- 161 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
The yakuza, Japan's traditional gangsters, are famous, especially outside Japan, where the country's criminal underworld ranks next to sushi or Godzilla when it comes to their respective fame and popularity. However, in popular media the images of the Japanese gangster vary, ranging from chivalrous Robin Hood-like characters, to violent mobsters without honor and dignity. The present volume addresses these differences, i.e. the way yakuza are presented in Japanese and Western popular media. Films and autobiographical novels, inspired by historical events or personal experiences, but also by existent and sometimes even expected stereotypes, therefore often already represent a specific image of the Japanese mafia that is more like an artificial construct than actual reality. The contributions in this book consequently intend to discuss the images of the Japanese yakuza in popular media to offer a first insight into a very important yet so far understudied topic related to the history of and existent narratives within Japan's popular culture.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Contents
- Yakuza: Chivalrous Traditionalists or Violent Mobsters? (Frank Jacob)
- From Brawler to Boss: Old School Yakuza Careers and Modern Times (Wolfgang Herbert)
- Heroic Images of Gamblers: A History of the Early Yakuza Film and its Plots (Sybil A. Thornton)
- Yakuza Stereotypes and Western Cinema: A Comparative Study (Frank Jacob)
- The Asian Underworld as Ideological Battleground: Observations on the Yakuza in Hong Kong Cinema (Benjamin Freudenberg)
- Chivalry, Gender, and Violence: The Multiple Generational Gaps within Yakuza Literature (Frank Jacob)
- Contributors
- Index