Episode 566 – The Revolutionary, Part 1

This week: the start of a multi-part “modernized biography” intended to help us explore postwar Japan through the lens of a single, fascinating life. This episode is mostly focused on introducing our subject–Miyazaki Manabu–and his unique and fascinating circumstances as the scion of a small yakuza family.

Sources

Miyazaki, Manabu. Toppamono: Outlaw,, Radical, Suspect. My Life in Japan’s Underworld. Trans. Robert Whiting.

Images

Aerial view of Fushimi in August, 1945. You can see the amount of bomb damage from the American air raids clearly.
The southern section of Fushimi in the aftermath of WWII.
A member of the Sanson Kosakutai is arrested by the police, c. 1955.

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