Hondo City
Encyclopedia
Hondo City is a huge fictional city
covering most of Japan
in the Judge Dredd
comic book
series. Most of its development comes from the Judge Dredd Megazine
strip Shimura by Robbie Morrison
.
that crams its population into City Blocks. It appears to stretch from Hokkaido
to Wakayama, according to the Shimura strip. The Hondo City Blocks reflect a more aesthetic, manga-like sense of design than the functional squat structs in Mega City One, and exist side by side with traditional wooden houses. Several islands off the coast of Hondo live a traditional 20th Century rural Japanese lifestyle. Hondo is one of the most technologically advanced of the Megacities, and its energy needs are supplied by orbiting nuclear power satellites. Underneath this is Undercity
, the decayed and buried remains of the original Tokyo that are crawling with powerful oni-like mutants.
system, with the Judge-Inspectors acting as government
, police
and judge
, jury
and executioner
to preserve order. The Hondo Judge-Inspectors are highly disciplined and well-armed, and are similar in mindset and culture to ancient samurai
. Their uniforms have bio-circuitry links allowing them to use their tendo stave weapons (a form of bludgeon) and laser-shuriken
discs as extensions of their own bodies. In following their samurai leanings, energy-based sabers, futuristic nunchucks
and traditional katana
s are also used. Unlike foreign Judges, they wear no badge with their name on; their names are printed on the rising sun
symbol on their uniforms, viewable only through the visor on another Judge's helmet, with the intent that the citizens see justice as one entity rather than a group of individuals. Originally they piloted high-speed Japanese versions of Mega-City One's Lawmaster cycles, but they have recently upgraded to hovercycles.
Despite their high discipline, the Judge-Inspectors have the freedom to conduct sexual relationships unlike their American counterparts, and the law in Hondo seems slightly less harsh. There is a judicially-sanctioned "pleasure quarter" in Tokyo District called Yoshiwara
, with the intent of containing and controlling the sex industries
.
The Justice Department suffers from infiltration by elements of the yakuza
societies, leading to corruption and inefficiency - nearly every District House in Hondo has a yakuza Judge in its command strata. The yakuza societies and many elements within the judiciary view each other as a necessary evil in order to maintain a balance in Hondo. It also took until 2113 for the first female Judge-Inspector, Aiko Inaba, to go on duty and there are extremely few other women in that job; there was heavy institutional pressure to have her flunked as a Cadet.
The high technological level of Hondo came in extremely useful during the crisis of Judgement Day
. Hondo's Skreemers - powerful sonic cannons - were able to vapourise Sabbat's zombies before they could enter Hondo, and this level of security made it ideal as the centre of a global meeting on how to handle the crisis. The global team of Judges sent in to bring down Sabbat wore heavily-armoured Samurai battle-armour, cutting a swathe through the undead.
The Justice Department of Hondo has a permanent military presence around the Web, the network of Borneo
& the Indonesian islands
linked by giant mutant coral
growths, in order to deal with the threat of the coral mutation and to contain the highly prosperous levels of crime within the Web. The Web was not able to finance a Judge system (seemingly being cut loose from Indonesia, which had a Mega-City in Djakarta) due to the crippling costs it took to battle the coral - namely paying Hondo a crippling sum to have techno-wizard Masamune Taoka find a way of containing the coral, and the pressure of being forced to take a large number of Hondo's undesirables in return for their services.
team. He sacrificed his life to ensure Dredd and Johnny Alpha were freed and able to bring down Sabbat.
Shimura was one of the Justice Department's greatest fighters, even better than Sadu, but he went rogue - ronin
- in order to carry out a vendetta against a Yakuza Oyabun. He is an extremely damaged and murderous individual, wanted by both the Judges and the yakuza, but has recently come under the protection of industrialist Amber Taoka.
Judge-Inspector Aiko Inaba was the first female Judge-Inspector in Hondo, and as a cadet she was tested and passed by Shimura (despite him being under pressure to fail her). She has found herself involved in multiple crisis situations and has several times been partnered with a visiting Judge Dredd.
Chief Judge Ohno is the head of the Hondo Justice Department.
Hondo boasts of its superiority as a society over foreign Megacities, but it does this often by deliberately ignoring those considered outcasts and in poverty. Officially, these johatsu - "disappeared people", including everyone from homeless vagrants to those hiding from yakuza - don't even exist. The Sanya Sub-District, or Eta
District (eta meaning "the filth", traditionally the Japanese underclass.), is where those openly ostracised and discriminated against for non-conformity are driven to, including former criminals and most commonly the Burakumin, those whose professions involved them getting close to death (butchers, grave diggers, executioners). They are heavily discriminated against for cultural reasons and suffer criminal exploitation. Hondo City also has a far more sexist
view on women than many other Megacities, viewing them mainly as housewives and mothers.
societies run nearly all crime in Hondo, to the extent that they are sometimes seen as maintaining a balance. The yakuza have their fingers in almost all industries, both legal and illegal. The psychotic thrill-killing bosozuki
- street samurai - gangs bike around Hondo committing random acts of brutality and atrocity in the hope that the Yakuza will notice and hire them. Outside of the yakuza, dangerous techno-terrorism cults like Deus X have launched several attacks as vendetta for the execution of Masamune Taoka.
Hondo also faces the threat of the mutants, psychos, gangs and outlaw martial art schools that come out of the Radlands of Ji, which separate Hondo from Sino-Cit. The most famous of these, Stan Lee
, AKA Deathfist, recently led a gang of Radland warriors in an assault on the city.
His daughter, former vid-star Amber Taoka, has inherited the company and on the surface wants to separate it from Masamune's crimes and the actions of cults like Deus X built around him. As head of the Taoka Corporation, she has taken Shimura as her personal bodyguard and lover, and is using the resources of the Corporation to reclaim & detoxify the Radlands of Ji (and other polluted hellholes) in the hope of making it liveable again. While she professes to be different from her father, she has recently shown to have far more power and arrogance than anyone wants to see in the spawn of Taoka.
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
covering most of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in the Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series. Most of its development comes from the Judge Dredd Megazine
Judge Dredd Megazine
Judge Dredd: The Megazine is a monthly British comic magazine, launched in October 1990. It is a sister publication to 2000 AD. Its name is a play on words, formed from "magazine" and Dredd's locale Mega-City One.-Content:...
strip Shimura by Robbie Morrison
Robbie Morrison
Robbie Morrison is a British comics writer most known for his work in 2000 AD and as the co-creator of popular character Nikolai Dante .-Biography:...
.
Description
Hondo City, like Mega City One, is a giant future metropolis with heavy population densityPopulation density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
that crams its population into City Blocks. It appears to stretch from Hokkaido
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
to Wakayama, according to the Shimura strip. The Hondo City Blocks reflect a more aesthetic, manga-like sense of design than the functional squat structs in Mega City One, and exist side by side with traditional wooden houses. Several islands off the coast of Hondo live a traditional 20th Century rural Japanese lifestyle. Hondo is one of the most technologically advanced of the Megacities, and its energy needs are supplied by orbiting nuclear power satellites. Underneath this is Undercity
Undercity (Judge Dredd)
The Undercity is a part of the fictional universe featured in the Judge Dredd series that appears in the UK comic book 2000 AD.-Background:...
, the decayed and buried remains of the original Tokyo that are crawling with powerful oni-like mutants.
Law
Like most cities in Judge Dredd, Hondo is run under a JudgeJudge (2000 AD)
Judge is a title held by several significant characters in the Judge Dredd series, which appears in the British comics 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine...
system, with the Judge-Inspectors acting as government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
, police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
and judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
and executioner
Executioner
A judicial executioner is a person who carries out a death sentence ordered by the state or other legal authority, which was known in feudal terminology as high justice.-Scope and job:...
to preserve order. The Hondo Judge-Inspectors are highly disciplined and well-armed, and are similar in mindset and culture to ancient samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
. Their uniforms have bio-circuitry links allowing them to use their tendo stave weapons (a form of bludgeon) and laser-shuriken
Shuriken
A shuriken is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was generally used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing or slashing...
discs as extensions of their own bodies. In following their samurai leanings, energy-based sabers, futuristic nunchucks
Nunchaku
is a traditional Okinawan weapon consisting of two sticks connected at their ends with a short chain or rope.-Etymology:The Japanese word nunchaku is the Kun'yomi reading of the Kanji term for a traditional Chinese two section staff....
and traditional katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
s are also used. Unlike foreign Judges, they wear no badge with their name on; their names are printed on the rising sun
Rising Sun
Rising Sun may refer to sunrise. It may also refer to:-Music:*"Rising Sun" , a song written by Fats Domino* Rising Sun , 2005* Rising Sun , 2010* Rising Sun , 1986...
symbol on their uniforms, viewable only through the visor on another Judge's helmet, with the intent that the citizens see justice as one entity rather than a group of individuals. Originally they piloted high-speed Japanese versions of Mega-City One's Lawmaster cycles, but they have recently upgraded to hovercycles.
Despite their high discipline, the Judge-Inspectors have the freedom to conduct sexual relationships unlike their American counterparts, and the law in Hondo seems slightly less harsh. There is a judicially-sanctioned "pleasure quarter" in Tokyo District called Yoshiwara
Yoshiwara
Yoshiwara was a famous Akasen district in Edo, present-day Tōkyō, Japan.In the early 17th century, there was widespread male and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to...
, with the intent of containing and controlling the sex industries
Sex industry
The sex industry consists of businesses which either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment...
.
The Justice Department suffers from infiltration by elements of the yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
societies, leading to corruption and inefficiency - nearly every District House in Hondo has a yakuza Judge in its command strata. The yakuza societies and many elements within the judiciary view each other as a necessary evil in order to maintain a balance in Hondo. It also took until 2113 for the first female Judge-Inspector, Aiko Inaba, to go on duty and there are extremely few other women in that job; there was heavy institutional pressure to have her flunked as a Cadet.
The high technological level of Hondo came in extremely useful during the crisis of Judgement Day
Judgement Day (Judge Dredd story)
Judgement Day was a Judge Dredd story published with alternating episodes in both 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine in 1992. It was the first crossover between the two publications; three more have since followed...
. Hondo's Skreemers - powerful sonic cannons - were able to vapourise Sabbat's zombies before they could enter Hondo, and this level of security made it ideal as the centre of a global meeting on how to handle the crisis. The global team of Judges sent in to bring down Sabbat wore heavily-armoured Samurai battle-armour, cutting a swathe through the undead.
The Justice Department of Hondo has a permanent military presence around the Web, the network of Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
& the Indonesian islands
Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago refers to the archipelago between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia. The name was derived from the anachronistic concept of a Malay race....
linked by giant mutant coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
growths, in order to deal with the threat of the coral mutation and to contain the highly prosperous levels of crime within the Web. The Web was not able to finance a Judge system (seemingly being cut loose from Indonesia, which had a Mega-City in Djakarta) due to the crippling costs it took to battle the coral - namely paying Hondo a crippling sum to have techno-wizard Masamune Taoka find a way of containing the coral, and the pressure of being forced to take a large number of Hondo's undesirables in return for their services.
Notable Judges
Judge-Inspector Sadu, an honourable and dedicated fighter, was one of Hondo's best Judges and one of the Judgement DayJudgement Day (Judge Dredd story)
Judgement Day was a Judge Dredd story published with alternating episodes in both 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine in 1992. It was the first crossover between the two publications; three more have since followed...
team. He sacrificed his life to ensure Dredd and Johnny Alpha were freed and able to bring down Sabbat.
Shimura was one of the Justice Department's greatest fighters, even better than Sadu, but he went rogue - ronin
Ronin
A or rounin was a Bushi with no lord or master during the feudal period of Japan. A samurai became masterless from the death or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or privilege....
- in order to carry out a vendetta against a Yakuza Oyabun. He is an extremely damaged and murderous individual, wanted by both the Judges and the yakuza, but has recently come under the protection of industrialist Amber Taoka.
Judge-Inspector Aiko Inaba was the first female Judge-Inspector in Hondo, and as a cadet she was tested and passed by Shimura (despite him being under pressure to fail her). She has found herself involved in multiple crisis situations and has several times been partnered with a visiting Judge Dredd.
Chief Judge Ohno is the head of the Hondo Justice Department.
Society
Hondo City is a modern, technologically advanced society and as such it does have quite a few similarities to Mega City One: its population will flock to new fads and leisure activities to spend their days. On the outer islands, many live a traditionally early-20th Century rural lifstyle untouched by future society.Hondo boasts of its superiority as a society over foreign Megacities, but it does this often by deliberately ignoring those considered outcasts and in poverty. Officially, these johatsu - "disappeared people", including everyone from homeless vagrants to those hiding from yakuza - don't even exist. The Sanya Sub-District, or Eta
Burakumin
are a Japanese social minority group. The burakumin are one of the main minority groups in Japan, along with the Ainu of Hokkaidō, the Ryukyuans of Okinawa and Japanese residents of Korean and Chinese descent....
District (eta meaning "the filth", traditionally the Japanese underclass.), is where those openly ostracised and discriminated against for non-conformity are driven to, including former criminals and most commonly the Burakumin, those whose professions involved them getting close to death (butchers, grave diggers, executioners). They are heavily discriminated against for cultural reasons and suffer criminal exploitation. Hondo City also has a far more sexist
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
view on women than many other Megacities, viewing them mainly as housewives and mothers.
Criminal influences
The yakuzaYakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
societies run nearly all crime in Hondo, to the extent that they are sometimes seen as maintaining a balance. The yakuza have their fingers in almost all industries, both legal and illegal. The psychotic thrill-killing bosozuki
Bosozoku
is a Japanese subculture associated with motorcycle clubs and gangs.-Traits and history:The word bōsōzoku is also applied to motorcycle gangs, who share an interest in modifications for motorcycles, such as removing the mufflers so that more noise is produced...
- street samurai - gangs bike around Hondo committing random acts of brutality and atrocity in the hope that the Yakuza will notice and hire them. Outside of the yakuza, dangerous techno-terrorism cults like Deus X have launched several attacks as vendetta for the execution of Masamune Taoka.
Hondo also faces the threat of the mutants, psychos, gangs and outlaw martial art schools that come out of the Radlands of Ji, which separate Hondo from Sino-Cit. The most famous of these, Stan Lee
Stan Lee (Judge Dredd character)
Stan Lee, also known as Deathfist, is a fictional character from the Judge Dredd comic strip in the British comic 2000 AD.-Character history:...
, AKA Deathfist, recently led a gang of Radland warriors in an assault on the city.
Taoka Corporation
Masamune Taoka was Shimura's first foe and one of Hondo's most celebrated industrialists & techno-wizards. It was his technological achievements that helped Hondo make tech advances over the other Megacities - he created the orbiting nuclear stations, he created much of the Judge-Inspector equipment, and he was also responsible for finding a way to control the mutant coral infecting the Web. Unfortunately, he went insane and turned himself into a powerful cybernetic being with intent on conquering Hondo, and had to be destroyed.His daughter, former vid-star Amber Taoka, has inherited the company and on the surface wants to separate it from Masamune's crimes and the actions of cults like Deus X built around him. As head of the Taoka Corporation, she has taken Shimura as her personal bodyguard and lover, and is using the resources of the Corporation to reclaim & detoxify the Radlands of Ji (and other polluted hellholes) in the hope of making it liveable again. While she professes to be different from her father, she has recently shown to have far more power and arrogance than anyone wants to see in the spawn of Taoka.