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A lot of this feels pretty superficial. I was kind of hoping to see more of an analysis of how Gibson uses foreign words for texture, rather than a simple glossary.

The essay misses one interesting detail: along with the Chatsubo, another restaurant Case visits in the first chapter of Neuromancer is "a teashop called the Jarre de The". Both names mean "pot of tea" -- one in Japanese, the other in French. The juxtaposition is more than coincidence.

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And this article is full of typos

And factual inaccuracies.

> Yakuza ヤクザ: is the largest criminal organisation in Japan, similar to the mafia.

The word describes a type of criminal organization, not a singular organization. There are many completely independant yakuza groups.

Yakuza organizations aren't likely to be "completely independent", even if rival and autonomous: their relationships tie them into a criminal meta-organization, which if pure enough can be seen from outside as "the Yakuza" even if it isn't a federation or a conglomerate.

It's just like "The" Mafia, even though we know there are multiple Families.

aren't there also multiple mafias? I thought a mafia was a type, and essentially the western yakuza

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