Japanese Noir

There are Japanese noir stories although they do not have much historical and social influence like American Noir does. As a matter of fact, stories that deals with blackness can be found alot.

One of the good example is Fuyajo, or Sleepess Town in English. It was a novel originally written by Hase Seishu, and later the movie was created. The story takes a place in sleepless Kabuki-cho where many Chinese mafias and Yakuza exist.

The main character, Kennichi, heared that his friend named Tomiharu, who killed one of the gang boss and had been away from the town, has come back to Kabuki-cho. The mafia also heard the Tomiharu is back, and tells Kennichi to bring Tomiharu to the mafia. Kennichi does not know where Tomiharu is, but there comes a lady who says who wants to sell Tomiharu. This lady is actually Tomiharu's best friend. As the story goes, Kennichi and the lady fall in love...

It is a little hard to explain the complicated story, but it has the noir features, male/female relationship, crimes and violence in the city.