2024
Imagine you are a member of the Yakuza. You make a lot of your money from drugs. Now you have the opportunity to bring a new drug, a special rice, to the people. The only thing missing is packaging with a striking appearance, but without drawing attention to the rice itself.
This project is the solution. It combines an discreet packaging of Hanafuda playing cards as a hiding place for the rice. This allows it to be distributed freely.
Read all about the rice's history below.
This project is the solution. It combines an discreet packaging of Hanafuda playing cards as a hiding place for the rice. This allows it to be distributed freely.
Read all about the rice's history below.
Team: Jakob Burghoff, Felix Darius and Maria Gonzalez
STORY OF THE ILLEGAL RICE
Masao, a 54-year-old yakuza, is given the task of eliminating a target because he has not paid protection money for a year. The encounter is to take place in a remote location. Masao poses as a traveling businessman and asks the target for food and shelter. The target agrees and offers him a rice dish.
They eat together, but when Masao takes out his pistol to kill the target, he suddenly feels the effect of the rice dish, which triggers hallucinations. Stunned and overwhelmed, he confronts the target, who then explains to him what the rice is all about. Masao, now curious and determined, asks the target to take him to the rice field where the special rice is grown, otherwise he will kill him anyway. The target agrees and they both set off.
Arriving at the rice field, Masao forces the farmer to grow the special rice for him and they make a “contract”. The village, consisting of 30 people, is to work for Masao and sell the super rice as a drug. The next day, Masao returns to the yakuza headquarters and claims that the target is dead. However, when the yakuza find out that he is still alive, Masao is supposed to die.
But instead of fleeing, Masao persuades some members of the yakuza to try the rice. He explains the enormous sales potential to them as if it were a business proposition. Convinced by his words, the yakuza turn away from their previous leadership and join Masao. Masao thus becomes the most powerful and influential yakuza of all time and leads the organization to the top of the world's criminal gangs.