Zaibatsu - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

The term zaibatsu has been used often in books, comics, video games and films, referring to large, (usually) sinister Japanese corporations, who are often involved in shady dealings and/or have connections to the yakuza. Examples include the "Mishima Zaibatsu" which is mentioned throughout the Tekken series, the "Zaibatsu" criminal group in Grand Theft Auto 2, and various writings of pioneer cyberpunk author William Gibson. In other cases zaibatsu are used simply to provide the background for a character from an influential family, such as in the case of the F4 in Boys Before Flowers who are the sons and heirs of the four (fictional) biggest corporations in Japan; this is a reference to the Big Four.

• In the Tom Clancy book Debt of Honor, a group of zaibatsu seize control of Japan and invade the US-held Mariana Islands.
• The Itoshiki family from Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei owns a zaibatsu to accentuate their heavy economical and political background.
• A similar use is also made in Robert Asprin's The Cold Cash War, where megacorporations of this name, dominating the world, are not specifically Japanese.
• Lewis Shiner's 1984 novel Frontera, anticipating the dissolution of the USSR, depicted the transformation of what were at the time of writing state-owned Soviet companies such as Aeroflot into "Zaibatsu"—the term being used in the broad sense of "a big privately owned corporation".
• The roleplaying game Mage: the Ascension uses the term "The Zaibatsu" to refer to Japan's branch of the magic-suppressing technocracy. Its members use undetectable spells to predict business information and defeat rivals in order to maintain control of Japan and defeat the shen (supernatural creatures), including other mages.
• The video game Grand Theft Auto 2 features a gang called the Zaibatsu that the player can take jobs from. It is the largest gang in the game, and the eventual final enemy.
• The video game "Grand Theft Auto 3 features radio ads referring to a fictional 'Zaibatsu Corporation.'
• Karin Kanzuki, a character from the Street Fighter series, is the heir to the Kanzuki zaibatsu.
• In the manga Gantz, there is a group of Zaibatsu who control multiple black balls and launch an attack on the alien ship twice.
• In the manga and anime Cheeky Angel, the character of Miki Hanakain is the heir to a traditional zaibatsu, compared with her friend Megumi Amatsuki whose profitable family business is smaller, less traditional, but as a result more nimble and able to adapt to the modern world.