The Nintendo-Yakuza connection, & a dead translator | #112
Also, the story of a woman whose code took man to the moon 🌔
Konichiwa 🇯🇵
Japan is not known to be a violent country - both gun crime and especially political violence is extremely rare. Yet, we all woke up to shocking news of the assassination of Japan’s longest serving prime minister - Shinzo Abe. Abe pushed Japan to take a more active role in its own defence - a shift from the pacifism practiced since World War 2.
This week’s newsletter, we look at Japan and its unfortunate association with violence.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
In 1989, the Ayatollah Khomenini issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie for publishing ‘The Satanic Verses’. Rushdie went into hiding under a pseudonym Joseph Anton - a combination of 2 of his favourite authors Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekov. But the man who suffered the worst fate was the Japanese translator of the book Hitoshi Igarashi. He was stabbed to death outside his office in Tsukuba University in 1991. The case as of today, remains unsolved.
Aum Shinrikyo, was a religious cult that started out mixing Hindu and Buddhist beliefs, later adding in Christian myths for good effect. Its founder Shoko Asahara, declared himself to be both Christ and the first ‘enlightened one’ since Budha. After being the status of a religious organisation, the cult quickly got lots of followers. The group became paranoid about impending doom and felt that only they would survive. In 1995, members of the group released Sarin (developed by the Nazis) gas in the Tokyo subway. Over 5000 people were injured and 13 died. The incident inspired Haruki Murakami to write the book - Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche.
Nintendo is known for its family friendly video games. But it wasn’t always the case. Nintendo started out as a playing cards manufacturer. Once that was outlawed, they made traditional Hanafuda cards. These cards had no numbers and the government felt it wouldn't be used for gambling. But the Japanese mafia - the Yakuza figured out a new form of gambling using the traditional cards. Nintendo became Japan’s largest manufacturer of Hanafuda cards and Yakuza, its largest customer. Nintendo used the cash to dabble in other industries, before venturing into the toys and video game markets, thereby ending its association with the Japanese mafia.
From IWTK, with love 💌
Two incredibly successful Indian captains were born this week. Learn more about Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni.
The story of a woman whose code took man to the moon.
Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton & team from @MIT wrote the code that facilitated Apollo program’s (moon landing) guidance system. Here, Margaret Hamilton is standing next to prints of the software code! The code is now available on github.com/chrislgarry/Ap… PC:@MITmuseum
Quiz Alert 🔎
Deviyo aur Sajjano, Team IWTK presents Great India Quiz: a #75IncredibleIndians Special Edition in collaboration with @HarperCollinsIN to celebrate the Incredible Indians who helped shape India.
When: Sunday 17th July 2022; 4- 5 pm, on Zoom
Share this newsletter on WhatsApp
Stay hydrated!
❤️ IWTK