#yakuza games kanji

[bizarreshiz]

Thank you @sunlightfeeling for tagging me in this!!

I dont have much in my room besides figures but I tried 🥺

Anyone who sees this post can join in!!!

[danielladigitalbunny]

Yakuza 5 / Ryu Ga Gotoku 5

[ozzgin]

A collection of stories and doodles featuring your yakuza landlords.

Main Story & Spinoffs

Yandere!Yakuza x Fem!Reader (I)

Yandere!Yakuza x Fem!Reader (II)

Yandere!Yakuza x Fem!Reader (III)

Yandere!Yakuza x Fem!Reader (IV)

Yandere!Yakuza x Fem!Reader (V)

Yandere!Yakuza x GN!Reader Headcanons

Yandere! Daitou x Fem!Reader x Yandere! Kazuya

Yandere!Yakuza Boss x GN!Reader

Yandere!Yakuza: Christmas Special

Asks

Their age and birthdays

Would they share you?

Baka Mitai (Yakuza Reference)

Types of Readers; Rockstar Reader

Daitou and children

On your period

Their names in kanji

Daitou's tattoos (short)

Oral fixation reader

Children & Bedroom Habits

Reacting to "Way of the Househusband"

Yakuza men x two student Readers

Their opinion on the Yakuza games

Daitou if you got in a car accident

D&D Races and Classes (Multiple OCs)

Doodles

Kazuya and Daitou character design

Kazuya and Daitou with Reader

Part 5 Preview

"I'd put you in my pocket"

Daitou (follower milestone doodle)

Smooched Daitou

Daitou cleavage

Yan!Yakuza Boss x Fem!Reader

Babygirl Trend

Heat stroke Kazuya

Daitou and Reader (onsen edition)

Sailor Daitou

Kazuya x Reader x Daitou (NSFW!)

Vampire Kazuya

Boss hearing about your lewd dreams

Daitou's pregnancy scare

Cuddling Daitou

Kazuya offering you flowers

Misc

Chat with Daitou

Chat with Kazuya

Chat with Boss (coming soon!)

[mochiswifey]

ANGEL

BONTEN KANJI MOCHIZUKI

~MATURE THEMES~ Next

*Arrange Marriage, Sexual Themes (Blowjob), Age gap*

Forced to marry an older man, Louie tries to navigate the hell she’s suddenly pulled into.

Her eyes flicker.

“Finally she’s fucking awake.” Someone with an androgynous voice said.

She tries to wipe her eyes and to her surprise her hands were tied to a chair.

Panic attacks her

She tried to think whether she took too much sedative and she’s lucid dreaming.

“She’s awake.” The voice repeated after she heard a metal door open.

She tried to compose herself to no avail. The surrounding is dark and cold. The floor is dirty. Tainted with dry blood. And-

Her thoughts were interrupted when a shadow fell over the little light from the lamp shade hung above.

“Your Dad. He operates boats.”

Husky voice accompanied by a strong smell of cigar.

“I- I don’t- What?! My dad doesn’t-“

“Your real Dad.”

Then, it dawned on her.

She was taken because of her real father. The father who she last saw 7 years ago.

The father who ran away and left her.

The father who was never really a father to her.

“What is this? Did he pissed some Yakuza? I am nowhere pretty to be sold-“

“Bruh, no one would fucking buy you-“

“Shut up addict.”

“Shut up lung cancer”

Louie sighed before closing her eyes.

“I haven’t seen him for 7 years. I don’t know where he is or how he is. You could kill him for all I care.”

“Your father didn’t pissed us. It’s just. We have a tradition to follow.”

“This isn’t the 20s.”

“Don’t you think that this isn’t the best time to joke around?” The androgynous voice turned out to be coming from a man with a pink hair and diamond scars on either side of his mouth.

He steps in front of Louie and squats down. He has a deranged face. A manic expression.

But Louie recognize the loneliness and emptiness in his eyes.

It’s the same for every rich person she has ever seen in Tokyo.

It didn’t matter how much wealth they’ve accumulated throughout the years.

It’s never enough and will never be.

“My whole life is a joke so shut up.” The scarred man laughed before standing up and going away from her view.

“This tradition, is this some fucking sacrificial bullshit?”

“No. It’s you marrying one of our executive.”

Louie chuckled before going silent.

“This isn’t a Wattpad dark mafia bullshit.” She says with an excellent American accent surprising the two men.

They knew she was a bastard born to a cabaret hostess mother. They assumed she was uneducated and-

“Was that English?”

“In what world wasn’t that English?” She mocks the men.

“You seem comfortable in this kind of situation.”

“I am nowhere comfortable in this situation.”

Louie sighed. She’s captured and she has no way of escaping. It’s cooperating that would get her a pass to live another day.

“Why do I need to marry?”

“The boats your father have. We want them to carry our shipment.”

“Then sign an agreement! Why the hell would I be pawn to your games?”

“Agreements are easily broken. With marriage your family will be bonded to our organization.” Louie shakes her head and almost laughs.

“I’m a bastard. What made you think that my father won’t betray your organization?” The men had the same thing in their mind.

But she is the best they could get.

Louie’s father won’t marry his legitimate daughter to them.

“You still carry your father’s last name. And once you bore a son, when your father betrays us every single workers of your father will never trust him again.”

A son?

There was no way of winning through brute. So, even though she was infuriated she remained calm and listened.

“Who am I gonna marry?”

“Mochi.”

Who in the world is that with a punk ass name?

Kanji removes his tie as he burst inside the hotel room.

Misaki had a smile on her face but it quickly dissipated as she realize Kanji is in a bad mood.

“What happened?” She quickly follows him to the balcony.

The cold wind chilled her body but she knew better than to ignore the man who’s supporting her lavish lifestyle.

Kanji gripped on the railing. His face full of fury. Eyebrows arched and teeth gritted.

“Tell me what happened.” Misaki soothes Kanji’s gigantic arm. She tries to comfort him because that’s her duty.

“I was going to marry you.”

Her smile faded from utter shock. Not once did she ever think of him having the want to do what he just said.

Kanji and Misaki’s relationship- it wasn’t something they hid. All of the executives in Bonten knew that Misaki is Kanji’s woman.

They met in a club and from that day Kanji desired Misaki.

He showered her with everything she didn’t need. Kanji would never admit it to anyone but she’s the closest thing to love he has ever gotten.

On the other hand, Misaki saw him as jackpot. He was addicted to her even though her heart belongs to someone else.

But it’s fine. Because with him she could get a comfortable life.

“Y-you wanted to marry me?” She asked him but Kanji didn’t reply.

He wanted to marry her. He was planning on proposing to her on Christmas Day.

But now it’s all ruined.

“I-l I’ll say yes if you still want to…”

Kanji’s rage disappears for a moment. He wanted to smile and be happy for once but his world would never allow such thing.

“Well I can’t now.”

His rage returns.

It’s one thing to be ordered to kill but it’s another to be ordered to marry.

Misaki knew she didn't love Kanji. And she also knows that she will never fall in love with him. It's just impossible.

But she couldn't help but feel disappointed after his words.

Yes, she will never love him. But she knows him. And she knows he'll never leave her. He'll never disregard her for any other woman.

"W-why?"

"Because I'm ordered to marry a fucking bastard." Kanji spat out with fury.

"I-"

"Don't ask me any more fucking questions!" Kanji snaps startling Misaki. He leaves her in the balcony to get his favorite whiskey.

Kanji's rage sometimes scares Misaki. But every man in the crime world has their own temper.

Misaki closed her eyes and sighed. She then followed Kanji to the bedroom.

Kanji was slouched on a chair with whiskey in his hand. His face was full of rage and Misaki knew what Kanji would like for the night.

"You don't need to marry me. I'll be with you either way. Married or not." She says and Kanji chuckles.

She kneeled down between his legs and started to unbuckle his belt. Kanji placed his liquor down and watched as Misaki took out his cock.

He didn't say anything and simply watched as she licked the side of his shaft. She then slowly nibble on his tip before taking half of his enormous length.

Kanji sighed in pleasure as he felt her wet warm mouth. She twirls her tongue around as she bobs her head up and down making erotic wet noise as she goes.

One of the reasons Kanji likes Misaki is the fact that she's an elegant woman who gives a blowjob like a whore.

Misaki pushed her head down as far as she could before pulling away and spitting on his cock before licking one of his balls.

"Just like that... fuck..." Kanji says head thrown back.

She begins sucking on his balls as she strokes him fast. Misaki took her time licking him before returning on sucking his tip.

She felt his cock getting harder and the salty taste of his precum cued her that he was getting close.

Kanji surprised her when he stood up and slammed his cock far back in her throat. He begin to fuck her mouth fast.

His whore struggle to breathe but he didn't care. He needed to release the frustration he had.

Just when Misaki was beginning to lose breathe he slammed his cock farther than he has ever done and came inside her mouth making her gag.

"Don't spit." He order and with a teary and ruined mascara his whore obeyed and swallowed every last drop of his cum.

"You always looked pretty right after I fucked your mouth."

Satisfied, Kanji went to take a bath.

Mikey ordered him to marry the bastard.

And the king's words must be obeyed no matter what.

So, as much as he hates it. He'll meet his future wife at exactly 7:40 pm at the Hilton Hotel.

Plagiarism Is A Crime

[majimasleftasscheek]

Hello there!

I know this is a bit of an odd question but a while back you posted about some of your japan only rgg merch, which included an art book with concept art for yakuza 1. You showed a page with Kiryu, Majima, Haruka and Jo Amon, but is there concept art of any of the other characters? (Like Nishiki perhaps?) and if so, would you be willing to show some of them? Im just really curious because I cant seem to find anything about it anywhere else.

Thank you!

unfort there's not many concept pics in the book other than those few character drawings, a storyboard of the bar scene where Kiryu first finds Haruka + a shot of an untextured building (the rest of the pics are screenshots from the games) tho fun fact, the char I assume you think is Amon is actually Kiryu kdfjllkdflk. in the description for it, it says it's early art of him, noting "he looks more like he's from a foreign mafia than yakuza." the pic to the left notes they went for a softer look for him

the only visual mention of Nishiki is his tattoo (same art we always see) alongside Majima and Kiryu's but the descriptions are just summaries of what they are - so like Nishiki's mentions the koi turning into a dragon story. there could be more about other characters but I haven't read the book thoroughly enough atm. the text on some things is really tiny so parsing the kanji is pain lmao. but if I go thru it again, I'll totally update on anything interesting

here's the storyboard. apologies for the poopy shots lol

[rigelmejo]

Chinese Listening Experiment 441 hours

I again reiterate that the biggest takeaway I have from this experiment is: if you have decent reading skills, extensive listening WILL drag your listening skills up to where your reading skills are.

Particularly if you listen to stuff you could read, but many things probably would work. I mostly used audiobooks I'd read in Chinese, and audiobooks I knew the stories from reading English versions but had not actually read in Chinese. That worked great. That worked better than expected to be honest.

No intensive listening necessary - though maybe that could have sped progress up. Maybe audio-visual stuff like cartoons would have worked faster. I only did a little watching of cartoons and shows, but definitely noticed they also worked.

But yeah. My main takeaway is - listening WILL improve if you just listen more!!!! At least, if you already had reading skills - so you knew many words in some form.

Right now my listening skills are just a touch below my reading skills, and I predict they'll catch up within a dozen hours or so. I can now comfortably listen to anything I could read in Chinese. It's just if I was reading, I'd have more time and the hanzi look at to recognize certain words, that in listening I don't recognize instantly yet.

I am 100% using this strategy to improve my French next time I have time. Extensive listening is EASY. It just requires listening. No extra work, no flashcards, no rewinding and replaying, no word lookups, no reading along to a transcript (although I think all of those activities also would help listening skills). Just listening while doing other things, paying partial attention (for me - who has been listening to Chinese stuff any time I'd normally be partly listening to some English stuff).

I am curious of the utility of doing this for Japanese for me, as I know ~3000-5000 words in Japanese, but I do not have such a heavy experience of reading prior, I've only read a few things in Japanese, so most of the exposure to those words was in memrise/anki or in Glossika. I predict it might go... alright? I think if I started with Nihongo Con Teppei and listened to ALL of it, some other learner podcasts like Japanese with Shun, maybe the Comprehensible Japanese youtube channel, then listened to some Lets Plays of video games I've played, that would get me pretty fucking far. I imagine it might push me up to actually feeling fucking B1/lower intermediate in terms of understanding Japanese.

But Japanese is a weird situation for me: I can read novels I do NOT know the verbal words for because of hanzi-near-cognates with kanji-words, I know verbal words from Glossika that I never learned the kanji-word for, I know some kanji-word INCLUDING pronunciation from when I studied with memrise and audio, and those spheres of 'words I know' does not fully overlap. I also have a lot of basic grammar knowledge, in that I've read a LOT of grammar guides for Japanese and listened to sentences enough in Glossika/Japanese Audio Lessons to get used to some grammar without thinking about how it's working. So I either totally "get" the grammar of a phrase/sentence I'm hearing and understand without thinking, or it seems vaguely familiar and I puzzle it out, or I don't recognize it at all. The Japanese I know is all over the fucking place, not reliable and not consolidated. If I watch something like Death Note I can understand so much just from the spoken words and plot I know already, with something like Yakuza games I understand short phrases and simple statements "I'm tired, he's an old sad guy, I appreciate it" etc. then hear full sentences I can't parse. I can play Yakuza Ishin in only Japanese and follow the main idea, but I am leaning on kanji in the subtitles which I guess the meaning of from Hanzi I know.

TLDR: if your reading skills are intermediate (you can read some stuff), then your listening skills will eventually catch up if you just keep practicing listening.

I imagine this is also true in reverse - if you have intermediate listening skills (can understand some shows/cartoons/audiobooks), then simply extensively reading a lot will eventually catch up your reading skills.

[aragusuku]

ARAGUSUKU TSUNEO — portrayal notes.

name: 安良城 恒雄

安良城 is read as "aragusuku" in okinawan, and is his default last name, but it is also read as "arashiro" by japanese speakers. it means "true castle". 恒雄 is read as "tsuneo", using the kanji for "constant, persistent" (恒) and "hero" (雄).

age & birthday: mid- to late-twenties. his birthday is february 29th.

family: aragusuku shido (father, living); aragusuku hikari (mother, living); aragusuku amano (older brother, deceased); kimura machia (partner, living); kimura raikou (son, living); kimura mirai (daughter, living).

appearance: 182 cm (6'0"). hair is naturally a dull white, inherited from his father. eyes are a honey-green. notable features include a horizontal scar under his left eye, pierced ears, and a theme of tattoos on: wrists, biceps, back. body type ranges from muscular and broad (as the warrior of light) to stockier and less defined muscles (in modern verses). typically wears darker and simple clothing.

personality: extraordinarily deadpan and quiet. man of action, not conversation, and is a mediocre listener. his motif is, primarily, a wolf, and he's often aloof and avoidant of socializing with people he doesn't know. he also has wolf-dog behaviors, like heavy sighs and others i'll add when i remember them. when he does grow attached, he's loyal to a fault. tsuneo is also more sensitive than he'd let on, particularly about his family.

misc.:

tsuneo is a heavily customized protagonist of the mobile game mobius final fantasy, which itself is an adaptation of the first entry in the franchise. his warrior of light canon follows the plot of the game.

owns a giant white dire wolf-esque dog named gatsu. yes, this is after guts (berserk).

in some cases, tsuneo has amnesia per his canon self. he does not remember his family, and this often is used to delude him into being the warrior of light from prophecy; this role actually belongs to amano, his older brother that dies prematurely.

his father is his cid of final fantasy fame. in modern verses, shido is an okinawan artisan that meets hikari, a yakuza heiress. hikari abdicates her position to be with shido.

bisexual (derogatory) with a preference for women.

[momo-wants-siesta]

SAMURAI OF HYUGA -BOOK 1- [REVIEW]

I did not originally intend to read this IF. But by popular demand I have been pressured to write this review.

Apparently it's the story of a "samurai" who lives on an island called "Hyuga" which is literally Japan, but I guess giving it a random Japanese name was cooler. More original.

This IF is divided into different books, and the adventures of this "samurai" and his companions will be told. Let's get down to business.

CHAPTER 1

Well. Let's see what this brutal interactive heart-pounding interactive tale is about.

The text of the Chapter 1 (Along with the Kanji) basically reveals to us that the author doesn't know Japanese and basically used a kanji dictionary.

As a tip, Japanese translation doesn't conserve plurals, So instead of "Sake with the Oyamas" it should be "Sake with the Oyama" and probably specificy it's a group or family. But I digress.

Steamed dumplings, nice. It's good that we start a japanese setting with a dish that is from Chinese origin (Nikuman in Japanese, Baozi in Chinese) and probably wasn't introduced until later.

I'm starting to have my doubts about the MC being a samurai, given how the dude seems to love to mix themselves with "Bakuto" people that were basically part of the modern "yakuza" today.

So for some reason we are stuck with a "spoiled kid"

Next scene. Someone getting close to a "samurai" and asking for a favor. Yeah, that was totally normal back then.

But it get's funnier when the title of the game is "samurai of Hyuga" but the two options are basically saying "I'm not a samurai". I don't understand what the author did there.

Okay. So this MC that has been living on the slums, suddenly know all about nobility and "royals". Its funny using "royals". It's good to know that the author doesn't seem to have studied Japanese history. Mostly how the correct term would either be "nobles" or "clanmen" or "imperials".

MC: *Says they are not a samurai* Random dude/woman: Master samuraaaai

I'm starting to feel like the author has been under the influence of sustances while writing this. Since the lack of consistency is apalling.

I don't want to make this review too long. But I really need to ask. Why two nobles are trying to make an alliance marriage, in a fucking Inn. And not in their houses. That doesn't make any sense. And then "let's ask this random no life to pose with us". I think that the author believe the Japanese to be stupid, or have watched too much mainstream brainless anime.

The "how the bride looks" options seems to have been written by the horniest individual to have ever existed for Google play standards of non lewdity.

I feel like I need to stop and point this. Why is the groom wearing a Kamon? Why do they need a samurai if they are samurai?

I think the author needs to understand what a samurai was. Because I think they are confused and believed all the nobility to be samurai. And that's a grave error. That's not how it worked. Nobility didn't need to be samurai. And some samurai weren't even nobility. Samurai was a social class on it's own.

I don't understand why they didn't ask the MC name. What kind of way to refer to someone is "Samurai-san" is like someone comes to you, if you are barista, even if you have your name in the tag, and go "Mister Bartender, nice to meet you".

Japanese are polite. They would ask the name. We entered full weebish anime paradise and we are only on chapter 1.

Not to say, this marriage would never happen, in those guys were not part of the nobility. Unlike in Europe were the burgesy could buy titles and marry into nobility, in Japan that was socially forbidden. And blood was really important, to the point of eugenics.

The day i find a "japan" IF that has been written by someone who did actual research instead of watching anime, will be the day I plant a tree or something.

But what is bothering me the most, is how the MC is all knowing. Not only we cannot decide on their personality (even tought there are a lot of useless stats) but the guy is basically a Gary Sue. He knows everything. He looks at you, and he knows your tragic backstory already. There's some fucked up powerfantasy there already. And it still kills me how I haven't been able to customize anything yet. I'm playing with a MC that I don't even know the game. Its fucking awesome. /s

I love how threating each other in the middle of an Inn it's great. Or how for some fucking reason, the author believe that your typical western bar fights would happen in Japan.

Fuck's sake. This author needs help. That our a japanese history book in the head, to gain some brain cells.

.......I'm going to kill someone.

So some guys appear with what I supposed it's irezumi, or the ancient version of it.

MC: they are not criminals.

Me: THEN WHAT THEY HAVE TATTOS.

Just you guys know, back in the day the "yakuza" didn't exist yet. And Irezumi exist, because back in that day criminals were tattoed, as a way to mark them. So irezumi started as a way to hide those markings.

Why would the author write something called "Samurai of Hyuga" which is clearly Japan themed, but then refuse to do even the most minimal research? I'm baffled.

So suddenly we are at "Yamato" but the game calls the place "Hyuga" then the MC goes I'm from "genfu". Someone seriously need to decide on a name, or make a fucking map.

Good Lord, this is hard.

"Wish I had an escort of Ninjas" yea because Shinobi totally escorted people. FUCK.

"That was low even for a shinobi". What the fuck is this. Shinobi were not considered dishonorable, basically because they didn't have to follow the bushido.

AUTHOR, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, ONLY THE SAMURAI WERE FORCED TO FOLLOW THE BUSHIDO. NO ONE ELSE.

Stop calling him samurai-san after hearing his fucking name. ITS FUCKING OFFENSIVE. WHY ARE YOU OFFENDING PEOPLE, TOSHIO.

Okay. I need to make this stop. So for fucking reason, to keep going I need to kill a Carp. Because fuck yeah. If I don't want to? I better quit the game.

It's good to know that the Author is complete psycho who is into stupid edgy protagonist.

Why is this even an IF? Where are the options? Why I'm still playing?

I'm gonna skip for a while to make a more compact review, because if I have to stop at every fucked up part...

So super random fight where we get more male powerfantasy. Then it's me or it's the Masashi kid a RO? Because that basically child that acts like a child. So now the author is a fucking pedo too? What's next? The guy is into lolis?

AAAAAAAND I CAN'T KEEP DOING THIS.

PRECOCIOUS FINAL TOUGHTS

How the fuck was I ever convinced to read this?

This is not even an IF. There's not even real choices. Like, the MC is totally 100% set on stone. And this is pure anime weebish trash.

This is one of the most questionable tales I read in a while. I don't event wanna now about the other ROs. This bad, this is horrible. This is something who jack up to lolis and decided to make a fucking work out of their personal waifu fantasies.

What the fuck is this. Seriously. The worse part is how people actually bought this, and how there are so many books. Unless it suddenly improves.

I been deeply disgusted and I don't even want to hear about this work ever again in my whole life.

[archoneddzs15]

Sega Saturn - "Sound Novels" Machi

Title: "Sound Novels" Machi / 街

Developer/Publisher: Chunsoft

Release date: 22 January 1998

Catalogue No.: T-34001G

Genre: Adventure Sound Novel

One of the most successful sound novel games ever released and what makes it better is that it was a Saturn exclusive for many years. I say was because it was finally ported to the PSP then on to many other systems.

So, what is Machi all about then? Well, Machi basically means town or area of a city depending on which Kanji is used (町 or 街) The basic plot of the game has you taking control of one eight players. As you live five days in life as one of these characters you come across all sorts of problems that you must resolve to continue your life. However, to mix things up a bit you can select between any of the eight characters at any point in the game (who are also living their virtual life in real-time according to your progress) but take heed because as you are playing as another character time is still moving for your previous character. Sounds confusing, doesn't it? Well, considering the entire game is in Japanese, it will be, but that's not to say you can't work it out; you will have to because if you don't, you'll be facing a bad ending.

The eight characters you can take control of are Keima Amemiya - a policeman, Jintaro Umabe - an actor; Masami Ushio - a Yakuza member, Yoshiko Hosoi who doesn't seem to do anything plus the only female character you can control, Masashi Shinoda - a student, Ryuji Takamine - a deserter, Fumiyasu Ichikawa - a writer and Yohei Tobisawa the high-school boy.

Overall, Machi is a well-executed game that mixes True Motion video with stills and has a pretty impressive storyline. It's well worth checking out if you're looking for something different and can understand Japanese.

[charlesandmiranda]

Osaka 2/7 - 2/9 Tattoo, Dotonbori, Denden Town and Amerikamura

After we left USJ on 2/6, we continued into Osaka proper, which is where we spent the next few days!

A big reason we wanted to visit Osaka was mainly because of its appearance in the Yakuza game series, which Charles really really enjoys. There is an area called Dotonbori, called Sotenbori in the game, and Charles wanted to see it in person. (Here's a cool video we found of a youtuber comparing the game to the real location!)He was especially hyped for it because the newest Yakuza game just came out -- I'm sure as soon as we return, playing it will be one of the first things he does, haha.

Dotonbori is, similar to Kabukicho in Tokyo, an entertainment and nightlife district. However, a thing we noticed pretty early, while Kabukicho is essentially 24 hours and it's easy to see people turning in for the night when others are going to work, Dotonbori closes early. By 10 or 11, most restaurants are closed. The area is famous for a few food, specifically takoyaki and fugu (blowfish). Blowfish is toxic, as in, it will kill you if the chef cuts the lungs when tearing it down. The license for serving fugu is required for any chef serving it, and a few people a year get very sick or die from eating it at home. The area has a lot of large displays of crab, takoyaki, and other fish that are brightly lit and cool to see in person.

We spent a lot of time during our stay in Osaka wandering the Dotonbori and exploring, there are simply tons and tons of bars and restaurants there. Just walking up and down, and trying a lot of street food, was definitely a highlight, and in general represents a good amount of what we did. In some of the photos below, we tried wagyu skewers, candied strawberries, and a lot of kushikatsu, similar to tempura but uses a different batter. It may be the winner of our favorite foods we have had this trip.

On 2/7 at 1pm, Charles had a tattoo appointment at the studio Invasion Club. Headed by tattoo artist Hori Benny, Invasion Club is also kind of a fashion/lifestyle brand, with clothes and art drawn by Hori as recognizable as his tattoos. I was actually pretty aware of his art for a while, especially through instagram and looking at tattoo art online, so when Charles said he had gotten an appointment with Invasion Club, I was SHOOK. He has gotten very popular for tattooing sexy anime girls, which makes having him doing something from a 1980s food manga kind of fun.

The shop was cool, and Hori spent a few hours hanging out, talking to us, and redoing the design before doing the tattoo itself. The appointment, with hanging out, took about five or six hours. He was an incredibly friendly guy, and his work was exceptional.

After the tattoo, and most of the next day 2/8, we wandered around Osaka's Electric Town (aka Den Den town, taken from the kanji 電, pronounced "den", which means electricity) which is Osaka's equivalent to Akihabara, which we visited earlier in this trip. They're both areas heavily focused on things related to geek culture. I would say we actually had a waaaayyy better time in Den Den Town then we did in Akihabara. There was way more cool old collectible stuff to look at, and the shops were less picked over. We did a little shopping here, as well as along the main Dotonbori area.

The tattoo that Charles got is a panel from a manga called Oishinbo. It is about a group of newspaper writers that are trying to create a menu of the perfect meal. The couple in the series eventually get married, and there is a part of the story about takoyaki that includes a real shop in Osaka that invented it. We visited that shop. The experience was very unexpected, but delicious. Takoyaki is a savory pancake like batter with a large piece of octopus in the center. Most places include a sauce, mayo, green onion, fish flakes, and sometimes other toppings. The original shop includes no sauces or toppings, but instead puts dashi, a savory fish based soup stock, in the center. It was much more mild than expected, but we had two orders and Miranda, who generally isn't a fan of takoyaki, had several, so it was something worth eating.

From this point, we kind of had to make a decision. We left our plans at this point pretty loose, because we wanted a little flexibility in the trip; aside from meeting back up with our friend Penko in Tokyo on 2/11, where we'll spend the last few days before flying back out, we have very little set in stone on our schedule. That includes not strictly having a place to stay, either. We decided we would really like one more afternoon in Osaka, before heading to Kyoto, so we found an inexpensive hotel for 2/8 where we stayed for the night, and 2/9 we finished exploring the area some more.

In our wanderings 2/8 and into the afternoon of 2/9, we kind of accidentally wandered into an area called Amerikamura. There are a couple of theories of how it got its name, but one thing we noticed was that it's CHOCK FULL of vintage clothing stores. A lot of the clothing appears to actually be imported vintage clothing from the US which was pretty wild to see. It's a super trendy area, and we definitely did some people-watching, taking in the street wear fashion. It's actually been really interesting to see how fashion varies from city to city; I know this may sound silly or obvious but there really is a different "flavor" from one place to the next. Tokyo and Osaka definitely have distinctly different identities, and even areas within these large cities can feel totally different from street to street and neighborhood to neighborhood.

We brought a dozen or so Ninth Realm CDs to drop off at shops while we are here. We shipped some CDs to a well known shop in Osaka a few months ago and they sold out, but the shop is a fair distance from Dotonbori and we didn't make time to stop in, so we tried other places. I first stopped at a punk shop, but they said their customers aren't into metal and recommended another two shops. The first shop took a few CDs on consignment, but recommended we go to the larger shop. They were very friendly, listened to the album, and said "I will take all of them." When I told him I only had about ten left, he said "I will need more, these will sell in a few days." Hopefully we can ship more.

One of the very last things we did before we left for Kyoto was to visit a very sweet cat cafe, Cat Cafe Cat Tail! They had an exceptionally cute group of cats, but I think Charles and I each found a favorite, or maybe were chosen. There is a cat named Kurumi that must be.....a bit of a handful. No joke, there were signs all over that Kurumi hated to be petted on her body, she only liked petted on her head and neck, and she would scratch and bite if you petted her anywhere else. With some gentle encouragement from the store owner, she actually climbed into my lap and napped there almost the entire hour we visited; I barely got to say hi to any of the other cats, haha. And Charles instantly fell in love with a cat named Potato. He currently was wearing a cone due to an eye injury / something wrong with his eye, and also he is one of those like....smushed face cats, so he has all the same breathing issues like a pug does? Charles was DEEPLY MOVED by Potato to say the least.

After the cat cafe, we got a quick bite to eat and hopped the train to Kyoto, where we're writing from now! We'll keep you all updated soon, thanks for keeping up with us on this crazy trip!

[fumikomiyasaki]

More Random Twst oc headcanons

Are they well versed with the internet?

Never heard of the Internet: Brid, Odel, Osyron, Lydia, Fabio, Lennox, Ione, Bianca, Erena, Taylin, Agni

heard of it barely uses it: Saneria, Bolt, Slice, Phobetor, Eleafy,

Lost but knows the search engine and wiki: Kumo, Fuan, Tesadelle, Vanessa,

Basics and Flash games: Izar, Zariyah, Camilla, Eiji, Meyra, Kuze, Gabrielle, Media, Kome

Has usually modern knowledge of all functions: Mellow, Yasuno, Joel, Serena, Rubina Aiden, Inessa, Emil, April,

Sucks at memes, boomer but uses the Internet well: Henry, Beelby, Elvira, Nanoya, Tenera, Feena, Dragiselle,

Knows the most trends: Damon, Eve, Barry, Francine, Flynn, Andrew, Sindren, Sylva, Jin-Lou,

Knows every meme under the planet: Leroy, Carol, Lyla, Naomi, Taron, Ronnie, Ame, Eikichi,

Literally a Streamer, Content creator or Influencer: Bengal, Paula, Zyan, Mythra, Yuzuha, Julian, Brenda, Peko, Emma, Gregory, Tyler, Rachel,Grey, Gilly,

Tattoo Headcanons and meanings:

(Fuan, Osyron, Lydia, Ione, excluded cause its god influenced)

Arachninox Carol: Vine and Snake tattoos, despite not getting her vine powers, she gets the tattoo solely as a ref that a little bit of herself is still kinda inside her, yet she herself doesn'T notice this, she also gets a tattoo under her chest with a heart, symbolizing her care for being loved still, only the snake symbolizes the takeover and poison inside her metaphorically Bengal: Ocelot picked that tattoo for him, it was traditional from his culture and it was cause they are besties, this way he keeps his boy band members with him Meyra: its the crest of her house which she tries to hide Kumo: The heart tattoo is matching his friends but the stars he gets later on his back and torso are moreso to represent his love for the night sky Odel: He got them as he practised Crystal magic as a prove of his mastery Lyla: The kanji for hope gives her courage when she is scared Jin-Lou: The dragon represents her grandmas family symbol Sylva: It is hard to identify and she will just tell you she got it cause it looks cool Brenda: Duh symbol for Money cause greed Greg: the ring was a silly gag but he gets a ton of them in the future Rachel: Her father gave her the fox tattoo to show her strength Andrew: its to identify him from his bros so he has his number like they have Dragiselle: An arrow representing to move forward Kayne: Yakuza tattoos of a mantis... given he was fast as one Ame: She say its cute and puts attention on the right thing Eleafy: Cult signs Julian: He will come up with something cheesy why he has a triangle on his chest, the bat wings he shares with April just she has them on her back Louis: The rose was the sign of his old noble house… he got it long after though Fabio: He just likes roses and his brother got tattoos as well so

Reputation as Dorm leaders:

Henry: Very respected and looked up to… many students are intimidated but many also wanna approach him cause of business or his wealth so he is quite a popular student among NRC Brid: Many just assume... that Odel is the dorm leader and ignore her... she can't seem to get authority and people barely remember her She really struggles with that Barry: Many people are aware of his arrogance and to many students he is a bother, there is a few who do give him the time and popularity because he basically bought them to be his underlings but aside that… many are annoyed Osyron and Lydia: Hella scary to many students, they barely see the gods and if don't know if talking to them won't get them in trouble. Kuze: Many students see him as the junior, the Dorm leader that doesn't seem like one and instinctly would approach Yasuno more about dorm stuff… so he is liked but not really respected Erena: Given most see her as a chaotic adventurer other students also are not convinced untill she talks with them and you see how much charisma she has as a dorm leader and how to win her over well... She just wants fun and is a capable fighter in itself Flynn: As said he has a fanclub and many admirers but that is also true for Nanoya and Rubina, many know about his sketchyness and warn not to reveal too much to him. Peko: A lot of fans and big popularity among many students hence haters are quickly silenced… or at least yelled at by supporters… however higher year students often know how lazy as dorm leader she is and admire Emma more Tyler: Not many outside the dorm see him much but they often call him grumpy and many also just don't want to face his anger so he is only approached by people who know him, dorm members or fashionable to model students Gabrielle: Many Students admire her and cheer for her, also has a small fanclub and is highly respected among the campus. Its really hard to raise a voice against her. Aiden: Aside doing his dorm duty a loner and avoided cause of his criminal record, only dorm members really approach him… and some Exodus students cause of Kayne as well as some Valhunny students Sindren: Some are annoyed by the hero act, others admire her, some try to gain her favour cause of her money but Mythra shoes those away Dragiselle: the most secluded Dorm leader… Inessa does most of her task so not many met her, serves a similar Role to Malleus that not many have seen her at all... but in her case its protect others from her powers

[danielladigitalbunny]

Yakuza 6 / Ryu Ga Gotoku 6

The Song of Life

DON! DON!!

[eway]

Fun Facts about Kazuma Kiryu:

Kiryu's birthday is on June 17, is the same as that of Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi

Kiryu's least favorite food is green peppers.

Kiryu's given name Kazuma had its etymology explained in Yakuza Kenzan. The first kanji character 一 (kazu) means lone, while the second 馬 (ma) means horse. This refers to the single ridden horse that would lead a cavalry unit into battle. As such, the name suggests a courageous individual who likes to lead from the front and get things done, as befits Kiryu's personality.

Kiryu has a weakness against Ice Attacks in his Yakuza 7 boss fight, as Ice is an opposing force to "Heat", a core mechanic from the games in his saga that allows him to preform special finishers and abilities.

I also dislike Green Peppers

[judgementkazukun]

META // NAME MEANING

Japanese names put the family name before the given name, unlike English names which put the given name before the family name. People also generally are addressed by their surnames in Japan except for within families or with close friends. Hence why pretty much everyone calls him Kiryu in the series.

Side note: When translating their names to English, many Japanese will also switch the order of the names. (At the very least, this is the custom for the Japanese members of the multinational company I work for irl.) So in an English-speaking country, he would likely introduce himself as "Kazuma Kiryu."

Japanese kanji are taken from Chinese characters, but unlike Chinese, Japanese cannot be written entirely in them. Hiragana and katakana which were derived from kanji are syllabic scripts and far more commonly used. Kanji is not syllabic, so you could have two words (or names) with the same hiragana that have totally different kanji thus totally different meanings. This is important for Kiryu's name because of reasons.

Kiryu (Kiryū): 桐生

桐 - Paulownia (a type of hardwood tree)

生 - Life, genuine, or birth

Kiryu being a "genuine" yakuza due to his honor is one of the running themes in the series. Additionally the man just does not die easily, even when actively putting himself in situations that he should definitely not have survived in terms of probability.

ryu/ryū is actually the romaji for one way that the kanji for dragon (龍 or 竜) can be pronounced. This seems to be a play on words of some kind as I do not think it's a coincidence that the character they gave the title The Dragon of Dojima has a syllable in his name that at least sounds like the word for dragon. I was actually surprised when I saw that the kanji for his name didn't line up with that. (The kanji for Ryuji Goda's name is 郷田 龍司 and does include the kanji for dragon directly. Ryuji wanting to be the only dragon and having the kanji for dragon in his name I think is very fitting for his very in-your-face personality.)

Interestingly, Kiryu is the name of both a city and a river in the Gunma prefecture of the Kanto region. Both use the same kanji as Kiryu's name. In Shinto, Japanese dragons are considered kami and often associated with bodies of water such as rivers. I cannot find all that much information about this river in English, unfortunately, so I'm unsure if there's any further significance, but I do have the strong feeling that the fact he shares his name with that of a river isn't a coincidence.

Kazuma: 一馬

一: One, alone

馬: Horse

First of all, RGG Studios looked at their characters and said "If we don't put the kanji for the number one in their names how will people know they're the protagonist?" considering Ichiban's kanji (一番) just literally means first. Given the everything about Kiryu, I wouldn't doubt that this is a reference both to the number one with him being as prominent a figure in the Tojo Clan as he is and also a reference to him being literally alone and lonely which, ever since the first game, when everyone close to him has the audacity to die, is something he finds himself grappling with again and again throughout the series.

Also, according to a random, very outdated website I've just found on Japanese names (that I trust maybe 33% to be reliable) 馬 can also just be a placeholder for a large animal used as a metaphor (like maybe... a very large, reptilian animal similar to a lizard of some kind?) or it can be used as a reference to the shogi knight piece or the shogi dragon horse piece. The dragon horse is the promoted bishop and considered the second most powerful piece in shogi, with the dragon king (promoted king) being the only one above it. Again, this could be a coincidence, but is it? I don't doubt they would want to throw every reference to 'dragon' possible at Kiryu without outright using the dragon kanji.

In conclusion: Dragon Kin? Horse Boy? Furry? Scaley? All of the above? I have no idea. But I am so glad that they potentially made multiple convoluted references to dragons in his name when they could have done what they did with Ryuji and just fucking used the damn kanji. Literally nothing was stopping them. We get it. The Dragon symbolism is very important for him.

[klysanderelias]

Watching more cyberpunk - the let's play is something like 4 years old at this point, so I hope that the game has been patched severely, but I've been seeing a LOT of visual glitches or bugs, or more tellingly, just straight up typos and omissions in the text. I'm not the type of person to say 'this game sucks' just because an NPC glitched out and started T-posing, but also, given the general history and launch issues of cyberpunk, it's hard not to comment on that. And again, having big walls of text where it feels like 1 in 5 are missing words, letters, or have misspellings or grammar errors...

I do think that the story has improved - it's still nothing to write home about, and there's a lot of stuff that I'm filing away to talk about if it becomes more noticeable, but I can't say that it's... y'know. Bad? It's just nothing interesting or special. And part of the problem is, I've read neuromancer, I've played all the Shadowrun crpgs, I've played ACTUAL shadowrun, and of course I've read and played a bunch of other things in this similar genre, so what it really comes down to is like, I think that for people who have never really done much with cyberpunk as a genre, this shit really hits! I think it's well done enough that someone who doesn't know what ghost in the shell is, who MAYBE watched the matrix movies, would have a really good time with it.

But that's kind of damning with faint praise, to say 'well if you've never really thought about this stuff it's probably pretty good', because the implication (I'm implying this intentionally) is that cyberpunk 2077 really doesn't know what to do with the genre or the concept, and anything deeper than surface level it's going to fall apart. It feels very deus ex human revolution - where they really thought they were cooking by saying 'prosthetics... are bad...'

But it's not as bad as human revolution, and it's not NEARLY as bad as something like detroit become human, but it also feels like it's written by someone who doesn't love the genre, who doesn't have a history in the genre, who isn't particularly interested in discussing the deeper parts of the genre...

Like, I'm not going to pretend like I've got a huge history of cyberpunk stuff, but I feel like if I was tapped to write for this game the VERY FIRST thing I would have done was go digging. And it's the problem of like, a lot of cyberpunk is INSPIRED by Japanese media, but often isn't ENGAGED with Japanese media - which is to say, they love to put kanji and yakuza and salarymen in the game, but they aren't like, drawing on the themes of japanese cyberpunk media.

And I think that's mostly because Cyberpunk 2077 is a blockbuster video game, and so it's naturally by definition allergic to taking a stance on anything because it needs to appeal to every possible demographic in order to sell a billion copies, but also... why are you making a game in a genre that is so inherently politicized? I get the witcher, because fantasy has been neutered as a genre for decades, but making a cyberpunk game for the Average Western Gamer is an exercise in lobotomizing anything interesting or valuable about the concept.

[andrewtverylegitimateblog]

Hana-Bi (1997)

Hey Takeshi, what the hell was this about? I've often heard Hana-Bi discussed in terms of being among the classical Yakuza drama or crime thrillers of Japanese film. I feel very much lied to. Not that I'm necessarily too frustrated about it though. Hana-Bi in many ways does explore the functional aspects of the Yakuza and that particularly self-destructive lifestyle with which police work is generally associated. Takeshi challenged me with this film. Perhaps it would be best to discuss Hana-Bi in terms of what it isn't then what it is.

Takeshi Kitano's Hana-Bi is not a kickass Yakuza movie with men flying through doors. It's not a tense detective drama in which the viewer can never truly trust who is telling them the story. It's not an epic of revenge. There is certainly an at times almost farcical amount of violence in Hana-Bi. Eyes are gouged and more characters are completely perforated with bullets than I can honestly recall. There is crime, extortion in particular has a large place in the narrative of Hana-Bi. The story I saw take place was one that was fundamentally about healing, the ability to forgive, and why or how one can or can't.

Hana-Bi follows the respective stories of grizzled police detectives Nishi and Horibe, longtime partners who often times invested themselves entirely in their work and generally to the detriment of their interpersonal and family relationships. It's after an encounter with an on the run criminal which leaves Horibe disabled and wheelchair bound from a gunshot wound and Nishi surrounded by the corpses of his juniors which sets both down on very different paths.

Horibe after becoming disabled is left to his own after his wife and daughter leave home following what can be inferred to be a long time history of broken promises on his part. Isolation and failure become his life. The relationships he neglected for so long are now lost and everyday is a physical reminder to him of what to him is a personal failure. After an attempt to take his own life he begins to feel that he needs to earnestly do something to occupy his own time. His art is in its earliest form is enmeshings of animals and flowers. As he draws his subjects and technique become more complex, these range from pieces in which he uses various colored dots to create large portraits of time spent with him and his family or landscapes made entirely of a particular set of Kanji. It's through his art that Horibe is able to explore his feelings from his relationship to his family and his attempts at suicide and that seemingly provide him with space for forgiveness and healing.

Nishi following the death of many of his juniors and the departure of his long time partner from the police force retires. In his newfound free time Nishi seems to utterly withdraw into himself. He seems at a loss to navigate the terminal illness of his wife and the highly fragile state that the loss of their daughter had left both of them in. As the Yakuza he borrowed money from in order to cover medical expenses for his wife continue to harass him he sets out to rob a bank. Nishi in general seems as if he's on a path of self-destruction. The few occasions that Nishi seems to remove himself from his general morose detachment is when he's with his wife such as in the scene where they share desert and she claims both of them for herself which is also the first time we see him laugh or when they're on the road trip funded by his bank robbery and they play games and set fire works off together. The only time Nishiki shows any joy for life is with his wife. It's not entirely surprising then when his story seemingly ends with him taking both of their lives as he's closed in on by his former juniors.

In August 1994 Takeshi Kitano was severely injured in a motorcycle accident that for a period of time removed him from actively working in film. During this time he invested much of his free time in painting. All of the paintings which we see throughout Hana-Bi are in fact all his original work. In later interviews when discussing his motorcycle accident he described it in some ways being a suicide attempt. Even though he only plays a single character in Hana-Bi both stories throughout the film both are seemingly intimate explorations of Takeshi Kitano's own feelings. Hana-Bi feels like a deeply personal exploration of healing and forgiveness and the difficulty and limitations we encounter in finding them for ourselves.

Hana-Bi was none of the things I thought it would be. The narrative at times seemed as if it split inconsistently between the time that should have been given to exploring certain aspects of our main characters trauma. Personally I would have liked to see more of Horibe and his art. I can see though why Hana-Bi has gained so much acclaim. Here's a Fun Fact: the young girl at the end that presumably witnesses Takeshi end his life is played by his real life daughter.