thing is that I played with a very involved wrong memory-- and so the notes are taken in open anticipation of a reveal that never happened. Given the specifics, it’s a pretty bad look for me. I hope that this is taken as an ‘anatomy of a fuck-up’ as opposed to excuses.


A thing that does not make anything easier is that Yakuza 6 (like most Yakuza games) has an extremely silly plot. A lot of the silly plot revolves around ‘the secret of Onomichi’ which is a hidden giant battleship.


The issue is that by 2023 I thought that everyone wanted the battleship concealed because it was proof of a war crime: using Chinese refugees as slave labor to build the battleship. That the battleship was built by Chinese refugees IS in the game and a major plot point. 


But the war crime/slave labor thing is ENTIRELY of my own manufacturing. In the game, everyone wants the battleship concealed because it is proof that the government has been using tax money to bribe Yakuzas to do crazy shit with a battleship, for decades. (and: fair! If the government had been doing that, the desire to keep it on the DL is entirely understandable).


Anyway, I am more or less preserving the notes as I took them, dropping in a reminder that I was wrong about the secret, where I feel its appropriate. Over the course of the game/journal I realize my mistake and react to that, and I think I want to preserve that--- the mistake, the reaction, the time frame over which it happened, how I processed it. 


Timeline:


1947: Takeshi Kitano born


1960s: Suzuki, early Fukasaku. Pale Flower


1970s: Yakuza are the subject matter of a series of brilliant movies in which Kinji Fukasaku hands late Capitalism its ass. Seriously, if you just had watched enough Fukasaku films from the ‘70s you’d have realized that the mike has been dropped on all this shit LONG ago, done something different with your life, and everything would be better. But you didn’t do that: you did the crap that you did do instead, and now the Israeli army is in Gaza killing everything that moves. Nice job, ASSHOLE.


1983: Internet invented by Al Gore, Takeshi Kitano appears in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, with David Bowie. Despite the fact that it was a tragic-dramtic role, Japanese audiences just laughed when Kitano was on screen bc of his well established comedic persona. This inspires Kitano to work on being something other than funny. In retrospect, though, you actually sort of side with the Japanese audiences: Takeshi Kitano torturing David Bowie sounds hilarious. I’ve never seen the movie because I assume that it treats Takeshi Kitano inflicting physical or psychological harm to David Bowie like it’s a bad thing-- and I disagree.


1989: Kitano directs, stars Violent Cop


1993: Sonatine


1997: Fire-Works/ Hana-bi


1999: Kikujiro


2000: Battle Royal (Fukasaku directs, Kitano acts)


2003: Zatoichi


2005

Yakuza (game)


2006

Yakuza 2


20009:

Yakuza 3


2010

Outrage

Yakuza 4


2012

Beyond Outrage

Yakuza 5


2015

Yakuza 0


2016

Yakuza Kiwami

Yakuza 6


2017

Outrade Coda

Yakuza Kiwami 2 (feat. Susume Terajima)


2020

Kasuraga’s game


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