Garyo Okita, author of "Mushoboke," is seen talking about the novel in the city of Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, on Oct. 8, 2021. (Mainichi/Kenji Tatsumi)

       KOBE -- After 14 years in prison, a 44-year-old former yakuza who has returned to society is afraid to even speak to young people working at convenience stores. He starts looking for work, and reunites with his family, but things don't go quite as expected.

       So goes the story in the novel "Mushoboke," which roughly translates to "dulled by prison life." Published by Shogakukan Inc., the book has drawn attention for the way it depicts a former yakuza's life after leaving prison. The Mainichi Shimbun spoke with the author, Garyo Okita, 45, to hear his thoughts on the book.

       The basic premise is as follows. After graduating from junior high school, the protagonist Sosuke Jinnai goes from being in a biker gang to joining an organized crime group. One day, he lets slip to his wife that he has "a big job to carry out," and, under orders from leaders of his group, he goes and shoots the head of a rival gang. He is then charged with attempted murder and is given a prison sentence.

       For the shooting, he is promised 50 million yen (about $443,000) and a high position in the organization. But he is expelled from the group shortly after being taken into a detention center, and his wife files for divorce. After 14 years inside, Jinnai holds a smartphone for the first time in his life, and his young children have grown to be 21 and 18.

       Okita hails from the Hyogo Prefecture city of Amagasaki in west Japan. Like Jinnai, he joined a local organization that was part of the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza group when he was 16. He would steal cars and commit other crimes, and went to prison twice for a total of about 12 years. During his incarceration, the group dissolved. Just before he turned 40, he went straight. Okita says he wrote the book based on his experiences.

       Although the main character's work as a hitman is a fictional setup for the book, there are real portrayals visible in the work, too.

       A scene from the drama adaptation of "Mushoboke" is seen in this image provided by Asahi Television Broadcasting Corp. Sosuke Jinnai, left, is portrayed by Yukiya Kitamura, while a prison warden is played by Itsuji Itao.

       In his prison life, Jinnai has an infatuation with "KitKat-level high class candy." This is based on Okita's real experiences. Around the time he was 30 and spending New Year's Eve in prison, a warden handed out KitKat chocolates. It was a special treat, not like the things usually distributed in the prison. Some of the inmates were surprised to the point of incredulity. Okita smiled and said, "It makes you wonder how they could be so happy over something like that, doesn't it? I wanted to write it in a way that makes people laugh out loud."

       Jinnai is clumsy. But he does his best to lead his life. He shares that part of himself with Okita.

       After leaving prison, the unemployed Jinnai visits an interior construction firm run by a former head of the criminal organization. There, he excoriates his former boss for the unfair way he was cast out of the group, telling him, "You made my life a waste, aren't you going to take responsibility for it?" As his terrified former boss apologizes, Jinnai barks at him, "Are you going to hire me or not?" After some initial bemusement, the former boss accepts, and Jinnai starts working at the interior construction firm.

       He works hard. While feeling isolated, like he's been left behind by society, he earns a daily wage of about 8,500 yen (about $75). "Until then, I had got through everything by just going, 'I'm a yakuza,' Okita said. "But, to live you have to work. Losing your job in your 40s is frightening. Even a former hitman has a life and a family. Without romanticizing it, I wanted to depict the difficulties of living and existing as a yakuza coming out of prison."

       When he was about 25, Okita cried as he read Jiro Asada's novel "Poppoya" (translated as "The Stationmaster" in English) in prison. The experience made him want to become a novelist who could move people.

       To learn how to write, he would copy novels. There were times when for 13 hours a day he would grip his pencil and write. To ensure he didn't waste the few notebooks he had, he would write tiny, ant-sized characters that meant he could get three rows of writing on a single line.

       He made his debut as a novelist at age 40. "Mushoboke," his 12th work, has been adapted into a drama which first aired on Asahi Television Broadcasting Corp. and other stations in October. At the time he quit the yakuza, Okita would earn his living working at a haulage firm for 9,000 yen a day (about $80). But now he can live as a novelist.

       Police crackdowns and increased social movements rejecting violent groups have caused antisocial group membership to fall precipitously. At the end of 2011 there were some 73,000 members and associate members. But by the end of 2020, membership was down to around 25,900 people.

       But not all of these people have been able to reintegrate into society. Their past arrests can become known from online records, leading them to be shunned by those around them. Because they also have no work experience, there are many who, even if they find work, struggle to keep it.

       "It's hard for a former yakuza to make a life after leaving prison," Okita said. "Obviously we reap what we sow. But, if people work hard, then it somehow works out."

       (Japanese original by Kenji Tatsumi, Kobe Bureau)

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