| Jiro | |
|---|---|
| Career information | |
| Role | Yakuza |
| Affiliation(s) | Yakuza The Payday Gang |
| Signature weapons | |
| Ranged | Micro Uzi |
| Melee | Shinsakuto Katana |
| Biographical information | |
| Nationality |  Japanese
|
| Language(s) | English, Japanese |
| Age | 52 |
| Physical description | |
| Hair color | Grey |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Height | 6' 2'' |
| Build | Slender |
| Features | Tattoos |
| Ethnicity | Mixed Japanese & unspecified ethnicity |
| Other | |
| Appearance(s) | PAYDAY 2 |
| Portrayed by | Togo Igawa |
| Voiced by | Togo Igawa |
| Quotes | Quotation page |
| Room | Jiro's Lounge |
| Internal name | dragon
|
| v·d·e | |
| FBI Description |
|---|
FBI Files: Due to the few glimpses we have had of his body tattoos, this most recent member of the Payday crew is obviously a yakuza. Cross-referencing this with the fact he has not suffered amputation of a finger must mean he was an exceptional servant of the Japanese syndicates, despite obviously being the oldest member of the Payday crew.
“Jiro” routinely surprises officers by not only seem(sic) to come back from near death, but to come back stronger. His trademark weapon is a Japanese samurai sword, known as a katana. This is not a common weapon, and is very easy to identify. |
- "ははっ、横綱かと思った。 お前のお袋さんだったとはな！ (Haha, I thought I saw a pro sumo wrestler. Didn't realise it was your mother!)"
- —Jiro leaving a pager response
Jiro (じろう Jirou) is a Japanese Yakuza member and the twelfth character available in PAYDAY 2. He is the fourth paid heister, released after Clover, Sokol, and Dragan in his own character pack.
Background
Prior to PAYDAY 2
Jiro was born in Japan during the 1960s to a Japanese seamstress and a U.S. Navy Lieutenant stationed in Sasebo. Life was hard, as shortly after his father's fleet was removed from Japanese waters, his mother left him as well. Abandoned and left to his own devices, the resourceful Jiro knew there was only one "family" for him, the Bōsōzoku.
After years of crime and violence, Jiro caught the interest of the Yakuza clan ruling Osaka and purportedly became one of their most outstanding members, following the oyabun's orders to the letter. All except for one.
He had a brief but secret romantic affair with the oyabun's daughter, Yoshimi, who bore him a son, whom he named Kento. Despite Jiro's best efforts to keep their relationship undiscovered, his clan eventually found out, and on one night raided his home, killing his lover and escaping with his child. Betrayed and left for dead, Jiro himself was arrested and put behind bars for twenty years.
As he finished his sentence, Jiro sought to reclaim honor for his late wife and find his lost son. As he killed his former brothers one after one, he finally found a way to track down what he was looking for, and the one man who could help him - Bain.
The Search for Kento
After a period of searching, Jiro and Bain finally found a lead to Kento's whereabouts in 2017. The story of the investigation unfolded during the ten days of the Spring Break 2017 event. Within that time span, the PAYDAY crew apprehends a former accomplice turned traitor who claims to have information on Kento and they rescue an ex-Yakuza member named Kazuo on Green Bridge. However, with Bain captured, the search for Kento had reached a standstill for a time.
In Henry's Rock, a mysterious mercenary shows himself and quietly observes the PAYDAY gang as they near their escape of the Murkywater facility. A hidden dog-tag in his model reveals the name "Kento" and in the Safe House, Jiro no longer speaks since the heist, suggesting he became distraught upon seeing his son working for an enemy organization.
In Hell's Island, Kento is mentioned to be present in the Murkywater prison that is holding Bain. After Bain is freed by the crew, he proceeds to unleash a rampage that claims the lives of many of the PMCs. When the crew catches up to him on the roof, it is shown he is holding Kento's corpse before fainting.
Currently, it remains unknown why Kento has joined Murkywater and if he had knowledge of his father being a member of the PAYDAY gang. However, this may have had something to do with The Dentist as he mentions Jiro's son before Kento's demise from the hands of Bain.
A voice line from Dallas, released following the Breaking News event, states that while Jiro has difficulty with the situation, he accepts Bain's reasons for killing Kento and holds his grudges against The Dentist and his former Yakuza clan members, feeling that he truly lost his son long before his ties with Murkywater.
Trivia
- Jiro is the first Asian heister to make an appearance in the PAYDAY series, though likely partly as his father was presumably an American Navy officer. He also has blue eyes that he likely inherited from his father, a highly uncommon trait among the "pure" Japanese population.
- Jiro was 13 when his father's fleet was reassigned from Sasebo, which coincided with the real relocation of the U.S. Fleet during the mid-70s.
- Jiro is the fourth heister to not wear a tie.
- He was initially teased at the end of the Gage Ninja Pack Trailer, picking up a Shuriken with his mask on.
- He introduces himself by name in his character pack trailer, though like most heisters ever inducted, it is still debatable whether Jiro is his real name or an alias.
- Jiro is the first DLC heister whose name does not directly appear in the expansion pack's title, but rather in the form of additional Hiragana characters (じろう) underneath the title itself. A similar naming scheme is seen in the title of the Biker Character Pack, though there isn't an alternative reading of Rust's name anywhere in the splash card.
- The character pack shows that Yoshimi and Jiro share a family grave with both of their names engraved onto it. Their grave is rather uncommon in Japan, as it is not listed by their family name, but rather, their individual names side by side. This could suggest that they never went through a proper marriage, which is reasonable seeing the circumstances of their union.
- Like Wolf, Jiro had a family at one time while still serving under his boss, though to date he's the only other character with named family members aside from Dallas and Houston. Jiro had a son, Kento, with his illegitimate wife Yoshimi, shortly before she was killed by the other members of his clan and his child kidnapped.
- As of 2017, Jiro and Bain have found several leads to Kento's whereabouts. While the details are known to the extracted VIP Kazuo, not much have been uncovered so far, if at all, until the release of Henry's Rock, where it was revealed that a grown-up Kento is now a mercenary working for Murkywater, seemingly of high ranking.
- Since the family was separated when Kento was still an infant, it is unknown how Jiro could have recognised him, especially through the translucent glass pane he was standing behind.
- As of 2017, Jiro and Bain have found several leads to Kento's whereabouts. While the details are known to the extracted VIP Kazuo, not much have been uncovered so far, if at all, until the release of Henry's Rock, where it was revealed that a grown-up Kento is now a mercenary working for Murkywater, seemingly of high ranking.
- Jiro's hairstyle have changed noticeably between the trailer and final gameplay, being a full head of short hair from his induction into the Yakuza up until the end of the teaser, but then changes to a very close buzzcut by the time he arrived in the United States.
- One scene of the trailer showed Jiro's back tattoos. They may either be Shisa, Chinese Foo Dogs, or Koma-inu. It's very likely Koma-Inu, with Shisa following it, and Chinese Foo dogs the least likely.
- In Jiro's Introduction Trailer, the words "GENERALMCBADASS" can be seen in place of the Hollywood Sign. This is a nod to the YouTuber of the same name who creates PAYDAY 2-related videos and is sponsored by Overkill Software.
- Jiro speaks very little English upon release, using primarily Japanese most of the time, though for gameplay reasons everybody else seems to perfectly understand what he's saying. He does, however, refer to special units and fellow heisters by their proper names. His dialect hints at either a Kansai origin, or that he adopted a new accent when he moved to the region.
- He mentioned he went to Osaka, since that's where "the big boys" were according to the trailer. This points to Kansai-ben as his dialect, as well as how he speaks. He prefers "へん" (hen) over ”ない" (nai), adds "や” (ya) at the end of many lines, and uses "はよせ” (hayose) quite often.
- Jiro can also answer pager calls normally, despite his unfamiliarity with English. One of his rare English pager responses is a reference to a lyrical excerpt of Stevie Wonder's 1984 hit I Just Called to Say I Love You
- While answering a pager, Jiro may refer to a "Slit-Mouth Woman", also known as Kuchisake-Onna. This is a reference to a relatively well-known Japanese urban legend in which a woman mutilated by her husband with wounds similar to a Glasgow Smile returns as a vengeful spirit.
- Jiro's English has improved greatly as of the recent Hoxton's Housewarming Party update, which can be heard if the player talks to him in the new Safe House. Jiro used to even mention he could not order a pizza when he first moved in with the PAYDAY crew.
- As of 2017, Jiro's English, although still a bit slurred with a distinctive Osaka accent, is quite fluent and proficient, since he effortlessly narrated the entire ten days of The Search for Kento. Despite this, he either seems to prefer, or is more comfortable with speaking in Japanese, as he still does during gameplay and the intro to the Heat Street remake.
- He mentioned he went to Osaka, since that's where "the big boys" were according to the trailer. This points to Kansai-ben as his dialect, as well as how he speaks. He prefers "へん" (hen) over ”ない" (nai), adds "や” (ya) at the end of many lines, and uses "はよせ” (hayose) quite often.
- Jiro is the third heister whose signature weapon (Micro Uzi) is a secondary weapon, and the first paid one (John Wick and Jacket are promotional characters and they were released with the Chimano Compact and the Jacket's Piece respectively.)
- Jiro is the first heister to possess a unique passive ability, being the ability to decapitate or bisect Cloakers while wielding the Shinsakuto Katana.
- Jiro is the first heister to have visible tattoos during gameplay.
- Jiro's outfit is similar to Kiryu Kazuma's, the original main character of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon (龍が如く Ryū Ga Gotoku in Japan) franchise.
Kiryu Kazuma's default outfit in majority of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon franchise
- Jiro is seen wielding and firing his Micro Uzi in two scenes during the trailer. One right before he was betrayed and left behind, and the other when he was going after his boss. Although the weapon isn't clearly visible and recognizable, its sound is the same used for the Micro Uzi in-game. Visually it looks a bit more akin to the Jacket's Piece.
- Despite him being betrayed and officially ostracized by his brethren, Jiro is still in touch with and is a source of aspirations for many younger members of his former Yakuza clan, who will eventually join him in his meditation sessions as his area in the Safe House is upgraded.
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