I have been writing about this and that that have happened to me in the past 50 years. It wasn't well-spent and organized life at all. This greater portion of my life was just spent reacting to things that came my way and leaving the outcome to take care of itself. Looking back over these years, I have been just unable to contain my anger against the powerful trying to force their will on the weak. I have fought against such powers in my own way. At the same time, I have done quite a few dishonest jobs and had a bad reputation. This has left me nothing. I have no family, no fortune, nothing except some debts. All I have left is the memory of those happy and sad moments I share with people who came into my life, and the bullet wound. This is the net result of what I have done in the first 50 years of my life.
The peaceful facade of this society is only a skin deep with a storm always raging about beneath it, causing waves and ripples. The momentary peace gets always broken as a storm blows into my life when the mobile phone rings, and the pager goes off. This is a storm that smells of flesh and blood, split from human beings with flesh and blood brushing against one another. I have lived these 50 years, thinking that smell isn't that bad. With such 50 years I spent foolishly used as vertical threads, I have spun the fabric of those who have come into my life. Most of those I have written about are all outrageous creatures flocking around the gray areas of the society such as yakuza, outlaws, those at the bottom of the society and presidents of small businesses in Kansai. It's partly because I have always stood with those who are regarded as "heterogeneous" or deviations from the civic society, or with those wriggling about for survival in the darker side of the world. It's because that this is where I come from, what makes me what I am, and where I return.
Another reason I have written about them is that I want the world to know about them. It was none other than the Anti-gangster Act that made it imperative for me to write about them rather unabashedly. Hirai Junji is the director of Nanpusha, the publisher of this book, and is a member of the Anto-racketeers Act study group. He was my colleague journalist for "Shukan Dendai" weekly magazine. Three years ago, I was approached by him suggesting to me, "You are now reaching 50. Why don't you write about Miyazaki's post-war fifty years now, using your 50 years of your misbehavior as the vertical thread. I first dismissed the idea as a joke. "Come on. Stop joking."
But watching the development of the Anti-racketeers Act issue, I began to feel that those I spent my childhood with were about to be swept off as social evils or "foreign matter". They certainly are troublesome, but not without a reason for being the way they are. What's more, they posses some virtues that most citizens of the civic society have long lost. I couldn't but feel resentful as a relative to those people that they were about to be swept off with those virtues left unmentioned.
If there's nobody who dare write about them, I would use my a little better and privileged position in this society to write about those without any means of having their voices heard. This is the greatest motive behind my decision to agree to accept ex-colleague's request. This is my version of "Gone with the Wind" if you excuse my ridiculously grandiose parallel. Of course, it is so different in that there are no such gorgeous Scarlet O'Hara's and Red Butlers. All that appear in the story look exactly the opposite, looking far from ordinary. It's a story about those man who are too awkward to allow themselves to come to terms with this elegant and deodorant age of ours. But for me, they and the landscape in which they used to exist are my "South" which is about to be gone with the wind, about to break me.
What attract me most about them is that they know instinctively that they have only themselves to depend on for surviving in this world. They know only too well that there's nobody out there to help them out, and they would be easily betrayed if they don't watch out. They know that's the way it is. That's why there's nothing about them that makes you feel that they are relying on somebody or something bigger. They all have learned hard way that they have only themselves to take care of themselves. To put it in a nutshell, they live their life exactly the opposite way that our civil servants or bureaucrats do.
Civil servants or bureaucrats don't have their facade as individuals. They present themselves to their citizens not as individuals with a specific face, but as an abstracted "public" with no face. Those faceless don't take no responsibility. And the sad thing about our country is that it is in the hand of those faceless and anonymous. All the evils of this irresponsible Japan may be attributed to this. Those about to be swept off, on the other hand, are far more brave and manly with their face and identity exposed and revealed. This is what attracts me about them.
Secondly, their way of thinking seems often more reasonable. Take for example the Cosmo Credit Association case where it collapsed as a result of business expansion driven by its high-interest policy. When it came to be known, our media along with the government insisted that the depositors be protected as if protection of depositors were the absolute justice as they actually did. If asked to comment on this, our "occhan" president of a small business would answer like this; "You are wrong if you trust your precious money with somebody you can't trust. You got greedy and you failed. That's it. How mean of you crying for help from the government, asking them to clean up your own mess!"
I find this occhan's logic more reasonable than the media's insistence on the protection of depositors. Money lending and borrowing is a purely economic activity that holds the both parties involved in the deal responsible. It's quite natural that human beings as we are should sometimes get greedy and lured into depositing their money with what would yield more interest. But you should be reminded that the lenders should take responsibility for whatever goes wrong with the deposited money. Those who have deposited their money with such dangerous bank or something are stupid. This "occhan" president would talk about the "jusen" issue like this. "Whether your debtor is yakuza or anything, why don't you go out yourself to get the money back? That's what a money lender should do. Using the taxpayers' money to make up for the money you can't get back? You must be joking."
Lending and borrowing money presupposes the tough principle of mutual responsibility that must be strictly observed by the both parties to the deal. That's why such "occhans " struggle to get the money back or have sometimes to give up only to blame themselves. Either way, they have only themselves to take care of their own mess. The logic remaining of the argument by the less protected people is much more correct than the logic in asking for the protection of depositors as "the weaker" It's this correctness that attracts me, too.
Thirdly, there still remains some "manliness" or "kyo" of these people. This is something very nice to see in anybody. This "kyo" is a bit different to what is commonly referred to as "kyo" that dictates you should help the weak and beat the strong." It's much simpler and more specific.
When I was a kid, we used to pick up a fight with anybody, indiscriminately, that we often beat up a kid of some yakuza in Osaka, or something. Of course, in such a case, a message would come from the yakuza calling on somebody from us to pay them a visit. Knowing that they won't be able to come back unscathed, they would go quiet, unable to offer to go there. But one boy, raising his hand, would say, "I will go." And this boy would return to us severely beaten up. This is what I call "kyo".
Or when a general contractor try to coerce their small subcontractors into accepting something impossible, most of them will just go quiet and swallow it. But one subcontractor, unable to contain his anger any more, stands up to say "Stop joking any more!" It may be no use doing this against heavy odds, but this is "kyo", too.
I have witnessed many times a man at his critical moment where a die must be cast. It's a bit of disappointing, but most of them would opt for the less risky. It may be a biological instinct for self-protection, and perfectly understandable. But there are some, although very small in number, who would opt for the more risky, in other words, who would opt for self-destruction. I have seen many of these making a negative choice only to be destroyed.
There are some rare creatures who always live up to your expectation when you are wishing, "He would blast out here. I wish he would." It's absolutely fantastic to see him make a negative choice and press ahead with it, never going back on his decision. I find this extremely moving, and stylish even to my trepidation.
But it's not actually as stylish as it appears to be. When they say "Stop joking", they say it not because they can afford to say it. It's the first expression of his will, and it's the one that would surely put his future in jeopardy.
Torn between the two equally futile choices, the anguished man cannot contain his anger any more. This is the moment he throws away his calculator to become a completely altruistic man, or becoming foolhardy if you like.
As they say, "Even a worm turns", no human is immune to pain. But most of them end up without expressing the feeling of pain. It certainly moves me to see those ending their sad life unable to express their true feelings. But it moves me much more to see those making foolish of themselves to risk expressing his true feelings. I want to pin my hope and everything on such a foolhardy decision.
People of this breed are in general are caring people. This is the very quality required of those people capable of standing up to the powerful against heavy odds disregarding their own interest in favor of that of others. I know quite a lot who take on a job at a risk of their own interest to serve others, and don't show it off. To stick to your own principle right to the end, and open up yourself to others is the way of "kyo", a friendship or human bonding built hard way through actions.
I have known many different forms of human bonding. Some are pseudo bonding by blood, and some through ideas or ideologies. Of all those bondings I have known, the most moving is the bonding formed through "kyo" as action. This bonding is far more solid and universal than those formed through ideologies etc..
I find these virtues in those despised as "3K" or "hetero". Not turning to the authorities, organizations, "correct opinions" of the majorities, or ideas or knowledge, they have their own code of conduct, capable of accepting the consequences of abiding by such code. Such a way of living fascinates me so. Of course, some of the intellectuals I know are like that. But generally speaking, such a way of living seems to be long gone out the window of the intellectual world.
My life has been spent with such people around. Our world is really unsophisticated where we just bump against each other, sometimes causing trouble or engaging in some misconduct. But each and every moment was a moment of satisfaction. My life may have been just spent searching, single-mindedly, and recklessly for such a moment of satisfaction, looking for a moving experience, or something that is touching. I did not know where I was when I was searching until I bumped against something. It has been such a carefree and sloppily spent life, indeed
But because the existence of those people are at stake, and I can tell how our civic society regard them, I always find myself searching in the way that will pit me against the authority. It's probably out of my love for them that I end up heading in that direction. I just can't help it.
I know many of the people I have written about are doomed. But on the other hand, I believe they will shine once again before they die. Let's me give you the reason. You may dismiss it as an impossible fantasy entertained by some minority.
What I think we are witnessing, globalization of information or finance, is the framework of modern state or modernism at the historical watershed, on the verge of collapse. As evidenced by regional unions being formed one after another such as EU, NAFTA, or ASEAN, national borders are disappearing as the world is beginning to reorganizing itself into several regional federations. The South East Asia is not an exception at all. Some economic bloc, apart from APEC, will be formed in the future. Much more important than this, however, is that the South East Asia will go in for a great upheaval before this century is over. North Korea is doomed. Collapse of this country is impending and could happen any time. But this will shake the entire South East Asia, including Japan at its very foundation. It's not only China or Korea that will be jolted into action. It will naturally have a far-reaching influence on Japan where many Koreans of North Korean origin are living. To clarify the problem, how do you think Japan will cope with a large number of refugees from North Korea trying to get into Japan?
The problem is far more serious than those posed by foreign workers. It's a problem of completely different dimension. It cannot be dealt with by the conventional mindset that believes in imposing rules. The worst scenario is anti-Korean riots. If the Korean General Federation is allied with Toitsu-kyokai currently strengthening its ties with North Korea to counter the anti-Korean sentiment in Japan, what would happen will be far greater in scale and everything than the AUM case. How the Chinese economy grows will also affect the way the South East Asia reorganizes itself. Whether the current high-rate growth continues or discontinue exposing all the problems that have remained unaddressed and therefore unsolved, the South East Asia will undergo an upheaval. Japan and Korea have not only been integrated into the order of sino-centurism but also have been constantly under pressure from seafaring Chinese formed around overseas Chinese. The pressure from China will not decrease, if increase.
@
The greatest problem challenging us, Japanese in the near future is how we get along with China. It will be the most critical moment. We might be bogged down in the mire of the old sino-centric order and the Asiatic chaos if we failed to approach them properly. After all, they are a nation with a great heritage of 4000 year-old sino-centric world concept. What's more, their potential human resources are far greater than those of Japan, with its ruling class far better skilled in politics and diplomacy than its miserable counterparts in Japan. I had some occasions to talk with some contemporary young Chinese intellectuals when I was a student involved in some Japan-China exchange program. They were really super-intellectual, with a perfect command of several foreign languages, something no Tokyo University student could do at that time and much less today. Their knowledge was so extensive and profound from philosophy to history. But all of them had incurable sino-centric concept about them. They were so cheeky as to ask questions such as "Why can't you carry out a revolution after so many years of involvement in the revolutionary movement?" We got pissed off and went into a fierce argument. But these cheeky Chinese had something dignified and stately about them, leaving me in the thought that this was what those bureaucrat must have looked like, those bureaucrats produced by that notorious old Chinese examination system for bureaucrats
It's not only those at the top echelon of the Chinese society. The ordinary Chinese people are just as amazing with their energy and guts. They are no ordinary people at all if you think how the overseas Chinese put to see in a small dingy and settle down on a foreign soil. Those young Chinese who came over to Japan must have the same mindset as their ancestors had several hundred years ago. Equipped poorly only with a grafted post-war democracy grown in a greenhouse and lost in the peace, how could we, Japanese, possibly deal with the Chinese? It would be too optimistic to expect that our bureaucratic approach would work as long as the concept of sovereign of modern state continues to be unchallenged. The inflexible post-war ideals and institutions will soon cease to function as we are hurtling toward an age where there is no manual to guide us. This air pocket-like situation is very likely in South East Asia in the near future. What is happening now along with the disappearance of national borders is something like recurrence of the pre-modern ages or middle ages here and there across the globe as seen in the wars dragging on in former Yugoslavia. And there is no reason why what is happening elsewhere should not happen in South East Asia. A chaotic state is nothing new at all. It has happened repeatedly in the history of mankind, especially at its turning point.
I think that's when my folks will be needed. In the chaotic time preceding the reorganization of the world, some muscle are called for as the Japanese pirate in the middle ages allied with Chinese and Koreans in a form of federation fought spectacular sea battles against Christian or Islam sea fleets. It is in this situation where my folks can do their bit as long as they have some "kyo" left in them. I say this because both China and Korea have their own spiritual climate that honors "kyo" much more than that of Japan does. Not to mention of something like "Shui hu chuan" in the world of literature or story-telling, "kyo" occupies a far greater place in the spirit of the real society.
"These chivalrous folks often engage themselves in misbehavior. But they are faithful to whatever they say. Once they take on a job, they will never go back on their words or abandon the task until they get it done to help others out of trouble even at the risk of their own life. They offer to risk their own life, never showing off their competence or virtuousness as they consider such an act as shameful. Therefore, I think, we should give them some credit that they deserve" , said a great Chinese historian Su-ma Ch'ien in his great book "History" But history does not abound in such a beautiful description of these people.
We should be reminded, in the first place that the ring-leader of Taiping Tienko rebellion that heralded the modern China, or Sun Wen, or Chiang Kai-shek who founded the Republic of China, or majority of the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance were members of secret organizations such as Qing Bang or their affiliates. Of all the historical figures of modern Chinese history, it is said, it was only Mao Tse Dong, Chou En Lai and a small number of the top Red Army members that were not associated with any secret organizations. And even those Red Army top members were linked secretly to Da Xia and Du Yue Sheng in Shang Hai running the pre-Revolution Chinese underground world. The anti-Japanese partisans in Korea were in mutually cooperative relationship with various bandits. In a sense, they were bonded by the "kyo"spirit they had in common. From my own experience with Chinese and Koreans, it is astonishing that they honor the likes of "kyo" or "pledges". Their basic attitude towards their friends is "It's not one Chinese on a friendly term with one Japanese. It's me on a good terms with you." This is generally true of most of them, apart from a handful intellectuals.
For us people in East Asia without a god, humans are gods or Satan. It is for this reason "kyo" as the bond between humans, and friendship had long been honored and even so in the contemporary China and Korea.
Just as our "wako" pirate, allied with Chinese and Koreans changed the economic system of Asia, and subsequently that of Europe, my people my form a wild network with Chinese and Koreans that transcends national borders, changing something in the East Asia at its critical turning point. Since most of my people are uneducated, only way they could contribute is through their muscles, guts, and the true wisdom they have for making out in this world.
"Hey, fucking Chinese. What the hell do you think you are? You can't tell a Jap like me to do this and that?"
"Hey, you fucking, gutless Korean. Come on. You can't afford to be sentimental. It's too late going back now. You wanna come with me or not? "
That's how they work together frankly and lively. All starting from scratch with nothing to fall back on such as family or social position. All they have is their eagerness and wisdom for living and their defiant readiness to accept any result of whatever it is they do their best to accomplish.
These people are the same kind of people who wrought havoc in the Warring States period in Japan, their wartime mentality suited more for tumultuous and chaotic time. Another thing about them is that basically they have little sense of nationality because they can't afford to think about such a subject. This non-consciousness will allow them to move freely without caring about national borders, turning them into a influential group of allied people formed around a pact, eventually blasting a hole through the Western value system dominating the entire world today.
Of course, they will fade away just as "wako" pirates were snuffed out of existence with no place secured any more for them once the new order was established under the reign of Tokugawa, But even though they are doomed as the South East Asia or the world completes its reorganization process, they will still be able to shine in the chaotic transitory stage of history for a while before a new order is in place. They may become the first bullet that will trigger off a chaotic situation the world has to go through before it reorganizes itself. This is my dream. Actually I am serious.
And I want to see myself in such a chaos where history is being made with those rough, "toppa" fellows. I can't forget that elevated feeling I get being there where history is being made when the world is at its turning point. And I want to see those bullet-like fellows through to the end. In that process, I dream on, I might be able to see Mr. Kim who suddenly disappeared from me, or those Chinese elites I had great debates with.
It was a reckless 50 years of my life that I spent without contemplating any consequences of what I did, but it wasn't that bad at all as it was also quite eventful 50 years. It was fraught with dangers and troubles but I feel more than compensated for the patches I had to go through by my encounter with such many interesting people. I find people, good or bad, very interesting. Life is short. Searching for a moment of fulfillment or moving experience is one way one's life should be spent on. After all, I am a "toppa" man, and will continue to be so for the rest of my life, until the curtain draws.
This book is an account of what I have experienced, those people who came into my life, and the way I felt about them as they happened. Therefore all the responsibilities for the wording lie with me, the author.
I would like to express my heart-felt gratitude to such people as the 4th chairman of Yaizukotetsu, Mr. Takayama Tokutaro, my friends, Mr Asakura Takashi, Mr.Go Tomohide, Mr. Otani Akihiro, Mr. Nishigakiuchi Kenyu, Mr. Okubo Kazushi, a number of new leftwing leaders, yakuza affiliates, and journalists for their valuable information and advice, and their cooperation without which this book would not have happened. My acknowledgement also goes to Mr. Gomi Taro who took care of the aesthetic aspect of this book, including its binding.
Except for some exceptions that are kept pseudonymous, the most people and organizations that appear in this book are under their real names and addressed without any proper salutation. Please understand that this is commonly practiced and accepted.
August 1996
Miyazaki Manabu
Postscript for the additional printing
Since the first publication of this book, I have been contacted by mail and phone by unexpectedly many readers. I have had opportunities to talk with some of them. Not only did meet my old acquaintances, but I was privileged to receive words of encouragement from those I had never known before. My heart-felt thanks are to them for the comments on and criticism of this book. Some of them pointed out that I had some facts wrong, making me realize the importance of accurate description without relying too much on memory alone. I would like to have this reflected in the new edition.
For instance, my investigation upon the protest from Mr. Fukutomi has found that the journalist who came with me to report on "Doro labor union and identified as Fukutomi Hiromi in "A Pack of Charging Journalists" was not him. Let me take this opportunity to apologize to Mr. Fukutomi and assure him that correction will be made in the new edition. As many changes as technically allowed have been made elsewhere to make this book more accurate fact-wise.
I would like to express my gratitude here again for the advices and views given on this book.