The Yakuza

Harry Kilmer:
Everywhere I look, I can't recognize a thing.

Oliver Wheat:
It's still there. Farmers in the countryside may watch TV from their tatami mats and you can't see Fuji through the smog, but don't let it fool you. It's still Japan and the Japanese are still Japanese.

Dusty:
That guy doesn't like you.

Harry Kilmer:
No, not much.

Dusty:
So how come you figure you can trust him?

Harry Kilmer:
Giri.

Dusty:
Gitty?

Harry Kilmer:
Giri. Obligation.

Dusty:
You mean he figures he owes you something?

Harry Kilmer:
Yeah, sort of.

Dusty:
Well, that can work two ways, Kilmer. If you ain't alive tomorrow, he don't owe you sh*t.

Dusty:
American saw cuts on a push stroke, Japanese saw cuts on a pull stroke. When an American cracks up, he opens up the window and shoots up a bunch of strangers. When a Japanese cracks up, he closes the window and kills himself. Everything is in reverse.

Goro:
Ken is a tormented man. It is Eiko, of course, but it is also Japan. Ken is a relic, a leftover of another age, of another country.

Eiko Tanaka:
Did you speak to Ken?

Harry Kilmer:
Yeah

Eiko Tanaka:
Does he know we are here?

Harry Kilmer:
Sure.

Eiko Tanaka:
Is he unhappy?

Harry Kilmer:
I'm on my way over to see him now.

Eiko Tanaka:
But is he unhappy?

Harry Kilmer:
Of course he's unhappy, he's been unhappy ever since he lost the war. I keep trying to tell him it's not his fault, he won't take my word for it.

Dusty:
This Giri...

Tanaka Ken:
Giri? Aye.

Dusty:
It means obligation, right?

Tanaka Ken:
Burden.

Dusty:
Burden?

Tanaka Ken:
It's called, 'the burden hardest to bear.'

Dusty:
Yeah, well, suppose you don't bear it. I mean, no one's going to come down on you?

Tanaka Ken:
No.

Dusty:
Well, you guys believe in some kind of Heaven and Hell?

Tanaka Ken:
No.

Dusty:
Then what is it you believe in that makes you do it?

Tanaka Ken:
Giri.