 Why Japanacorps are Badass [RL], Suicidal devotion to the company |
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 Aug 14 2007, 09:37 PM
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#1
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Midnight Toker  Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456  |
And this, is why Japanacorps are badass, really. How many American corporate CEOs would take out millions of dollars worth of life insurance on himself in the name of his company and then off himself? Not many. And it is that suicidal devotion which makes the 80s cyberpunk Japanacorps so damned powerful, SR's included. In fact, one can cheesily play this up by having involuntary extraction targets commit ritual seppuku at the first available opportunity and having hapless researchers throw their lives away in kamakaze attacks to protect the prototype or to destroy it so that it won't fall into the wrong hands. Why, every SR Japanacorp should have a written and codified suicide policy detailing in what circumstances employees should off themselves and what manner of suicide in appropriate for what situations. This, of course, makes Japanacorp runs much more dangerous. Instead of cowering in their cubicles like their American counterparts, Japanese wageslaves will charge the runners with their katana's raised high, having no concern for their own lives, potentially striking a killing blow with their skill of 3 (because every Japanacorp employee has a minimum katana skill of 3 unless that is too cheesy and sterotypical for your game, in which case they'll just default to Quickness/Agility). But that's not all. http://www.glocom.org/special_topics/socia..._s64/index.html
Yes, because murders pay out more than suicides, a shadowrunner can make a good living in Japan just by playing Dr. Kavorkian with a suppressed predator. While Japan is generally considered inhospitable to shadowrunners, there must be a soft spot for professional criminals who do nothing but wetwork jobs in which the Johnson is also the victim. When the Johnson is also the victim, things tend to go very smoothly and the run can be planned precisely to leave little evidence. Furthermore, this kind of job avoids all of the moral quandaries surrounding wetwork in general (while opening up brand new ones). |
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Aug 14 2007, 09:54 PM
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#2
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 394 Joined: 19-May 03 From: In your base eating your food. Member No.: 4,607 |
Did you read about the chinese exec. who hung himself after the recent lead paint toy recall last week? I have a sneaking suspicion he was "retired".
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Aug 14 2007, 10:10 PM
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#3
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Ain Soph Aur Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,477 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Montreal, Canada Member No.: 600 |
I think it was a minister, not an exec. And he had been sentenced to jail for a long, long time. So he took the easy way out. If China wants to off someone, China offs someone. They don't need to pretend it was suicide. That's how China rolls 'em.
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Aug 14 2007, 10:16 PM
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#4
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,012 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
No, it was an exec—and as quickly as "justice" can move in the PRC, he moved faster than it.
Whether knowledge of what was waiting for him could have affected his decision is another matter. ~J |
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Aug 14 2007, 10:27 PM
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#5
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Deus Absconditus Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,742 Joined: 1-September 03 From: Downtown Seattle, UCAS Member No.: 5,566 |
My personal favorite was the gentleman who headed up China's EPA during the toxic pet food deal. The guy drops off the face of the earth, nobody who's not party knows where he is, and like two weeks later, they go "He's sentenced to death!"
I'm pretty sure most of that two weeks was to give the illusion of 'due process' to the US. Do not embarass the Party. Ever. |
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Aug 15 2007, 02:00 AM
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#6
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
There is a big difference between killing yourself because the People's Republic is about to mutilate your rectum and killing yourself so that the corporation that employs you can get the insurance money.
The former is cowardice; the latter is insane devotion. |
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Aug 15 2007, 02:43 AM
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#7
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,640 Joined: 6-June 04 Member No.: 6,383 |
I want harmless researchers who scream "BANZAI" before using Friends In Melee to overwhelm the party.
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Aug 15 2007, 03:19 AM
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#8
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: The image that just popped into my mind is hilarious. A huge studded-leather-clad, heavily pierced, mini-gun wielding troll walks into a research laboratory full of nerdy lab-coat-clad unarmed Japanese grad students and fires a burst into the air. The grad students just look at him slack jawed. He fires another mini-gun burst into the air, chuckles maniacally, and grins like a Cheshire cat. Then the grad students, in unison, yell bonzai. He doesn't have time to actually point the giant weapon at his assailants before being beaten to death. :silly: |
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Aug 15 2007, 06:52 AM
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#9
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,640 Joined: 6-June 04 Member No.: 6,383 |
YES! They beat the troll until he says "Toby"!
"YUURE NAMEU ISU TOBY! YUURE NAMEU ISU TOBY!" |
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Aug 15 2007, 07:18 AM
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#10
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,328 Joined: 28-November 05 From: Zuerich Member No.: 8,014 |
LoneStar requires every employe to carry a gun and shoot regularily, if I remember right. I could imagine that other CAS-based corps staff could be a lot more dangerous than saraimen screaming banzai depending on the amount of concealed carrying employees.
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Aug 15 2007, 07:18 AM
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#11
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Deus Absconditus Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,742 Joined: 1-September 03 From: Downtown Seattle, UCAS Member No.: 5,566 |
Great. Now I coughed white russian onto my desk. Bastard.
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Aug 15 2007, 09:29 AM
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#12
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,012 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
If the Troll speaks Japanese, he can reflect on how the Grad Students apparently don't :) (You want a "ba", not a "bo" for your first mora) ~J |
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Aug 15 2007, 01:48 PM
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#13
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Snakehandler Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,454 Joined: 28-April 06 From: London, England Member No.: 8,508 |
Thank you so much for this thread.
Lurking while working as usual today and couldn't help but be doubly amused to be reading this thread while sitting in exactly the sort of place you described (well, not lab coat-wearing grad students but a sea of equity analysts attended 2-to-1 by cute husband-hunting assistants). And of course I tried to imagine these guys rushing a shadowrunner and beating his ass down, regardless of their own safety - well, it's just one of those priceless humor moments that you remember your whole life. I wanted to share it with my gaijin coworkers, but not being gamers, they just wouldn't have appreciated it. Suffice to say nothing like that would ever possibly happen at any company I have ever worked at here. Granted there are a couple of guys that might try to lead such a charge. They'd get killed while the others freaked out and hid under their desks. Remember, this is the country that makes it policy to pay terrorists off. That has let North Korea get away with kidnapping their people for the past twenty years. That has the second largest economy in the world and relies on its allies for protection. Before anyone flames me for callous cultural insensitivity, here is my PC disclaimer: [ Spoiler ] Anyway, I wholeheartedly agree that is would be a totally appropriate corporate culture for SR-style Japanacorps - even if they didn't get overwhelmed, the image of hardened shadowrunners blazing away at a horde of Bic-wielding sararimen and OLs armed with scissors... |
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Aug 15 2007, 06:50 PM
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#14
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 976 Joined: 16-September 04 From: Near my daughters, Lansdale PA Member No.: 6,668 |
The lab tech would not scream 'Banzai' if dying for the corporation. Banzai is an exultation for the Emperor.
You guys have to really read some of the Japanese news services to get an idea how truly screwed up my ethnic ancestors are. For example the last two ministers of agriculture have been swept away by corruption charges. The larger one submitted a bill for thousands of dollars for his utility bills over several years and they were paid, until someone discovered/remembered that his utilities bills were taken care of by the government since he was living in government owned apartments so he could never have seen a utility bill. He'd been scamming about $10,000 a year for years. He hanged himself before he could be indited. His replacement started doing the exact same thing. He was arrested and sacked before he could kill himself. A year or so ago there was a case of a commuter train in Tokyo that jumped the tracks and wrapped itself around an apartment building killing people on the train and in the building. The reason it was going too fast? The driver had been reprimanded for being 15 seconds late the previous day and was desperate to avoid being 'late' two days in a row. The media blamed the management of the company, but no one blamed the driver. |
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Aug 15 2007, 06:53 PM
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#15
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Genuine Artificial Intelligence Group: Members Posts: 4,019 Joined: 12-June 03 Member No.: 4,715 |
His manager did, the day before. :D |
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Aug 15 2007, 06:59 PM
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#16
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,012 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
I don't think not blaming the driver is unreasonable--a superior with firing power wields significant amounts of coercive force, especially since the unemployment rate has only recently started turning downwards after dramatic growth in the last decade. ~J |
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Aug 15 2007, 07:03 PM
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#17
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 976 Joined: 16-September 04 From: Near my daughters, Lansdale PA Member No.: 6,668 |
A man drives recklessly because he fears for his job should not be blamed? this was not a pizza guy running a light. He was driving a train so fast he wrapped it around a building.
He might not be the only one to get blame but he gets a share of it. |
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Aug 15 2007, 07:07 PM
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#18
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
In 80s martial arts movies, Banzai! is always screamed by the stereotypical Japanese karate guy wearing a rising sun headband, no matter what it is that he is doing. And, while traditionally an exaltation to the Emperor, it has lost much of its historical meaning in the years after WWII and is now more of a generic expression. |
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Aug 15 2007, 07:13 PM
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#19
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 976 Joined: 16-September 04 From: Near my daughters, Lansdale PA Member No.: 6,668 |
But it is still associated with the Emperor since it wishes him long life. I cannot be responsible for what the film makers write.
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Aug 15 2007, 07:31 PM
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#20
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
It wishes long life, but not unnecessarily to the Emperor. Banzai doesn't mean long life to the Emperor, it just means long life. It is traditionally directed at the Emperor, yes, and can be understood to be directed at the Emperor depending on context, but even during the Meji restoration the exaltation of the Emperor was not the only use of the term. Jiyū banzai, for example, was commonly used by supporters of Meji-era civil rights movements to explicitly wish long life to freedom. If someone is shouting Banzai at the Emperor's carriage or if a WWII soldier shouts it before a suicide charge, then it is obviously directed at the Emperor. But there are other contexts in which it can be used. And it is rarely directed at Emperor in modern contexts, more often being a generic expression of congratulations. |
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Aug 15 2007, 08:20 PM
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#21
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 976 Joined: 16-September 04 From: Near my daughters, Lansdale PA Member No.: 6,668 |
Mozeltov
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Aug 16 2007, 01:44 AM
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#22
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,640 Joined: 6-June 04 Member No.: 6,383 |
My dad is Japanese and was even alive during WWII. He tells me that "banzai", in spite of the specific use it had during the Pacific War, may be used as a general exlamation that indicates self-rallying. Even though it was years ago, I remember the exact example he gave me: if a pilot flying a jetliner were facing a seemingly unavoidable crash, he might say "banzai" to kick off his last ditch effort to save himself and everyone on said jetliner, and in such a case "banzai" could be interpreted in a very general sense. |
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Aug 16 2007, 01:54 AM
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#23
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,640 Joined: 6-June 04 Member No.: 6,383 |
This really brought back memories. Years and years ago, when I was a teenager, maybe 15 years old or so, a friend of mine whose parents are both Japanese but who grew up in New Jersey gave me a rising sun headband as a present. Around that time was the first time that I'd started practicing continuous and moderately serious contact sparring with the guy who was my first serious martial arts/combative sports instructor. Being impressionable and not knowing what I was doing at the time, I figured it would be a good idea to wear the rising sun headband on the ground that it could keep sweat and hair out of my face, like a tennis headband, so I go and wear it to one of my very first contact sessions. The instructor, a good friend of mine and an african american former Marine, looks so incredibly amused and asks me if I'm preparing for a suicide mission. And of course it turned out as I was getting smacked around that the rising sun headband was actually an incredibly poor idea as it was likely to just go flying off my head or else slip down around my neck. |
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Aug 16 2007, 06:25 PM
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#24
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 192 Joined: 29-December 06 Member No.: 10,483 |
I should point out that I'm fairly sure Ares at least has a policy of arming everyone. Sure they are probably all carrying around revolvers, but still. Remember you don't win a war by dying for your country, you win a war by making some other bastard die for his country.
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Aug 16 2007, 08:16 PM
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#25
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Target Group: Members Posts: 72 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Oak Ridge, TN, CAS Member No.: 407 |
I could easily see Ares having a corp-wide Open Carry policy.
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