Chinpira (ちんぴら)

Chinpira are young yakuza in training. The term actually means "punk", "juvenile delinquent", or "hooligan", in English. If you've been in Japan any length of time, I'm sure you've seen them. Young adults in their late teens to 20's with loud, dark clothes, punch-permed, or slicked back hair and sunglasses acting like they are the toughest, coolest persons around. Things haven't changed much these days as they still, for the most part, look and act the same.

During my senior year of college (1981), I was walking from the train station, down a small alley with my future wife one afternoon, when a couple of them said some pretty rude things about her while we were walking past. I let it go for the moment, as I've heard it all before, but they continued in a louder voice. They said things about her, and the fact that she was with a gaijin, that I can't print here, but I'm sure you can imagine what they said. I was pretty pissed off now. "There's two of them, but I don't give a sh*t", I thought as I was so mad at this point.

I threw my book bag to the ground forcefully, turned around and, with my hands stretched out palms up, and fingers beckoning them, I said, in English, in the loudest voice I could muster up, "C'mon, mother f**kers! You wanna fight? I'll give you something to fight about!"

I was scared sh*tless as they started walking towards me. "I'm dead," I thought, but I didn't care as I was so mad. When they were about six or so feet from us, two Yakuza type men exited a bar to my right and immediately said, ﾂ"What's going on out here?"

Before I could get a word in, my future wife immediately told them what had happened and what they said. The two Yakuza started yelling at the two chinpira in Japanese and told them to get in the bar. My future wife and I then proceeded to the ﾂ"Mr. Donutsﾂ" a short distance away and went in to have coffee as we had planned.

We talked about it and I told her how glad I was that those two men came out and intervened. I also told her how scared I was and how pissed I was. I was so nervous my hands were still shaking. She said that she was scared also.

About 15 minutes later the two chinpira came into the donut shop and I thought, "Oh no, here we go again." To our surprise (and I'm sure the other customers) the two chinpira got down on their knees and, with their heads touching the floor, apologized to us.

I was in shock. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think this would happen. I glanced up and saw the two Yakuza standing outside. When they caught my eye they nodded to me and I understood what was going on.

The two chinpira got up, put 2,000 yen on the counter, and said to the person behind the counter, "This is for their order." They again apologized to us while bowing 90 degrees. I told them not to worry about it and they left. What else could I say? I was still in shock.

This was the first, and only, time in my 161/2 years in Japan did I have a direct confrontation with any Japanese that I thought may come to blows because I was a gaijin with a Japanese woman. Sure I've heard snide remarks before, but they never continued it like these two did.

If you ever have a run-in with chinpira or Yakuza let it go if you're alone. Don't be stupid like I was. I could've been really injured or even killed. If you don't let it go, they will definitely fight with you in order to "save face". Once they've committed themselves, they will not back down.

Unless you have a couple of guardian angles suddenly appear out of nowhere, like happened to us, just swallow your pride and let it go. It's not worth it.

Thanks for sharing. That kind of thing could happen anywhere, I guess you were lucky for the other 2 appearing. Prehaps they were an orginised gang, prehaps the other two were more mature and less willing to let racial abuse slide. You live and learn, doncha'.

Wow, interesting read. Lucky their older peers understand what the outcome of the little incident would have been

I've seen similar in Kyoto ... but not in Tokyo. Anyone else had this happen?

Chinpira around Oga-Saga station used to wear white tracksuits, shave off thier eyebrows and sit in the UNKO position. Sometimes I thought it would be fun to run up and boot them in the faces, but I guess that wouldn't have been too advisable.

especially knowing the poster's personality
anyway, thanks to op. phat story

dadako said:

Chinpira around Oga-Saga station used to wear white tracksuits, shave off thier eyebrows and sit in the UNKO position. Sometimes I thought it would be fun to run up and boot them in the faces, but I guess that wouldn't have been too advisable

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Yes they did and they still do today to some extent. Always in the "Unchi" style of squatting. I eventually became friends with some Yakuza and participated with them in the "Omikoshi-the carrying around of the shrines on ones shoulders at various festivals around Tokyo and Yokohama. Man I could tell a few stories about that.

Yes, sometimes you feel like punching a few of them out because of their arrogance, but, like you said, not too advisable.

JustJosh said:

Thanks for sharing. That kind of thing could happen anywhere, I guess you were lucky for the other 2 appearing. Prehaps they were an orginised gang, prehaps the other two were more mature and less willing to let racial abuse slide. You live and learn, doncha'.

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Yes we were lucky for the "elders" appearing as they put them in their place right away. Can you imagine how humiliating it must've been for them to get on their knees and bow with their foreheads touching the ground to a "gaijin?" I bet they never did that again or, if they wanted to, I bet they thought twice about it.

I do have to say that I had a lot of respect for the older Yakuza though as they were teaching them the "proper" way for a future Yakuza to act. Most Yakuza only concern themselves with gambling and such and don't much bother the regular population if ever. Alot are quite respected believe it or not.

Wow, interesting read. Lucky their older peers understand what the outcome of the little incident would have been

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I do know one thing for sure: Had they not appeared I probably would've ended up with a pretty good beating or been stabbed and ended up in the hospital or worse. I still don't know why I did what I did when I knew pretty well not to tackle two of them at one time. Maybe it was arrogance on my part and trying to be the "knight in shining armor" for my fiancee or something. I don't know. But what they said really pissed me off as I knew Japanese slang and the bad words one uses towards Japanese women. Maybe this surprised them more than anything I don't know. I just snapped. However, I am thankful for the elders that appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Good story, Im such a stupid pacifist i let a guy punch me around without raising my arms until he was finished being a c**k...and they werent soft punches (and yet it wasnt that sore....strange...) anyway its understandable man, they were, even for yakuza, completely out of order saying what they did about your future wife.

I guess in a country where the police are too busy chasing gaijin on bicycles, the Yakuza gotta enforce the law on each other.

Very interesting story, thanks for sharing.

I've never had any trouble with Chimpira or Yakuza. I used to participate in the Mikoshi carrying festivals too, in Himeji. There were usually a lot of those guys, but because we were on the same 'team' they were pretty cool with me.

Sometimes they used to come into a bar I hung out at and cause a bit of trouble, my friend owned the place and he couldn't stand them because they would always steal stuff off the counter and be rude to other customers. But I never got involved.

senseiman said:

I've never had any trouble with Chimpira or Yakuza. I used to participate in the Mikoshi carrying festivals too, in Himeji. There were usually a lot of those guys, but because we were on the same 'team' they were pretty cool with me.

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Funny you shoud mention that as I also participated in the same thing for two years and the majority of the participants were yakuza with one being a close friend to this day. Boy did they used to get into it after drinking sake. Did you have the "mikoshi shoulder" also? I did and it was like a badge of pride, but it sure was painful the first few times.

Sometimes they used to come into a bar I hung out at and cause a bit of trouble, my friend owned the place and he couldn't stand them because they would always steal stuff off the counter and be rude to other customers. But I never got involved.

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I never experienced that and we used to go out drinking quite often. Maybe it was because I was there. I don't know. However it was good to have them as friends and have that "ace in the hole", so to speak, if you ever needed help in something.

Pachipro said:

Funny you shoud mention that as I also participated in the same thing for two years and the majority of the participants were yakuza with one being a close friend to this day. Boy did they used to get into it after drinking sake. Did you have the "mikoshi shoulder" also? I did and it was like a badge of pride, but it sure was painful the first few times.
I never experienced that and we used to go out drinking quite often. Maybe it was because I was there. I don't know. However it was good to have them as friends and have that "ace in the hole", so to speak, if you ever needed help in something.

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Yup, I had Mikoshi shoulder, and legs too. The first year I did it I also took part in the practice rehersal about a week earlier. The problem was there was only about half as many guys on hand to carry the thing (A big one, designed to carry 4 adult drummers) so we had to carry twice the weight. I could barely walk for 3 or 4 days after!

That year I also wore the fundoshi instead of the shorts. I thought everyone else would too, but it turned out that 95% of the guys don't wear them. I was a little self-conscious so the next year I wore the shorts.

My god man, I can say it with confidence. You have seen it all. That is a crazy good read!

I think you need to learn some Karate, Pachipro.

Been invited by a friends Dad to join in the Sanjamatsuri in Asakusa this weekend, should be alot of fun from what I've heard and you are saying now!

Don't learn Karate, take up Shorinji Kempo, then I have an excuse to come drop in sometime.

Fight with Chinpira on the train yesterday!

I actually got into an argument with a Chinpira yesterday afternoon. I was waiting by myself on the platform for my train to arrive. The chinpira appeared near me on the platform and lit up a cigarette right in front of the No Smoking sign. In Japanese I told him to stop smoking, and showed him where the smoking section was on this platform. He looked at me and laughed, and starting spitting on the floor. I started making fun of him, but being sarcastic in Japanese doesn't really work for Japanese people. They just don't get it.
So the train arrived and he got on the train, still smoking. I had two choices; to let it go and let him win, or follow him onto the train I needed to take to get to work on time.
So I got on the train, and told him again to stop smoking. He wouldn't stop, but eventually threw the lit cigarette in my general direction and immediately lit up another. He was sitting in the "special seats" and luckily there were no other people on that side of the train. I looked around and called for everyone's attention. There were various other people sitting down on the other side of the train doors. But they probably just turned their heads the other direction and tried to ignore the whole situation.
I stamped out his cigarette butt, picked it up, and waved it in his face saying in Japanese "What is this?".
He said something like "You're amusing" and he asked me a few questions like "What's your race?", and something like "Why do you speak Japanese?". Which by the way, I speak very badly. I ignored his questions.
My station was just about to come up, so I waited really close to the door, and said to myself aloud "I'm wasting my time!". The guy got out of his seat, still smoking his 2nd cigarette, and started pushing me, butting up to me, and hit me as hard as he could with his shoulder. He managed to make me take half a step back.
He was a little bit shorter than me, but probably around 30kg heavier, very stocky for a young Japanese guy. I'm a bit skinny, under 180cm tall, but athletic build. BTW: he was wearing the typical Chinpira get up; sunglasses (very few Japanese wear sunglasses, even when it's sunny), loose shirt, loose jeans, shaved off eyebrows, spikey orange hair, gold necklace and several gold rings, and for some strange reason, black painted nails (which I'd made fun of earlier).
The train stopped, and I attempted to get off the train. He wasn't going to let me get off, and kept pushing me with his chest. Another passenger, about 40-something got out of his seat, and using all his body, kept the doors open and prevented the train from leaving the platform. The train announcer said several times "Doors closing", but of course my "guardian angel" was stopping the doors from closing.
Eventually I managed to walk around the Chinpira and excused myself as I got off the train. I announced that I had to go to work and I was running late. Which was very true.
To my suprise, the guy followed me onto the platform, and the train pulled out of the station. There were very few people on this train, which is the reason I always take it to work. But all the people that alighted at this station made their way downstairs and towards the exits.
I'm not sure how, but someone managed to alert the station staff and they were on their way to check out the situation.
Meanwhile, the Chinpira was still pushing me around with his chest and shoulders. I stuck out my arm and prevented him from doing it again.
I was getting really pissed off by this stage, and thoughts of putting him on the ground and breaking his arms started racing through my head. I've dealt with much bigger and scarier guys than him before, so I was willing to entertain the thought of using my self defense training to use his forward momentum and weight advantage against him. But what would that accomplish? And I wasn't sure if he was carrying a knife, scissors, or a cardboard cutter on his person.
Three station staff turned up pretty quickly and they asked what was going on. We were pretty close to the edge of the platform, and the staff told us to watch out. I was still holding onto the cigarette butt that he threw towards me and at this stage I still had my left hand on his chest and my right arm waving a "stop/excuse me" gesture in his face. In English I was saying "Don't touch me", "Calm down", and in Japanese I yelled in my best yakuza voice "Yamero" (Stop it!).
He called me noisy/told me to shut up and asked me again, "Why do you speak Japanese?". I told him I had to go to work, and I was running late. I walked towards the stairs, but he pushed in front of me again and wouldn't let me go. He grabbed my shirt and pulled it slightly, I pushed his arm away, then I said "Ora!" (Kind of like "What the f**k!?").
The station staff managed to calm the situation down and I managed to get free and walked down the stairs towards the ticket gate.
Pretty shortly later the three station staff followed, without the young punk in handcuffs as I was hoping.
I was just glad I avoided any violence, and was going to arrive to my English teaching job on time.
I apologized to the station staff, the most senior staff asked me if I was OK, I said yes, but told him my heart was beating pretty fast. I was worried about being late to work, so I rushed out of the station, threw his cigarette butt in the trash can, and headed to my office.
The moment I got to my building, the receptionist called me on my mobile phone, and I let her know I was just downstairs putting on my necktie.
I managed to arrive to work with a minute to spare, prepared my lesson and went from Vigilante Gaijin mode back into eikaiwa instructor mode.
So, I managed to make it through the day without any scares, or broken teeth in my knuckles, all my buttons still on my shirt, and my pride very much intact. Meanwhile the wanna-be gangster was still roaming the streets of Tokyo, with an interesting story of how some baka gaijin with broken Japanese got away.
Of course I was a little worried that it was going to end up nasty. I didn't know his fighting skills, but I thought if he really wanted to kick my ***, and had the guts and skills to do it, he would have done it before the staff arrived. He was probably just as worried that I was going to kick his ***, and wondering why this stupid gaijin was staring him down, standing up to him, and not backing down.
Eventually I had to back out because I was running late to work, but I know I did the right thing by firstly standing up for my rights as a passanger on the JR train system, standing my ground in the face of a sub-culture known for random acts of senseless violence, and standing by my belief of non-violence by not doing anything that could have provoked any fisticuffs.
BUT now my gripe is, what the hell happened to the bad guy.
Did he get a fine for smoking on the two platforms and the train. Did he get a fine for spitting on the platform, for littering on the train, for carrying and leaving a dangerous object on the train, for using abusive and racist language on the train, for throwing a dangerous object towards another passenger, for preventing the exit from the train of a passenger, for assaulting a passenger on the train and platform?
My guess is no. I guess he got off with a very light verbal warning, if anything, and was sent on his merry way with a "aren't gaijins cute" from the staff.
I haven't had time to seek legal help yet, but will at least find out what happend to the offender, and get an apology from JR, and some kind of compensation.
What are my rights in this situation? I've been living in Japan for over 2 years. I have a sponsored working visa. I live with my Japanese girlfriend. I'm a mild mannered eikaiwa instructor.
And I hate all forms of tobacco smoking!
If you're interested, see what else I'm doing to stop tobacco from ruining even more lives around the world. Click here

This should be it's own thread.

Interesting story cacapa and a good read. I was waiting for you two to come to blows. You have alot of guts.

The reason he was probably shoulder butting you was that he was alone and, as you said, he didn't know your fighting skills and therefore, didn't want to make a first move in case he got his *** kicked by a gaijin. He would really lose face then. But he HAD to do something since you confronted him in front of the other passengers and shoulder butting was the best he could come up with. What a laugh. Good thing he wasn't a crazed nut and knifed you or something when the train stopped and then ran away. Also, since no one said anything on the train and all turned away that's why they do what they do. They know everybody is afraid of them and this gives them courage.

If there were two of them and one of you I think you may have been seriously injured or something as they seem to be more braver when there is more than one.

Probably nothing happened to him and nothing will. I doubt you can get compensation from JR since there was no actual fighting, and I think it may be a waste of your time and money to seek legal counsel on this, but I am purely guessing here. Just be thankful you didn't get injured. Next time maybe you should contact the conductor, but my guess is that he probably wouldn't have done anything either.

For the most part, most people wouldn't confront them except a few crazed gaijins like us. Some, like me, may think about it later and say, "That was not smart."

I'm not sure if I have a lot of guts, or I'm just stupid, but I sure was pissed off at the time.
Living in Tokyo, I'm constantly attacked by 2nd hand smoke. The only safe places I've found so far are Startbucks or sushi restaurants. Some restaurants and shops are smoke free but there's usually an ashtray out the front, so whenever the door opens all the smoke comes wafting in. Even in my own home all the cigarette smoke from the apartments below comes in through my window (So that blows the arguments that smoking in your own home won't annoy anyone, and the only safe place is your own home!).
On several occassions I've told the station staff about those annoying Chinpira smoking in the station right in front of the No Smoking signs. But they're too scared to do anything, so it's a waste of time.
Enter Vigilante Gaijin san!
And that's another thing, it must be illegal to approach girls to work in the sex industry, at least it must be on JR property. Why doesn't anyone do anything about it? It's a form of sexual harrassment, but I'm forgetting seku hara is still OK in Japan as long as the woman says nothing.
You're right, I'm probably wasting my time trying to get compensation from JR, but I'd at least like to know what happened to that punk.