yakuza

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    Oh, Maggie I Should Have Known! Bubble Era Tokyo’s Aussie Haven

    When I first got to Japan in the late 1980s, Australia was hot property–mainly in a literal sense for real estate investment, but also for honeymooners and koala fans. But finding anything “Australian” in Tokyo was bloody hard and homesickness particularly strong in those days, so I was deeply grateful for Maggie’s Revenge and the kangaroo awning that advertised the establishment. Maggie’s Revenge was an Aussie-themed bar in the Roppongi nightclub district of Tokyo, which was a bit of a drag for me to get to as I was living in the northern part of the capital at the time. Sometimes, you could buy a meat pie there, and always…

  • Yakuza Battle! 多摩川での仁義なき戦い！

    My normal morning ride was rudely interrupted today when I had to stop at a set of traffic lights I usually only use for reference because there were dozens of cops loitering there. Japanese authorities have a tendency to over-react, so even though there were at least 30 officers, several patrol cars, an ambulance, paramedics and firefighters hanging around the Hino Bridge area, I didn’t think too much of it. I did think it a little strange that the bike path was roped off and cops mounting guard and patrolling on foot. It was only after discovering news on Facebook that I had witnessed the aftermath of a vicious battle…