Hana-bi (花火)

Hana-bi (花火)

Directed By: Takeshi Kitano

Released: September March 20, 1998

            Beautiful and yet mysterious. Hana-bi is about a retired cop, Yoshitaka, Nishi, whose wife is suffering from leukemia. In order to pay, he borrows money from the yakuza. Having trouble paying off the debt, Nishi dresses up as a cop and robs a bank. He divides up the money; sends it out to the yakuza, his friends, and then takes his wife to other places in Japan. Something about Hana-bi makes it a beautiful, while the other part of the film is mysterious. The ending of the film, I think is the mysterious part while the beautiful part of the film is Nishi visiting Mt. Fuji, a Buddhist temple, and a Japanese Inn with his wife. In the sense of his wife battling leukemia, the doctor had told him to take his wife and enjoy the last moments.

            ‘Since pre-Meiji years, Yakuza, an organized crime group have been in existence,’ (Hane & Perez 2009). Since then, Yakuza groups have grown; Inagawa-kai and Yamaguchi-gumi. Yakuza groups have caused much damage to politics and businessmen. “In 1990, the National Police Agency reported one third of Japanese corporations give in threats from yakuza and pay extortion money,” (Hane & Perez 2009).

            From 1985-1989, the Tokyo stock market had reached its peak “bubble economy”, and this was when the yakuza launched into the mainstream businesses and politics. The head of Inagawa-kai, Susumu Ishii, began ‘business activities bureau’ (McCarthy 2015). Today, yakuza are not a posing threat, but they do have effects on Japan’s economic system, (McCarthy 2015),

Reference:

Adelstein, Jake. “The Yakuza: Inside Japan's Murky Criminal Underworld.” CNN, Cable News Network, 16 Dec. 2015, edition.cnn.com/2015/09/15/asia/yakuza-yamaguchi-gumi-explainer/.

Bouissou, Jean Marie. Japan: the Burden of Success. Hurst, 2002.

Hane, Mikiso, and Louis G. Perez. Modern Japan: a Historical Survey. Westview Press, 2009.

Tokyo, From TERRY MCCARTHY in. “Japan's Crime Incorporated: The Years of the Bubble Economy Lured.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 22 Oct. 2011, www.independent.co.uk/news/business/japans-crime-incorporated-the-years-of-the-bubble-economy-lured-japans-yakuza-gangs-to-muscle-into-1479105.html.