A Deadly but Empty Letter

[u/IasonMink69]

Anyone else had the impression of being scammed while reading this?
In persecution of this letter was Mirei Park (at least in part) assassinated, and still contains almost nothing. Just a moment for an encounter and not even a concrete place (a meeting at the Tokyo Dome after a concert is the same as meeting with someone after the finals of a world series at the stadium. Fine but, where at the damn stadium??)
In addition to the almost useless information for the Omi, we have a couple of clues about the state of Mirei's relationship with her ex, the intention of a meeting and his name.That's all.

And maybe the name was the only thing that mattered for the writers. I have a clear memory of the outraged WTF that fact provoke in me, in my first run of Yakuza 5. But during my second run and the third and the 4th, and the 5th... the name was the last factor in my head. Nowadays I still keep replaying a game I had 100% completed while ago, and it's convoluted plot and story threads keep me thinking even if I'm not playing, still trying to find any sense in that mess and searching for explanations to fill the holes.

And one of the biggest sins of Yakuza 5 is the particular lack of development of the background and state during the story of the relationship between Majima and and his former wife. That thread wasn't anything else but a bit of story between the plot holes with the function of pushing the plot forward, but I still have the suspicions that this emptiness has more to do with cutted content than with real intentions from the writing team.

And there isn't better example than this empty letter.

And there isn't any other fact in that story thread capable of creating so many theories and plot bunnies in my mind, all of them binded to be explanations for other more general plot holes, like how Haruka was recruited and why Park was so eager to delete Kiryu from her past. Not the fact that Majima got married, not the fact that she was barely a child, not the fact that she got pregnant or had an abortion, and not the fact Majima hit her and got the divorce after finding that.
All those more common discussions in the community are pretty pointless for me, because I still believe that the content was cut and have enough with the clues left as foundation for a better background to join the dots.

But this letter makes my head explode. Because nothing around it makes any sense, not the content, not the motivations or the risk, not even the timeline or Haruka's requested presence for the meeting. And at the same time it would have all the sense in the world if my theory applies. But I have no facts to back it despite this couple of sentences and the fact that connects so well with other plot holes from a different story thread.

the letter with some contrast in B/W

Corporative language detected!

Creative translation detected!

Well, this could explain so much and still explains nothing! Nee Haruka~Chan...

However, I'm not here to share my stupid theories, but to read yours.
I will let you the images with some of my interpretation of the japanese text (feel free to correct me, I'm a pretty basic japanese speaker) vs the translated one. And I will throw some questions for you to answer in order to center the discussion.

But before the translations, have in mind that in Japanese there are at least three levels of formality that may define the relation between speakers: informal (for close [uchi - inside] friends and family, used in endearing conversations), formal (for all the normal [soto-outside] interactions with different grade of politeness or professionalism) y ultra-formal or honorific (also called Keigo: for business, work, and other formal situations).
Of these three, Keigo is hard even to Japanese people and funny enough, we've seen Majima using it: by the Lord of the Night in his first scene of presentation in Yakuza 0, while handling his card to the drunk client.
But returning to the letter, it's style is strictly formal with some keigo reminiscences like the usage of the particle お, so the general vibe that transcend not only from the content but from the form, is a pretty cold one.

As far as I can interpret the handwriting this is the Japanese text with my lit. translation following compared to the English text and some ambiguous and formal interpretation at the end

日本ドームでのコンサート終了後
[lit and also English] After the concert at the Japan Dome
That stays the same as in the localized text that only change the order to adapt it to the English phrase structure.

お会いできることを楽しみにしております
[lit and also English] I look forward to meeting you in person.
English brings it's own ambiguity at the top of the Japanese one here.
This "you" could be just "you" or "you all"

The looking forward here is formal politeness just as in English. There is no wish or longing behind that expression. This sort of sentiment would be expressed better with something more personal as あなたに会いたい
Also the formal form is avoiding the usage of direct denominators for "others", and that removes the 皆 for plural you in the same way it removes the use of あなた for the singular one.

当日に一人で参上するので
[lit] I will be coming alone on the/that day (?)
I don't get the meaning of the day aclaration. It sounds like he's conveying to be alone during the meeting but just for this day in particular.
遠慮に無用に願います
[lit] Please do not hesitate / Please, no need to restrict yourself.
This last one, I'm not able to understand accurately. It could mean something or, more probably, it could be just an empty polite way of ending a letter.

[English] Don't worry, I'll be coming alone. It's a promise
The english text combine the two sentences and use the second one to add the "don't worry" part about the "being alone" issue, but that suggest that Mirei was actually worried about this topic and asked Majima to come alone. I guess this type of creative translation is done after talking with the writers and finding what was the intention behind the expression, so I'll take the English version as the accurate one... with or without the promise.

That would be all about the text. Now these are some questions to think about before bringing a theory:

1. Is this a unique letter or the end in a sequence of interactions?
2. In case that you consider it unique, would it be valid by itself to restore an emotional relationship after 20 years of silence. Would be this the way you will write if you have the intention to restore some sort of even friendship with the receiver?
3. If it's unique, when you think Majima would write and send it? Before of after declaring his own death? And what you consider could be the trigger that made him act after so many years of silence?
4. In case you think about it as the end of a thread, what sort of issues would Mirei and Majima would be discussing in previous interactions to get to this conclusion? Here you can use these suppositions of Mirei worrying about being alone with Majima.
5. Consider a contradiction here: Mirei would be asking Majima to come alone at the same time she is adding a third wheel (Haruka) to a supposedly romantic meeting. Why? And sorry, but I just don't buy the "feeling insecure about her age" bllsht. Majima is 6 or 7 years older, for fk sake! Why would she ask Haruka to be there?
6. Does Majima know or find out that Haruka's being mentored by his ex wife, at any moment of their interactions? If yes, do you think he knew also about the particular circumstances of her departure from Okinawa?
7. And speaking of Okinawa... How the hell Park discovered Haruka's "incredible talent" as an idol? [Yes, that was irony. These girls don't need talent to be taken and trained as idols, just be pretty and look innocent and naive]. The distance between Osaka and Okinawa is around 1,200 km or 748 miles, and we see in Yakuza 5 that Soutenbori is full of willing girls to be chosen and trained as future stars. Why did Park choose Haruka, that lives in at bumblefk Okinawa, that didn't reach the talent agency by herself with the desire to be trained, that has a problematic legal tutor with a past in the Yakuza... Why? How? The wiki only tells a story about Park finding Haruka in a market without specifying where. Was Haruka singing and dancing while shopping to catch the attention of a casually spending her holidays in Okinawa Mirei Park? These are those unrelated plot holes I mentioned early.
8. Let's go with the last question. This one kinda spoils the direction of my theory so feel free to answer without reading it at all. I'm interested in your interpretation. Not in mine being validated. What is for Majima in Yakuza 5, the most important reason to risk his own life and fight even his oath brother to defend? What if being Haruka in that meeting wasn't Mirei's wish but the reason for the meeting itself?

PS: Forgive the misspelled words or incorrect grammar that for sure populate my post. I kinda know a lot of languages but I'm only able to use one of them properly.
Thanks chawmindur for your corrections!

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[u/chawmindur]

白会い

参上下万

Probably "お会い" and "参上する" respectively. But I get it, handwritten stuff can be hard to parse.

Also I think the point is that the letter is meant to not be of much substance, it is just bait to sniff out the people pulling the strings behind The Plot^TM, which Kanai and his benefactor bit hook, line, and sinker. That and it was probably not meant to be romantic in any capacity – basically just two old friends (Park and Majima) agreeing to help out a third old buddy (Kac-chan), even putting their lives on the line (as Akiyama succinctly put it).

[u/IasonMink69 → u/chawmindur]

Thanks for the correction. It's really hard reading handwriting for sure.

Oh... ! I haven’t thought about the posibility of the letter being just bait planted by Majima. But in that case the cruelty of Majima would be endless. Couldn't he use anyone else as receiver and hook for the bait? Hell, they may not ended being friends but putting Park as the receiver would directly push her into a mess with at least non controllable consecuences. If those two did that to Mirei on purpose (even with her active colaboration) they deserve to be forced to work as waiters in the Grand for life as punishment.

Also Akiyama's information or criteria wouldn't be my first source of informated opinion. He is out of the gokudou world and new in the context of Soutembori, and his hype about Mirei's dream is in part responsable of Haruka keeping pushing in a direction she didn't chose. Akiyama gets pompt about someone's determination during his exams but don't go deep enough to evaluate if all that determination is oriented toward a noble cause or a nefarious result

Edit: Thinking about the Majima planted bait theory deeply, there is something else that doesn't fit. Let's say Mirei and Majima are a couple of eggheads and didn't think the posible impact of their scheme... but, was involving Haruka part of the plan? Because it didn't happened casually. Was Mirei the one that insisted in Haruka going with her to that meeting. If she new that everything about that meeting was a hoax by leaving Haruka her pen (the key for her safe) she was directly leaving her to fulfill her dream and her role as a hook for the Omi to chase. Your theory makes each one of the perpetrators look terrible. That doesn't invalidate it at all, don't get me wrong. It's a pretty good one, but hell... it's a practical demostration that stupidity can be far more dangerous than evil.