Yorinobu Arasaka

Yorinobu Arasaka (荒坂 頼宣) is the second son to Saburo Arasaka and first son to Michiko Arasaka, and rebellious bosozoku leader of the Steel Dragons as well as close affiliate of Iron Lotus. Although a sworn bosozoku leader rockerboy, he eventually became the heir to the Arasaka empire after the death of his elder brother Kei. Yorinobu disagreed with everything his father set out to accomplished, and abandoned everything because of it. He is passionate, caring, and determined more than anything else.

Yorinobu is the charismatic counter to Johnny Silverhand in Tokyo (though he does not play in a band). He was known to rally up the Japanese public to rebel against the corporate overlords. Yorinobu still cared for his sister Hanako and would frequently speak with her behind their father's back, he swore one day to save her. In 2077, Yorinobu still rebels against his father, but has not seen him in decades. However he soon realized that the corporate giant's power was impossible to defeat. At least from the outside.

1995 - 2020
Yorinobu was born in September 8, 1995 to Saburo and Michiko Arasaka in Tokyo, Japan. From a young age he was given the riches and benefits of any Arasaka family member would get, including the best education in the country. Growing up alongside his sister Hanako they were happy being within the Arasaka family compound. Yorinobu was raised with a blissful ignorance towards his fathers corporation. Something Saburo thought was important to keep secret until he was ready.

The day after 21 year old Yorinobu graduated from Todai, Saburo brought him to his private chambers at the compound. His father, proud of his accomplishment, explained to him the true nature of the Arasaka Corporation. Rather than agreeing with his father's vision, as his elder half-brother Kei had, Yorinobu was secretly appalled and chose to stay silent as his father kept speaking. That night, after a celebratory dinner given in his honor, Yorinobu slipped out of the compound and vanished into the Tokyo night. Knowing what went on within the corporation, he hated what his father was trying to accomplish and vowed to stop him, while also wanting to save his sister from being involved.

Four years later, 25 year old Yorinobu had gathered about him a cadre of tough Tokyo nomads (Bosozoku): 'Kotetsu no Ryu', or Steel Dragons. The bosozuku had sworn to expose Arasaka and fought for its demise. At night they would prowl the canyons of the city, harassing Arasaka employees and unearthing information on Arasaka black operations. Yorinobu's knowledge of Arasaka facilities and corporate procedures gave the Steel Dragons some advantages, but they still lacked the power or information to make serious headway against the corporation. Yorinobu was, however, able to tread the world of the street and the corporate tower with equal facility. When he wasn't riding with his men, he was travelling the world; meeting with other enemies of Arasaka and looking for funds and equipment. Slowly but surely his operation was growing.

Saburo loved his son, and was greatly saddened by his disloyalty, but acknowledged that Yorinobu needed be dealt with as he threatened the corporation. Kei, who hated Yorinobu for his defection, had sworn to kill his half-brother. Hanako, on the other hand, still loved her brother. She and Yorinobu had always felt a special bond with each other. Although she was unaware of it at the time, he had sworn to free her from their father's clutches. Once a month Yorinobu and Hanako secretly communicated through the net, reaffirming their fraternal love for one another.

Yorinobu would visit Night City to gather information from his contacts. During one of Arasaka's sweeps on the city, some of Yorinobu's local contacts were taken prisoner, interrogated, and eventually executed. One of these contacts was Hiraga, who knew the identities of many high ranking officials and suppliers to the Steel Dragons. The information obtained about the Steel Dragons was stored at Arasaka Tower in Night City. Before it could be sent to Kei at the Tokyo Headquarters, Yorinobu had a contact intercept the data. With the data was an order for the assassination of high ranking Steel Dragon officials. His contact's activity was traced down and they had to commit seppuku after destroying the data to avoid capture. Unfortunately, the regional security director of Arasaka, Iwasao Koremichi, supposedly had a hard copy with the data.

2021 - 2023
During the Fourth Corporate War, Yorinobu took further action to disrupt Arasaka's operations. Despite attempts from Militech to lure him to their side, Yorinobu refused to join them. Instead he played a role in supplying info to the government of Japan that helped their nationalization of Arasaka's assets. However, even after the damage from the war and the terrorist attack on Arasaka Tower in Night City, he saw it still wasn't enough to destroy the corporation. Yorinobu learned that it if Arasaka was be destroyed, it must be from within.

After the war ended, Yorinobu attended his brother Kei's funeral. It was here he reconciled with his father. With the help of his sister Hanako, Yorinobu would slowly be welcomed into the family again.

2045
In 2045, Yorinobu led the Taka (鷹) Faction of the Arasaka Corporation. He made sure that during the War he was impossible to find and tried to reconcile with his father after. He still played the renegade game and opposed the other factions. As long as his father stayed in control under the Kiji (雉) Faction, Yorinobu would still be out there trying to bring about its downfall. Though he this time he had planned to be more subtle then his pervious schemes.

2077
Yorinobu was the original heir to the Arasaka Empire, before he rebelled and cut ties with his father. For many years he led the Steel Dragons and sought destruction, but soon realized that the corporate giant's power was impossible to defeat. At least from the outside. With the aid of Hanako, Yorinobu was welcomed back to the Arasaka family. He still rebelled against his father, but had not spoken with him in decades. In 2077, Yorinobu was in contact with Ronald Cheever, a NetWatch Operations Manager, the two discussed a cooperation that involved obtaining a sample the Relic biochip with a valid engram. Yorinobu saw an opportunity and stole a Relic prototype from one of his father's laboratories in Tokyo. He then made sure the engram on the biochip was of Johnny Silverhand. After retreating to Night City, he was warned by Anders Hellman that the biochip was a prototype and was not ready for use in its current state. Yorinobu eventually spoke with Anders over the phone, this is when Anders warned him to speak with his father before anything as he was personally involved with the project.

Saburo Arasaka arrived in Night City shortly after to retrieve what was stolen and confront Yorinobu alone. In a fit of rage, Yorinobu murdered his father and later covered it up by claiming an assassin had his father poisoned. Yorinobu took full control of the Arasaka Corporation and began to make changes from within. His decisions started to take effect when he started removing facilities in Fukuoka and Kitakyushu in Japan. His plan to sabotage the corporation from within and undo much of what his father built had began.

Yorinobu participated in the Parade to honor his father with the approval of Hanako and their niece, Michiko Arasaka. During this Hanako was kidnapped and he worked quickly to rescue her with his chief of security Adam Smasher. After successfully rescuing his sister, Yorinobu made a public statement that anyone who would harm a member of the Arasaka family would be punished.

He decided to order his faction to keep an eye on Hanako and keep her safe in the Arasaka estate, North Oak. Yorinobu later called an emergency meeting of the Arasaka supervisor board in Night City. Top executives from Tokyo, as well as branch directors from Paris, Shanghai, and Kinshasa all to meet in the Arasaka Tower of the American Division headquarters. Yorinobu had a plan for a military coup that would give him and those loyal to his faction complete control of Arasaka Corporation for his plan of sabotage. Part of his plan was also involved his factions in Night City, Kyoto, Dubai, and Paris. The troops loyal to Yorinobu were ordered to destroy all other factions within the corporation as well as to remove the board of directors to gain complete control.


 * Yorinobu was successful in his plans of sabotaging the Arasaka Empire, losing much of it's political power and control over the world. The Relic project was scrapped as the corporation lost billions. The Arasaka Corporation's future was unclear and would take time for reorganization to bring the Megacorp back to stable status. Yorinobu returned to the Tokyo headquarters after he left Night City, grieving his sister, who had become a casualty in the fighting.


 * Hanako along with V stormed the upper echelons of Arasaka tower to dethrone Yorinobu Arasaka's tyrannical reign. Yorinobu explained to V that he tried everything to bring the Arasaka Empire to an end and stop his father from his ideals. Yorinobu reveals he did not seek power and control, but only to free the people of the tyranny of the Arasaka Corporation and free them of their fear of Saburo. If V is successful, Yorinobu's suicide attempt will be stopped and Hanako will comfort her grieving brother as he tells her he does not fear the forthcoming consequences, which are later revealed to be his consciousness being overwritten and replaced with Saburo's engram.

Ambitions
Yorinobu Arasaka since his father spoke to him about the secrets of his company and his ambitions, he has never lost sight of his goal, to bring down the Arasaka Corporation. As Yorinobu distanced himself from his father he grew to hate him. When Saburo saw someone as a foe he would remove them without mercy and believed the end justified the means, this was a way of living Yorinobu could never abide by. The fear his father brought upon people was his greatest strength and Yorinobu knew this and was one of the few who did not fear him. To put an end to what he believed was Saburo's tyrannical goals he started gangs within Tokyo (Steel Dragons, Iron Lotus), the bosozoku gangs goals were to expose the operations of Arasaka (as well as other Megacorps) and destroy the ares that would weaken the megacorp's operations.

However despite his battle and fighting among the Tokyo streets, Yorinobu was never satisfied with the results until finally Arasaka Tower in Night City was destroyed by a mini nuke. He finally had realized nothing would be enough to stop Arasaka and his father. He left the Steel Dragons and went back to his family, this time wanting to destroy the megacorp from the inside. Yorinobu's sole purpose in life remained, to remove the fear his father brought onto the world.

Trivia

 * His name may be a reference to Tokugawa Yorinobu a real-life Japanese daimyō and member of the Tokugawa family which the Arasaka family seems to be based on
 * His name in the native Kanji appears to be 荒坂 頼宣, according to a post by a Japanese CDPR forum moderator.
 * The player can find a picture of the Arasaka family in Yorinobu's personal office but with Saburo's face obscured with a whiskey glass. In Saburo's office, the same picture can be found with Yorinobu's face obscured.
 * In the Arasaka ending, V refers to Yorinobu Arasaka as Hanako's baby brother. This is either an oversight or a mistake on V's part, as Hanako is the youngest of Saburo Arasaka's children. Hanako also regularly addresses Yorinobu as her older brother in Japanese (niisan).