(Story spoilers) Could someone help me confirm a plot detail?

So, almost every time Masato Arakawa is on screen as an adult, we're being reminded that he's cartoonishly rich. The dude is swimming in yakuza cash. He buys his girl accessories the value of buildings, he jets off to America for Ivy League coursework and cutting-edge medical tourism, and when he comes back he funds a nationwide grassroots NPO essentially out of pocket.

What puzzles me is that half of this stuff happens before the timeskip -- before the Arakawa Family becomes a big name. When Ichiban goes to prison, the Arakawas are expressly a tiny, third-string family who get pushed around by the Sakaki Clan. They appear to have maybe half a dozen members and don't seem like huge earners for the Tojo.

So where does Masato's obscene wealth come from? I could understand if it was after Masumi shot up to vice-command of the Omi Alliance... but it's not.

Thanks for any insights!

He played the business minigame.

Let's just say his dad has his back.

Yeah, honestly it's bad writing because the Tojo clan was fighting over 10 million dollars earlier and that is not cartoonishly rich. It's rich sure, but not obscenely so. To put in perspective, to retire in the US with 120k a year, you need 5mil by 65 years old. That might be rich to some, but medical tourism in the US alone costs more than 120k, sometimes for ONLY ONE operation. Especially for what Aoki becomes. That said, I am going to really stretch things. And I mean painfully so.

For one, Arawaka is very money savvy. It is the first start of his arc from actor to criminal before his father's death. Maybe he had some knowledge of money, finance, and making cash early. You can argue that the reason why he has a family at all is the fact he is a businessman for himself first. I can't pretend what it is like in real life, but in the Yakuza world, if you are a man and you can make a lot of money easily, the Tojo will take regardless of your history with the Tojo. That said, Arawaka was from the Yakuza family anyway, but the point is that he is a businessman first not a thug.

The thug/badass whatever role came from his acting talent established in the game. All of that acting that Arawaka does is a combination of dramaturgical skill(ie he made people think he was badass by doing things that suggested he was), business skill, and probably actually busting up heads anyway. Think Maijima. Maijima is a businessman first but was tired of the kowtowing bulls*** he pulled pre-Yakuza 0. So he acts crazy to eventually make a lot of money, get married(and then not!), and finally reunites with his best bro. Arawaka acts badass whether or not he actually is.

Anyway, I am getting away from myself. It could be argued that Arawaka already at this point has a lot of legitimate and illegitimate businesses. But in the world of the Yakuza, you have to actually earn your place. Well unless you are born into the royalty (thanks Diago). Meaning Arawaka could actually be stupid rich already but is ranked low in the Tojo because the Arawaka clan is kinda new. What makes the Arawaka clan so insanely powerful in a heartbeat is the knowledge of the Tojo infrastructure, approval from Diago on the side, and business acumen that made the clan the most famous Omi Clan. That's how Arawaka earned his status between the time skip while still being independently wealthy BEFORE the time skip.

Again, though I am really really stretching it thin, and trust me if you can find a flaw in my logic, seriously I won't defend it all that much.

@Misterfour It's actually Ten Billion Yen they were fighting for, not ten million, which equals to about 95 million USD today

Misterfour posted...

Yeah, honestly it's bad writing because the Tojo clan was fighting over 10 million dollars earlier and that is not cartoonishly rich. It's rich sure, but not obscenely so. To put in perspective, to retire in the US with 120k a year, you need 5mil by 65 years old. That might be rich to some, but medical tourism in the US alone costs more than 120k, sometimes for ONLY ONE operation. Especially for what Aoki becomes. That said, I am going to really stretch things. And I mean painfully so.

For one, Arawaka is very money savvy. It is the first start of his arc from actor to criminal before his father's death. Maybe he had some knowledge of money, finance, and making cash early. You can argue that the reason why he has a family at all is the fact he is a businessman for himself first. I can't pretend what it is like in real life, but in the Yakuza world, if you are a man and you can make a lot of money easily, the Tojo will take regardless of your history with the Tojo. That said, Arawaka was from the Yakuza family anyway, but the point is that he is a businessman first not a thug.

The thug/badass whatever role came from his acting talent established in the game. All of that acting that Arawaka does is a combination of dramaturgical skill(ie he made people think he was badass by doing things that suggested he was), business skill, and probably actually busting up heads anyway. Think Maijima. Maijima is a businessman first but was tired of the kowtowing bulls*** he pulled pre-Yakuza 0. So he acts crazy to eventually make a lot of money, get married(and then not!), and finally reunites with his best bro. Arawaka acts badass whether or not he actually is.

Anyway, I am getting away from myself. It could be argued that Arawaka already at this point has a lot of legitimate and illegitimate businesses. But in the world of the Yakuza, you have to actually earn your place. Well unless you are born into the royalty (thanks Diago). Meaning Arawaka could actually be stupid rich already but is ranked low in the Tojo because the Arawaka clan is kinda new. What makes the Arawaka clan so insanely powerful in a heartbeat is the knowledge of the Tojo infrastructure, approval from Diago on the side, and business acumen that made the clan the most famous Omi Clan. That's how Arawaka earned his status between the time skip while still being independently wealthy BEFORE the time skip.

Again, though I am really really stretching it thin, and trust me if you can find a flaw in my logic, seriously I won't defend it all that much.

Wasn't Arawaka also one of the best hitmen to the point of being nearly a ruthless ghost of sorts? Hitmen tend to make a fare bit of money.

Don't forget that it's not just Masumi Arakawa.

Jo Sawashiro, captain and treasurer of the Family, has an interest in making sure Masato is taken care of.

battleblast posted...

Wasn't Arawaka also one of the best hitmen to the point of being nearly a ruthless ghost of sorts? Hitmen tend to make a fare bit of money.

He is a hitman for sure, but you have to do a lot of hits to be stupid rich. We never get clarification on how much a hit actually costs in this world, but unless you are making like Deadshot or Deathstroke kind of money for hits, you need more than just killing people to make a nutso ammount of money.

dawnset posted...

@Misterfour It's actually Ten Billion Yen they were fighting for, not ten million, which equals to about 95 million USD today

Ah yeah, 10 billion Yen. Sorry, I was going on memory. Even then, 100 million is not insanely rich for an F500, but if a single person has 100 million even a small company, yeah that's enough money to just flaunt around with.

Assuming that the rates paid by Joe Exotic (apologies for even mentioning the guy) to kill one of his rivals are accurate and representative of how much a hit costs, each hit is worth 3,000 dollars. let's assume Arakawa kills one man a month, tops, because he has to balance out his other business interests, and because he has to make them look like accidents. That's 36,000 dollars a year or 3,779,874 yen.

Thing is, that's a 2017 rate and Masumi joined the Hikawa family in the 70s, and I haven't bothered making adjustments for inflation, how long he was actually active, whether or not he consistently killed 12 men a year and whatnot. For what it's worth I can imagine hits may be pricier in Japan because of the far stricter gun control and the increased risk due to their obscenely high conviction rates.

All I really got are assumptions, and to be honest I am not totally on board with them myself.

Maybe he invested soundly during the bubble.