These thoughts are consonant with the view articulated by Marshall McLuhan inUnderstanding Media: The Extensions of Man, in which he explicitly speaks of technology in prosthetic terms, though he doesn’t, as far as I can discover, use the terms “prosthetic” or “prosthesis.” He writes, “Any extension, whether of skin, hand, or foot, affects the whole psychic and social complex,” and his goal in Understanding Media, is to explore these effects.
Southerners,
who are not born or made for temperatures in the Minnesota digits, had
to consider things they typically take for granted.
Minnesota digits不懂
Memory Implant Gives Rats Sharper Recollection
By BENEDICT CAREY
The test was a crucial first step in the development of so-called neuroprosthetic devices to repair deficits from dementia, stroke and other brain injuries in humans.
A prosthetist in Tokyo is making artificial fingers
for former yakuza trying to rehabilitate themselves, who are usually
stigmatized for their criminal pasts because of their missing digits.
Shintaro Hayashi, 38, representative of Aiwa Gishi Seisakusho (Aiwa prosthetic limb manufacturing company) in Nerima Ward, has created prosthetic fingers for about 300 people, hoping these new digits give them a thumbs up on their rehabilitation and return to society.
“I felt that new fingers grew (from my own hands),” said a man who had received silicone fingers from Hayashi.
In the world of the yakuza, the infamous custom of cutting off fingers is well known. If a member causes problems to his yakuza group, he cuts off his finger and presents it to the group in a sign of penance.
The man removed three of his 10 fingers on both hands when he was a member of a yakuza organization based in eastern Japan. He also spent time in prison.
After leaving the yakuza group several years ago, he worked for several companies. However, the firms asked him to quit, saying that if their clients become aware of his missing fingers, they would refuse to do business with them.
He knew that unless he had all his digits, he could not support his family, and he did not want to return to his former yakuza past.
One day, he discovered Aiwa Gishi Seisakusho on the Internet. Visiting the company, he told his story to Hayashi and asked the prosthetist to make him artificial fingers.
Hayashi agreed and cast molds of the same fingers of his other hands. Then, he created the fingers so that their color, touch and even wrinkles look real. The fingers also make it possible to operate computer keyboards. It took Hayashi about a month to make the three fingers, each of which was priced between 200,000 yen and 300,000 yen (about $2,139 and $3,209).
After obtaining new fingers, the former yakuza landed a job at a new company. With that firm, co-workers did not talk about him behind his back, and the company did not urge him to quit, either.
He worked hard there. Saving money, he established his own company, which now has several employees.
“After I met Hayashi, I was able to become a man who lives normal life,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hayashi set up Aiwa Gishi Seisakusho in 2004 after he obtained a national license as a prosthetist in 1998. Since then, he has been creating prosthetic arms, legs and breasts for those who did not have them at birth or who lost them in accidents or removed through disease.
“My job is to make what my customers need. I also want to cooperate in what makes society better,” Hayashi said. That’s why he does not refuse orders from former yakuza.
Every month, several former yakuza visit his company. He asks them to come on designated days to avoid mingling with other customers.
According to the National Police Agency, about 600 people left their yakuza groups in 2012. Only five former yakuza were able to land jobs in that year through support organizations, which are jointly operated by the police, centers that work to combat yakuza groups, and private companies. The corresponding figures in 2010 and 2011 were seven and three, respectively.
Police also have set up a system that is designed to guide former yakuza on having new fingers made. However, several former yakuza said that although they asked police officers to introduce them to the facilities, the officers failed to do so.
A former police officer said the system to help former yakuza get new digits needs to be improved. He also urged the establishment of training facilities for former yakuza who want to obtain various licenses. He said he has seen many people who returned to their yakuza groups or joined new criminal groups after failing to find jobs.
Shintaro Hayashi, 38, representative of Aiwa Gishi Seisakusho (Aiwa prosthetic limb manufacturing company) in Nerima Ward, has created prosthetic fingers for about 300 people, hoping these new digits give them a thumbs up on their rehabilitation and return to society.
“I felt that new fingers grew (from my own hands),” said a man who had received silicone fingers from Hayashi.
In the world of the yakuza, the infamous custom of cutting off fingers is well known. If a member causes problems to his yakuza group, he cuts off his finger and presents it to the group in a sign of penance.
The man removed three of his 10 fingers on both hands when he was a member of a yakuza organization based in eastern Japan. He also spent time in prison.
After leaving the yakuza group several years ago, he worked for several companies. However, the firms asked him to quit, saying that if their clients become aware of his missing fingers, they would refuse to do business with them.
He knew that unless he had all his digits, he could not support his family, and he did not want to return to his former yakuza past.
One day, he discovered Aiwa Gishi Seisakusho on the Internet. Visiting the company, he told his story to Hayashi and asked the prosthetist to make him artificial fingers.
Hayashi agreed and cast molds of the same fingers of his other hands. Then, he created the fingers so that their color, touch and even wrinkles look real. The fingers also make it possible to operate computer keyboards. It took Hayashi about a month to make the three fingers, each of which was priced between 200,000 yen and 300,000 yen (about $2,139 and $3,209).
After obtaining new fingers, the former yakuza landed a job at a new company. With that firm, co-workers did not talk about him behind his back, and the company did not urge him to quit, either.
He worked hard there. Saving money, he established his own company, which now has several employees.
“After I met Hayashi, I was able to become a man who lives normal life,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hayashi set up Aiwa Gishi Seisakusho in 2004 after he obtained a national license as a prosthetist in 1998. Since then, he has been creating prosthetic arms, legs and breasts for those who did not have them at birth or who lost them in accidents or removed through disease.
“My job is to make what my customers need. I also want to cooperate in what makes society better,” Hayashi said. That’s why he does not refuse orders from former yakuza.
Every month, several former yakuza visit his company. He asks them to come on designated days to avoid mingling with other customers.
According to the National Police Agency, about 600 people left their yakuza groups in 2012. Only five former yakuza were able to land jobs in that year through support organizations, which are jointly operated by the police, centers that work to combat yakuza groups, and private companies. The corresponding figures in 2010 and 2011 were seven and three, respectively.
Police also have set up a system that is designed to guide former yakuza on having new fingers made. However, several former yakuza said that although they asked police officers to introduce them to the facilities, the officers failed to do so.
A former police officer said the system to help former yakuza get new digits needs to be improved. He also urged the establishment of training facilities for former yakuza who want to obtain various licenses. He said he has seen many people who returned to their yakuza groups or joined new criminal groups after failing to find jobs.
digit
Pronunciation: /ˈdɪdʒɪt/
Translate digit | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish noun
Origin:
late Middle English: from Latin digitus 'finger, toe'; sense 1 arose from the practice of counting on the fingers- digit
- [名]1 アラビア数字：0から9まで；時に0を除く numbers of ten digits十位の数字.2 ディジット：2進法の1または0.3 ((形式))（手・足の）指.4 指幅（約0.75...
- digital
- [形]1 ((形式))指の；指状の；指（状部）のある digital exam(ination)触診 the digital technique of a pianistピアニストの指先の技術....
prosthesis
(prŏs-thē'sĭs) 
n., pl., -ses (-sēz).
- An artificial device used to replace a missing body part, such as a limb, tooth, eye, or heart valve.
- Replacement of a missing body part with such a device. his upper jaw was removed and a prosthesis was fitted
- Linguistics. 1 《文法》語頭音添加. Prothesis.The addition of a letter or syllable at thebeginning of a word, as in Spanish escuela derived from Latin scola.
[Greek, addition, from prostithenai, prosthe-, to add : pros-, pros- + tithenai, to put.]
日語中"義士、游俠、任俠、劍客"都統稱為"YAKUZA"。此地簡而便之/常逕稱這類東洋電影為黑幫片;
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