Various grants and fellowships from the University of California at Berkeley supported the completion of my dissertation, and a Faculty Research Grant form the University of California at Irvine and sundry forms of research support from Harvard University helped in the lenthy transition from dissertation to book. Financial support for a fruitful year of fieldwork in Tokyo during 1987–1988 was provided in the form of a Japan Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. I am also grateful to several institutions and many individuals, both in Japan and the United States. For instance, more than five years before the general contractors scandal was splattered across the front page of every newspaper in Japan, self-confessed bid-riggers treated me to candid and enlightening accounts of Ibaraki Governor Takeuchi's 'voice of heaven' in steering public works contracts to specific contractors. Help me understand the rationale behind informal practices and behavior. Some of these individuals went to amazing lengths to Indeed, with assurances that my intention was to analyze objectively the political economy of Japanese public works, these supposedly shadowy characters proved enormously helpful and astonishingly forthright. To my pleasant surprise, I found these warnings unnecessary. Others warned me about dealings with the government bureaucrats and legislators who also animate the policymaking stage in this heretofore strictly 'domestic' domain. They alerted me to the difficulties of handling the shadowy actors engaged in the complex and secretive process of rigging bids on public works projects. For their willingness to answer sometimes naive questions and to assist in other ways, however, I owe a deep debt of gratitude.Īt the time I undertook this study, sensible people warned me about the quagmire that lay ahead. Because of the highly sensitive, and sometimes sub rosa, nature of the subject matter, I cannot identify these individuals by name. I spoke with construction contractors, industry association officials, elected politicians and their aides, political party officials, government bureaucrats, newspaper reporters, and academics. Almost all of these interviews were conducted in Japanese, each lasting about an hour. In addition, I conducted over one hundred open-ended interviews, primarily in 1987–1988 and in 1993–1994. Darkus is measured.In researching this book, I have drawn extensively on Japanese-language materials: newspaper reports, periodicals, industry association publications, and government documents. While they go down relatively quickly, they can be trouble in packs and are difficult to hit. Decently quick regeneration.ĭifficulty: Very fast and hard to avoid. Location: Eastern Mountains (Ensconcement and Lower Foghaven Mountain) ĭifficulty: One of the less dangerous creatures of the city. (May drop a boar hide that can be used to make a quiver.) Ferals. Location: Eastern Mountains (Windweft and Foghaven Glacier)ĭifficulty: Nothing special. Location: Eastern Mountains (Bison Plains, Ensconcement)ĭifficulty: Buff and tough to take down! Darkus is measured. Defense to brick > 1550.ĭifficulty: Low health. Darkus is measured.ĭifficulty: The strongest creature one-on-one in the wetlands, but not too dangerous, unless you're running away.ĭifficulty: Swings quite quickly, but it is relatively easy to take down. They're similar in strength perhaps to an artak cougar. ĭifficulty: Not a great concern, since they run away from approaching exiles. When it attacks, it pushes you violently.ĭifficulty: Very annoying! And hard to take down. Information: Will nibble on what you are carrying in your right hand. Location: Eastern Mountains (Foghaven Mountain Glacier) When it attacks, it pushes you violently. After being pushed, you can briefly not move or attack as if you are stunned.ĭifficulty: Strong for the area. Information: Will nibble and eat whatever you're holding in your right hand. Location: Eastern Mountains (Lower Foghaven Mountain) Information: Will push you if it hits you.ĭifficulty: Hit extremely hard! Darkus is measured. Easy to take down if surrounded, but otherwise difficult to hit. Ferals.ĭifficulty: Self-heals super fast.

Location: Eastern Mountains (Bison Plains and the Ensconcement)

Information: Family suspected to be bovidae, almost certain but please double-check!

Location: Metzetli Island (jungle and tepui), Eastern Mountains (Foghaven Glacier) ĭifficulty: Difficult to hit compared to the other creatures in the farms, but typically avoided. Information: Will nibble on whatever you're carrying in your right hand.

Gorvin clan lord