Simply Magical. It is not everyday that a book inspires you with so much courage and strength to face the difficulties in your life.The book which I am referring to is Yakuza Moon, which was written to reflect the life story of the author Shoko Tendo. Born in 1968 into a family headed by a yakuza or Japanese gangster Dad, she underwent an arduous upbringing after falling into bad company at a tender age. Descended from medieval gamblers and outlaws, the yakuza were long portrayed as latter-day samurai, bound by traditions of honor and duty while living extravagant lives. Dad was the gang leader linked to the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest yakuza group, led a "classic" yakuza life replete with Italian suits and imported fast cars.
To be fair, Dad never really spoke about his yakuza business while at home and brought Tendo up to have impeccable manners.But surrounded by bad influences, Tendo flunked her early school education, morphed into a yanki or teenage gangster and lost her virginity to her first boyfriend when she was barely in junior high school. And as if life wasn't tough enough, she became addicted to thinner-sniffing and "speed" or marijuana, and ended up in a reformative centre after getting caught in a gang fight.
Eight months later, she was released only to learn that Dad fell seriously ill with tuberculosis. Her family was in total shambles cowering from daily visits by rowdy debtors amid mounting debts. In a state of numbness and denial, she continued her regular fix of drugs, mixing with bad company, suffered from multiple rape incidents and engaged in casual sordid sex in "love hotels".In short, she had become a total rebel drifting aimlessly from day to day, and - get this - she was barely eighteen then. It was the kind of growing pains that would move any reader to tears.
Simply Magical. It is not everyday that a book inspires you with so much courage and strength to face the difficulties in your life.The book which I am referring to is Yakuza Moon, which was written to reflect the life story of the author Shoko Tendo. Born in 1968 into a family headed by a yakuza or Japanese gangster Dad, she underwent an arduous upbringing after falling into bad company at a tender age. Descended from medieval gamblers and outlaws, the yakuza were long portrayed as latter-day samurai, bound by traditions of honor and duty while living extravagant lives. Dad was the gang leader linked to the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest yakuza group, led a "classic" yakuza life replete with Italian suits and imported fast cars.
