It's not gang membership, it's atonement for mistakes.You start at the little finger, but work your way up.
Which means that anyone in Japan with missing or partially missing fingers is assumed to be Yakuza.
Interesting Dr Matsutoshi Shima (who invented most of the 4004 microprocessor* and whom I've had the honour of meeting) has exactly this problem (he was born with undeveloped fingers on both hands).
* - Intel always maintain that Ted Hoff did most of the work, but it's a very different story from Dr Shima's point of view - the original lithograhy plate for the 4004 has his family's seal on it (in a spare bit of space).
(Which means that anyone in Japan with missing or partially missing fingers is assumed to be Yakuza.
Interesting Dr Matsutoshi Shima (who invented most of the 4004 microprocessor* and whom I've had the honour of meeting) has exactly this problem (he was born with undeveloped fingers on both hands).
* - Intel always maintain that Ted Hoff did most of the work, but it's a very different story from Dr Shima's point of view - the original lithograhy plate for the 4004 has his family's seal on it (in a spare bit of space).
Hagbard ... it's been a long time.,
Mon 3 Nov 2003, 14:44,
archived)