[Headcanon History Timeline]

[holyjesusbeams]

This is just a bulleted list at present. Maybe someday I'll come back to this and write it up in prose. But yes. Joshua has very little, if any, canon history mentioned or insinuated in-game, so after playing him for a while, I took the bits and pieces I thought believable (and looking sideways at a few tendencies he has that are a little more covert) and put them together into his life history as I play him.

Please note that I am not Japanese and have not visited Japan, relying only on research and my wonderful Hanekoma-mun (greatcuppajoe) for everything I've hashed together here. If something isn't mentioned here, it's probably because Josh doesn't find it important enough to note, but feel free to ask if there's something you're curious about.

And if some of my research is weird or off, feel free to bring that to my attention as well!

KIRYU Yoshiya

• Born February 2, 1949 in the small city of Kiryu

KIRYU, GUNMA PREFECTURE

• Postwar Japan. US occupation. Missed by bombings.
• Devastated by 3 typhoons 3 years in a row (1947-1949): Catherine, Ion, Kitty
• Nationally known for textiles (esp. Silk) and, after 1949, pachinko machines
• 2 hours northwest of Tokyo, but still considered rural
• Gunma accent – heavy, rolled ‘r’s, clipped syllables (think Shinpachi from Peacemaker, only worse)
• Born into high-status warrior-class family that the city is named for

FAMILY

• Father: worked in the silk-weaving industry. Successful. Absent often as Yoshiya got older
• Mother: suffered post-partum depression. Concerned for children but too timid/distressed to get properly involved
• Eldest of 3 boys and 1 girl, separated by several-year gaps

CHILDHOOD AND GRADE SCHOOL (1949-1961, 0-12 yrs.)

• not given much attention emotionally when young – even less when he got older and began resisting it
• could always see the UG
• realized he was different when he began school
• perplexed by what others thought of death, in contrast to the Games he saw but didn’t, at the time, understand
• mother thought he simply had an overactive imagination
• started feeling out-cast, unable to relate to others
• read, took interest in writing and music on his own
• intentionally took on morbid personality traits to make isolation from others feel more deliberate, in his own mind, and less like there was actually something wrong with him (beginning of social control-freak issues, and his skeevy fake behavior habits)
• good student
• at home, often disappeared outside or stayed in room (shutting siblings out) to avoid helping with his younger brother and sister and talking with his parents
• did chores quickly and meticulously
• erratic sleeping and eating habits
• began learning to cook at night when parents were gone/asleep to maintain his reclusive schedule

MIDDLE SCHOOL (1961-1964, 12-15 yrs.)

• had a fascination with US occupation and foreign culture
• learned as much English on his own outside of school as he could
• focused on piano and started writing music
• bare-minimum participation in school activities – participated in archery briefly as an extracurricular
• classmates were used to avoiding him by this time, so he became less “weird” and more deadpan quiet
• youngest sibling (3rd son) was born just before he finished middle school

HIGH SCHOOL (1964-1967, 15-18 yrs.)

• requested of his father to go to boarding school in Tokyo; Yoshiya wanted to get away from family and middle-of-nowhere city where too many people knew him. Father thought Yoshiya was just being success-geared, and allowed it
• tested easily into a Tokyo boarding high school, getting high marks throughout the three years
• despite the change of scenery and environment, began feeling especially bored and restless
• floated through his (non-)social life, gaining a false polite smile and maintaining a biting and poisonous attitude to ensure his new classmates left him alone
• began studying classical stringed instruments – violin, viola, cello. Studies supported by family.
• ogled guitars in music shops – something his father, unfortunately, WOULDN’T pay for
• spent a lot of time sneaking out and looking at foreign shops and restaurants
• read books in English, and worked on getting rid of his hick accent
• graduated in 1967

UNIVERSITY, PROFESSIONAL LIFE, AND MEETING HANEKOMA (1967-1971, 18-22 yrs.)

• immediately went on to University in the Shibuya area (then a much smaller and sparser district) in business and journalism
• got an apartment
• perfected cooking as a hobby. Started his gadget-collecting habit (appliances, electronics)
• bought a record player and a guitar. Continued studing and writing for piano, strings, etc. Picked up saxophone eventually
• got an internship with newspaper when he was 20 years old, sweet-talking his way up to having an entertainment critique column by 1970, reviewing restaurants and film
• started spending time at a quiet and empty coffee shop in order to get his work done, becoming vaguely acquainted with the owner, Hanekoma Sanae
• was initially distrustful of Hanekoma’s laid back and friendly manner until the man directly brought up the Game, explaining (finally!) exactly just what Yoshiya had been seeing his entire life
• started frequenting Hanekoma’s place after that to talk and play music, under the guise of working
• graduated university in 1971

YOUNG ADULT LIFE AND DEATH (1971-1975, 22-26 yrs.)

• gained reputation in the paper as being both intelligent and brutal in his critiques. Articles were considered gossip entertainment in and of themselves, despite also making/breaking the businesses they reviewed.
• very successful. never reviewed Hanekoma’s place because the hype would have ruined his quiet workspace
• saved all of his articles in clippings and papers
• stopped visiting home entirely, ignoring most letters
• built up fame and fortune over the years, “cheerful” but cold, ferocious, and ruthless. Finally felt he had achieved a satisfactory amount of distance between himself and other people
• took pride in self-sufficiency
• in 1974 started getting nudges from his parents to get married. Was uninterested, responding, “I’ll get married as soon as I find a silent woman that cooks better than I.” (Read: someone that, in his opinion, didn’t exist.)
• on October 15, 1975, he was bumped into by two other businessmen that were in a hurry on a platform in Shibuya Station. It was a Game week. Yoshiya, distracted by watching a Player being erased by Noise on the UG further down the line, was knocked onto the tracks and killed by the oncoming train

BECOMING THE COMPOSER (1975-1977, 26-28 yrs.)

• entered the previous Composer’s Game and flew right through it, becoming a Reaper and then, with Hanekoma’s help, almost immediately overthrew the previous Composer
• meanwhile, police investigated his death as a possible homicide, considering his reputation among some small and financially ruined restaurant owners. Yoshiya found this HILARIOUS
• tweaked with some minds to get himself some new “living” arrangements on the RG, swiping his possessions from his old apartment and police custody. Intentionally didn’t wipe any memories of the authorities, much to their bafflement when they found all traces of his belongings missing (and his apartment key that had been in police custody mysteriously set spot-on center in the middle of his old apartment’s genkan)
• the theft and homicide speculations regarding the end of Kiryu Yoshiya’s life? Still open cold cases to this day.
• Added his obituary to his collection of newspapers and newspaper articles
• Rewrote Shibuya’s Rules, adjusting things over the next few years and erasing/rearranging staff to his own liking, building up his own group of hand-picked Reapers while refining the Game
• Self-appointed the nickname “Joshua”, amused at the similar phonetics combined with his new position and the Christian references. Shed the name “Yoshiya” in common use permanently, associating the name with his unhappier old life
• Shibuya, thanks to the very train station that killed him, grew to be a youth culture center and commercial district rapidly over the next few years.
• finally felt properly distanced from “normal” people, in a comfortable situation in which he could observe and control as much as he wanted to without even being seen

EARLY YEARS AS COMPOSER (1977-approx. 1985, 28-36 yrs.)

• Truly entertained, busy, and motivated for the first time in his entire existence. Due to this stark contrast with when he was still alive, he became fascinated with what made normal human beings feel that enthusiasm in their own banal lives, whether or not they recognized it. This eventually evolved into the entry fee Rule.
• Initially judged on talent and self-reliance, gaining several excellent Reapers from this, but realized two things from this: little was to be gained from sending back individuals that were clearly of more use to him in the UG, and it wasn’t entirely a good method for weeding down to those that “deserved” another chance at life.
• Lost some of his cynical venom, at least privately, after breaking Shibuya in and acquiring a suitable Conductor, Kitaniji Megumi.
• Began subconsciously viewing his existence as something entirely separate from human, leading to hypocritical methods of judging the Game – through teamwork and self-improvement, in order for the winners to lead healthier, happier, and more successful lives.

HITTING STRIDE (approx. 1985-approx. 2000, 36-51 yrs.)

• Rules were finalized as what are seen in TWEWY’s events, with a steady flow of winners, losers, and new Reapers.
• Reaper heirarchy was arranged, cycling weaker ones out as Game Masters.
• Things ran smoothly during this time. Privately, Joshua continued to work on his music and strange gadget collecting tendencies, jumping on new technology instantly (cellphones, computers, compact discs, dvds).
• Also became a television and movie junkie, devouring everything with an eye open for social psychology trends at all times.

GROWING CONCERNS (approx. 2000-2007, 51-58 yrs.)

• Was initially thrilled with the widespread rising popularity of cellphones, internet, personal music players, and the like, but slowly realized that such things were contributing to much of Shibuya’s youth being selfish and mindless media slaves.
• At first mildly disgusted but unsurprised by this trend, considering his opinions on the majority of humanity as a whole concerning intelligence
• Started becoming seriously concerned when Games started having noticeably fewer and fewer winners, and incidents of Noise possessing living individuals increased.
• First instructed GMs to appoint more tasks regarding Noise erasure, and then encouraged covert ways to guide players to realizing the point of having their entry fee taken (though not in as many words, nor so directly).
• Despite his disgust and morose outlook on the situation, his concerns and subtle efforts made Kitaniji continue to ass kiss as usual

THE MONTH-LONG GAME (2007, 58 yrs.)

• Considering his efforts as failed, Joshua made the decision to destroy Shibuya, voicing his intent to Kitaniji and Hanekoma, thus resulting in the events of TWEWY. For my interpretation of how he viewed these events, please reference his application.