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{{short description|1992 Japanese film by Jūzō Itami}}
{{Infobox film| name           = Minbo
| image          = Minbo poster.JPG
| caption        = 
| director       = [[Juzo Itami]] 
| producer       = Yasushi Tamaoki
| writer         = Juzo Itami
| starring       = [[Nobuko Miyamoto]]<br/>[[Yasuo Daichi]]<br/>Takehiro Murata
| music          = [[Toshiyuki Honda]] 
| cinematography = Yonezo Maeda
| editing        = [[Akira Suzuki (director)|Akira Suzuki]] 
| distributor    = [[Toho]]
| released       = {{Film date|1992|05|16}}
| runtime        = 123 minutes
| country        = [[Japan]]
| language       = [[Japanese language|Japanese]]
| budget         = 
}}

{{nihongo|'''''Minbo'''''|ミンボーの女|'''''Minbō no Onna'''''}} is a [[1992 in film|1992]] [[Cinema of Japan|Japanese film]] by [[Film director|filmmaker]] [[Juzo Itami]]. It is also known by the titles '''''Minbo: the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion''''', '''''The Gangster's Moll''''' and '''''The Anti-Extortion Woman'''''. The film was widely popular in Japan and a critical success internationally. It [[satire|satirizes]] the [[yakuza]], who retaliated for their portrayal in the film by attacking the director.

==Plot summary==
The owner of a high-class Japanese hotel, the Europa, hopes to win a prestigious and lucrative contract for the hotel as the site of a [[Summit (meeting)|summit meeting]] between important international officials. Unfortunately, the yakuza have taken a liking to this hotel as both a hangout and a target for [[extortion]].  In order to win the contract, the owner realizes, he must rid the hotel of the yakuza.  Fearing to confront them himself, he deputizes a hotel accountant, Suzuki (Yasuo Daichi) and a bellboy and former college [[sumo]]-club member, Wakasugi (Takehiro Murata). The hapless pair are no more daring than their employer, however, and their tentative attempts to address the problem fail until they meet Mahiru Inoue ([[Nobuko Miyamoto]]), a lawyer who specializes in dealing with the yakuza. With Inoue's direction, the hotel staff comes together to face down the yakuza ruffians, who are portrayed as craven, outwardly-threatening-but-inwardly-weak, fools.

==Definition of "minbo"==
The word ''"minbo"'' is a [[Japanese abbreviated and contracted words|contraction]] of '''''min'''ji kainyū '''bō'''ryoku'' (民事介入暴力), literally translated as "violent intervention in civil affairs". It was a technique utilized by the yakuza following the crackdown of traditionally "victimless" crimes of drugs, gambling, and prostitution in the early 1980s, and exploited the Japanese reluctance towards confrontation in order to "gently extort" money from otherwise innocent individuals by making a scene with implied threats of violence over trivial matters.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hill |first1=Peter |date=2003 |title=The Japanese Mafia: Yakuza, Law, and the State |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZeUTDAAAQBAJ&q=minji+kainyu+boryoku+definition |isbn=9780199257522}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Szymkowiak |first1=Kenneth |date=2002 |title=Sokaiya: Extortion, Protection and the Japanese Corporation |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317459620}}</ref>

==Attack against Juzo Itami==
The yakuza, who prefer to think of themselves as something akin to modern-day [[samurai]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/yakuza-japans-not-so-secret-mafia/ |title=Yakuza: Japan's Not-So-Secret Mafia |work=CBS News |date= |access-date=2012-12-22}}</ref> were angered by their portrayal in ''Minbo'' as common thugs and bullies. Three knife-wielding members of the [[Goto-gumi]] yakuza gang attacked director Juzo Itami near his home on May 22, 1992, six days after the movie opened. Itami was beaten and had his face slashed.<ref>{{cite web|author=Sheryl WuDunn|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/22/movies/juzo-itami-64-filmmaker-who-directed-tampopo.html |title=Juzo Itami, 64, Filmmaker Who Directed 'Tampopo' - New York Times |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1997-12-22 |accessdate=2012-12-22}}</ref> The brutality of the attack, combined with Itami's popularity and the success of ''Minbo'', led to a public outcry and a government crackdown against yakuza activity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hill |first1=Peter |title=Heisei Yakuza: Burst Bubble and Botaiho |journal=Social Science Japan Journal |date=2003 |volume= 6 |issue= 1 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1093/ssjj/6.1.1 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Cast==
* [[Nobuko Miyamoto]] as Mahiru Inoue	
* [[Yasuo Daichi]] as Suzuki the accountant
* [[Takehiro Murata]] as Wakasugi the bellboy
* [[Akira Takarada]] as Kobayashi the general manager
* [[Hosei Komatsu]] as Hanaoka
* [[Noboru Mitani]] as the yakuza boss
* [[Gorō Mutsumi]]
* [[Akira Nakao]]
* [[Shirō Itō]] as Iriuchi
* [[Hideji Otaki]] as the hotel owner

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/19/movies/film-review-tales-about-the-yakuza-may-endanger-health.html ''The New York Times'' Movies on ''Minbo'']
* {{IMDb title|id=0104874|title=Minbo}}
* ''[http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1992/dp000910.htm Minbo]'' {{in lang|ja}} at the [[Japanese Movie Database]]
*{{Rotten-tomatoes|id=minbo}}

{{Jūzō Itami}}

[[Category:1992 films]]
[[Category:1992 crime comedy films]]
[[Category:1990s Japanese-language films]]
[[Category:Japanese crime comedy films]]
[[Category:Yakuza films]]
[[Category:Films set in hotels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jūzō Itami]]
[[Category:1990s Japanese films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Toshiyuki Honda]]