A viral tweet has shocked Death Stranding fans, as it revealed that the game was inspired by a strange Japanese profession.
When Death Stranding came out in 2019, people raised an eyebrow or two at the sight of Norman Reedus carrying comically large towers of packages through the barren wastelands of the game. For many, that always seemed like a goofy idea by the game’s legendary and wacky creator, Hideo Kojima.
However, the porters in Death Stranding and their tendency towards carrying towers of boxes on their backs are actually inspired by an obscure and very cool profession in real life, as was recently highlighted online.
The Internet Finally Learns About Bokka, The Inspiration For Death Stranding
A post on February 29 from the account World of Gnon went viral on Twitter/X after it taught the world about the bokka, a unique profession in Japan. Bokka are porters or couriers carrying huge stacks of packages and boxes, who travel by foot to areas that can’t be reached by vehicles. Sounds familiar, right? Wait until you see the images.
Maybe one of the oddest professions in Japan is that of the bokka (). Porters who carry supplies to remote mountain guesthouses inaccessible to vehicles. A bokka uses customized wooden ladder frames to carry 100-165kg of supplies on day long marches (walk up, run down). pic.twitter.com/JmD1iGBv7Y
— Wrath Of Gnon (@wrathofgnon) February 29, 2024
This triggered all the Death Stranding fans out there, as this looks and sounds exactly like what you do in the game as Norman Reedus’ Sam Porter Bridges. The post was flooded with responses related to Kojima’s title, and understandably so. This must be the main inspiration for the porters in the game, right?
Kojima never seemed to have talked about bokka. Researching for this article, I couldn’t find any article, interview, or post where he mentioned it. However, he did retweet the World of Gnon post, seemingly confirming the obvious connection.
The carriers can transport a staggering 165 kg of material, thanks to the customized back ladder and the tower formation of the packages. However, they need to frequently rest to not hurt their shoulders. Due to the high demand of the work and the constant walking, bokka are allegedly as fit or even fitter than many professional athletes.
Of course, this is technically not new information. In December 2019, less than a month after the game’s release, Kotaku published a great article about bokka and its connection to Death Stranding. Judging by the overwhelming reaction to this latest post, however, it seems like a ton of people missed that article.
Bokka are the Japanese version of this profession, but carriers such as this can be found in many mountainous and remote regions in the world, like in Slovakia or among the Sherpa people in Tibet.