Text | Li Qinyu

　　

The director is michael mann, who has filmed The Wire and Miami Vice, starring Japanese tough guy Ken Watanabe, and the elements in the plot include gangs and murders. It is estimated that many viewers will preconceived that "Tokyo Crime" is an action movie with hot scenes and hard contents.

But obviously they will be disappointed. The plot is progressing slowly, the style is serious and dull, and even the characters in the play have a sense of powerlessness, all of which remind us that this drama is by no means a "cool drama". On the contrary, it is a life record that shocks the soul and a unique text that tells about social problems and changes of the times.

After finishing college in Japan, American Jack Adelstam (the prototype of the protagonist Jack) applied for a job and entered the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper (that is, Ming Diao news in TV series), becoming one of the few American journalists who were allowed to enter the mysterious Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department to report crimes. He also wrote this strange life experience into a best-selling book "Tokyo Sin".

This drama, adapted from this, tells the real crime story in Japan from a unique perspective, and also explores the modern gangster world that I rarely see in Japan, indirectly reflecting the complicated and sometimes interdependent relationship among journalists, police and gangsters.

　

From America to Japan: Living elsewhere

　

Although this drama has gathered many Japanese first-line movie stars, the most eye-catching one is Jack, who speaks fluent Japanese and is played by Ansel Elgort. This young American actor, who just starred in west side story, stands out among the Japanese and becomes a unique scenery.

Jack’s relationship with his father is not good, and his sister suffers from depression. He left his hometown and came to Tokyo, Japan, just to start a new life and pursue his dreams. And he did find his spiritual "father" again-Pan Tong, played by Ken Watanabe, who was honest and brave and taught and helped him all the way.

Not only Jack, but also Samantha, the hostess played by Rachel Keller, came to Tokyo to get rid of the unbearable past. These foreign faces in Tokyo are the most obvious metaphor of this play-from the perspective of Americans, going to Japan is more like "living elsewhere."

This is reminiscent of Goethe’s keen interest in China culture, especially China literature, and his mentality of creating "world literature". Frankly speaking, this is not how much Goethe loved China at that time, but the urgent feeling of wanting to obtain fresher cultural resources from the outside when the western world became more and more lifeless.

The mysterious and ancient Japanese culture is obviously attractive to "Jack" from America. In Ramen Girl, brittany murphy redeems her failed relationship by learning Japanese food culture. In "Kill Bill", uma thurman showed the American audience the aesthetics of violence. In The Last Samurai, Tom Cruise realized the Zen Buddhism of "nothing originally" and "life and death are all delusional" and the Bushido spirit of self-reliance and self-denial regardless of life and death.

In "Tokyo Sin", the first lesson that Piantong taught Jack was the "ceremony" in Japanese culture. It is by no means the set of values that police officers in the Jianghu Miyamoto uphold that focus on trading and buying and selling (this is precisely American culture), but the "righteousness" advocated by traditional Japanese. It is precisely because of Jack’s journalistic ideal in front of Piantong that Piantong is willing to help him.

In other words, the reason why "Jack" people are so obsessed with Tokyo is not that they are attracted by its sounds, dogs, horses, and traffic (which are all in America), but that they want to pursue new ideals and infinite possibilities here.

Conflict and misunderstanding: guilt culture and shame culture

　

Although jack was full of hope for his new life, he was hit on the head as soon as he entered the newspaper. The elder Yumi Maruyama warned Jack that he was not qualified to regard her as a "friend", let alone to call her by her first name. This is the important difference between American guilt culture and Japanese shame culture. The "original sin consciousness" produced by guilt culture makes Americans think that since everyone has "original sin", then everyone is equal; But for the Japanese, the root of conscience is the relationship between people, and the root of its culture comes from family relations.

It is clearly stated in Chrysanthemum and Knife that Japan "has a very thoughtful hierarchy in politics, religion, military, industry and other fields. No matter whether it is the upper level or the lower level, it will be punished if it exceeds its privileged scope." Therefore, Jack has to strictly abide by the hierarchy of the newspaper. Even if he finds a breakthrough clue in the report, he must obey the unreasonable orders of his boss (played by Kohsuke Toyohara)-the report must be written according to the police’s notification and cannot have his own creative content.

This also involves the main plot of the play-a series of murders created by the underworld Huze Group. They colluded with banks, used usury to push customers into the abyss of eternal ruin, and then forced customers to commit suicide by insulting and threatening to defraud huge expenses.

Perhaps some viewers will wonder why the Japanese choose to commit suicide after being insulted. This also shows the difference between guilt culture and shame culture in terms of restriction mechanism-the real guilt culture relies on the reflection of guilt in the heart to do good deeds; The real shame culture relies on external coercion to do good deeds. Therefore, in the shame culture, what matters is not what you have done, but whether you have been discovered by outsiders. This is the root cause of the victim’s unbearable humiliation and anger and suicide.

On the other hand, shame requires the presence of outsiders, at least to feel that outsiders are present. In other words, as long as the evil deeds are not discovered, it seems that they can get away with it. This is why police officer Miyamoto told Jack that there was "no" murder in Japan, and Mingdiao News did not support Jack’s further investigation at first. Jack sighed in the bar, "At least there is investigation news in the United States". Behind a complaint, it is the fierce conflict and huge difference between the two cultures.

　

Lost in Tokyo: An Outsider of Japanese Culture

　

Milan Kundera said, "Man is the one who walks in the fog." Facing the fog, people can only see the narrow space in front of them. Jack hopes to see the running logic of Tokyo gangs through news investigation, but he doesn’t realize that the power of individuals or even any organization is negligible in the face of the rolling wheel of history.

Huze Group and Chihara Group were sworn enemies fighting for territory. Because of Jack’s help, Chihara Group got rid of the mole, but did not dare to take revenge on Huze Group. Officer Piantong advised Ishida, the leader of Chihara Group, "Ten years ago, you could easily take Huze." Ishida’s facial expression was instantly stiff, and his eyes were full of sadness and helplessness.

It turns out that the Huze group has gradually gained the upper hand by drug trafficking and dirty financial scams, while the Chihara group still adheres to the traditional values of "chivalry" and finally retreats step by step. This battle just shows the irreversible decline trend of Japanese underworld.

In the film "Mafia and Family" which was released in 2020 and starred by G Ayano, the declining Japanese gangs even relied on seashore shells to subsidize their families. As American scholar R. taggart Murphy said in his book Japan and its historical shackles, emerging economic systems have spawned brand-new industrial and social structures, the level of industrialization is getting higher and higher, and the era of "speaking with fists" is gone.

Reminiscent that this drama happened at the turn of the century, Jack, an American, will witness in Tokyo the process of reshaping Japanese social life with the changes of the times-"fortitude" and "fortitude" are no longer the criteria for judging men, and "dedication" and "sacrifice" are no longer the qualities that people admire.

In other words, due to the wave of globalization, Jack is doomed to find his ideal country in Tokyo. Whether it’s police officer Piantong or gangster friend Sato, their "loyalty" and "benevolence" will eventually turn into tears of the times and fall on the bustling streets of Tokyo.

By the way, the original work exposes the black-box operations of industries such as human trafficking and obscene transactions organized by violent gangs, and criticizes the Japanese government for failing to protect the "human rights" of hostess, but such views are, after all, on the standpoint of "American centralism".

After all, Jack lost in Tokyo can never understand the life choices of Samantha (the hostess gave her the possibility to start a new life) and Sato (the gang gave him a second life), because he is an "outsider" and an "outsider" of Japanese culture after all.

-　

　　Knowing the news of Huang Xing’s death, Yang Chengrong, a poor household who was nearly 80 years old, burst into tears: "He is a relative of our poor household!"

　　Huang Xing, deputy director of Shiyan Poverty Alleviation Office, Hubei Province. On February 28th this year, 46-year-old Huang Xing suffered a sudden myocardial infarction after working for several days in a row. He died in the line of duty and fell on the road to poverty alleviation. Recently, the Hubei Provincial Federation of Trade Unions posthumously awarded Huang Xing the Hubei May 1 Labor Medal and called on the majority of trade union cadres to learn from it.

　　I broke down from overwork and had a heart attack. I went to the hospital with a poverty alleviation manual.

　　Shiyan Poverty Alleviation Office, Office 4128. The large-scale schematic diagram of the Ten Commandments’ accurate poverty alleviation is still hung in a prominent position on the wall, but it can’t wait to draw its owner.

　　"He misses the poverty alleviation work every day and always refuses to let himself take a short rest. This time he can finally rest." Xu Hongbo, the chief of general department in the same office as Huang Xing, wiped away tears and said.

　　In the last 59 days of his life, except for the four-day holiday of the Spring Festival, Huang Xing has been running in the front line of poverty alleviation, including 23 days in northern Shaanxi to participate in the inter-provincial cross-examination of national poverty alleviation and development.

　　"In northern Shaanxi, there is ice and snow everywhere, and it is about MINUS 20 degrees Celsius outside. Huang Xing enters the village during the day, and he has to work overtime after the group meeting at night, often after 2 am." Zhang Guangming, deputy director of the Poverty Alleviation Office in Maojian District, Shiyan City, Hubei Province, who participated in the assessment with Huang Xing, said that as the deputy head of the assessment team, Huang Xing was not only responsible for routine work, but also responsible for overall planning and summary, which was more arduous than the work of the team members.

　　Returning to Shiyan from Shaanxi, Huang Xing neglected to rest and continued to work overtime.

　　"On February 26, two days before his illness, he was still supervising the poverty alleviation assessment in danjiangkou city." Xu Hongbo recalled that on February 27th, Huang Xing came to the office early and worked overtime until about 11 o’clock that evening. Suddenly, he said that his heart was uncomfortable, and Xu Hongbo and his colleagues rushed him to the hospital.

　　When he went to the hospital, he still had a poverty alleviation manual in his pocket. Xu Hongbo said that in the last few hours of his life, Huang Xing was still asking the doctor: "Can you give me some medicine? I want to go back to work early."

　　Due to his serious illness, Huang Xing was still unable to recover his vital signs after being rescued in the intensive care unit for more than 10 hours. He died at noon on February 28th at the age of 46. His family left only his 80-year-old frail mother and his daughter who was in the first year of high school.

　　Take things in the village as your own business.

　　Daping Village, Maota Township, Maojian District, Shiyan City is the designated contact village of Shiyan Poverty Alleviation Office. As the backbone of the Poverty Alleviation Office, Huang Xing is a frequent visitor in the village.

　　In the diary, Huang Xing once wrote: "Always remember that I am a party member who serves the people and treats the poor people with sincerity. No matter how busy you are, you can’t forget the poor households! "

　　But after all, he didn’t wait until Daping Village got rid of poverty.

　　As one of the 456 poverty-stricken villages in Shiyan City, after three years of poverty alleviation, only 54 households in Daping Village are still out of poverty. According to the plan, the whole village will be listed at the end of this year.

　　"Without Director Huang, how can we get rid of poverty in our village so smoothly? Our whole village remembers his kindness. " Liu Qinglong, secretary of the Party branch of Daping Village, said that Huang Xing took things in the village as his own business. In late January this year, heavy snow fell in Shiyan, and the greenhouse vegetables in the village were seriously affected. On the day he returned from a business trip in Shaanxi, Huang Xing rushed to the village to discuss disaster relief measures.

　　"I heard that Director Huang died, and I didn’t sleep a wink all night. Such a good person, how can God let him go! " Standing in front of his new house, Liu Tiane, a poor household, was tearful.

　　In 2015, Liu Tianqi’s husband died of illness. She had to raise children and pay her husband more than 100,000 yuan in medical debts, which made the originally poor family worse. Huang Xing took the initiative to find the door and formed a helping pair with her to help her find the right thing to do and improve her housing conditions according to relevant policies.

　　"Making friends with poor families, helping poor households and uprooting poor roots" is an important measure for Shiyan City to promote precision poverty alleviation and precision poverty alleviation. Yang Chengrong, Yu Shiyou, Wang Demei, etc. are all poor households that Huang Xing "married" in the village. Hearing the bad news, they all said it was hard to accept.

　　There are more "relatives" in poor households, and Huang Xing has less time to spend with his family and children, but his family understands this very well.

　　After his death, his 15-year-old daughter wrote: "Dad is a conscientious and meticulous person who treats his work and treats his colleagues kindly. Meticulous to me and grandma. He is my hero … …” His old mother is a retired teacher. When talking about her son, the old man said with tears: "He gave his life to the party and the people. He is glorious!"

　　He is not only working hard, but also an expert in theory.

　　According to Peng Wenjun, director of Shiyan Poverty Alleviation Office, Huang Xing is an "old ox" on the road to poverty alleviation.

　　"He has to deal with daily affairs during the day, and he has to stay up late to write various documents when he goes home at night. There is always endless work." Peng Wenjun said.

　　"He had the opportunity to transfer to other positions in the province or the city, but he declined them one by one. He said that it is a critical moment to get rid of poverty and he must not be a deserter!" Peng Wenjun said.

　　What makes colleagues admire even more is that Huang Xing is not only working hard, but also an expert in theory.

　　Having worked for 25 years, Huang Xing has been in the poverty relief office for 22 years, and has been rated as an excellent civil servant for three consecutive years, and has been transferred to the national and provincial poverty relief offices for special work many times. He wrote or participated in the drafting of the Plan for Regional Development and Poverty Alleviation in Qinba Mountain Area (2011— In 2020), the Implementation Plan for Regional Development and Poverty Alleviation in Qinba Mountain Area of Hubei Province and the Decision of Hubei Province on Further Strengthening Poverty Alleviation and Development are also well-known in the poverty alleviation system.

　　Peng Wenjun introduced that Huang Xing has been responsible for the assessment of precision poverty alleviation for a long time. Since 2014, Shiyan has been rated as excellent for four consecutive years in the assessment of the responsibility system for poverty alleviation work of local party and government in Hubei Province.

　　"How to fight the tough battle against poverty in the city, how to supervise the implementation of policies, how to consolidate and improve the effect of poverty alleviation, etc., we often discuss and plan together." Peng Wenjun said that in the poverty alleviation office, Huang Xing is his "right hand man" and an example in the eyes of his colleagues.

　　After Huang Xing’s death, Shiyan Municipal Committee posthumously awarded him the title of "Excellent Communist party member of the whole city" and called on party member cadres in the whole city to learn from Huang Xing.

　　Zhang Meirong, a colleague of Huang Xing’s before his death, expressed everyone’s voice: "Our generation should carry on the legacy and swear to eradicate poverty!"