People tend to picture the Yakuza (for lack of a better reference - akin to the mafia), as a group of tattooed thugs in nice suits, taking over small businesses and shooting ninjas who get in their way. Oh - and they all know karate and are missing a finger.
Well... sort of. Like their Italian counterparts, the Yakuza can be a fearful organization of "legitimate Japanese businessmen", but they are also more than likely diversified into legitimate businesses.
All I know is that when I lived in Japan back in the early 1990s and sometimes, accidentally met with the local city Yakuza boss, it was always a cordial affair.
I was perhaps a bit ill at ease... but it was only because I wanted to make sure I didn't say or do anything stupid. I did after all teach his son at Ohtawara Chu Gakko (Ohtawara Junior High School)... a good-looking, but tough kid who always treated me with respect. he earned mine with the way he treated me. And his dad, perhaps being less Yakuza boss and more of a father, showed me the same respect by buying me a few drinks.
Anyhow... forget about the tattooed, nine-finger, ninja-shooting killers. These guys are smart. They play the stock market better than most and when it comes to the community—these guys are able to get the job done with greater efficiency than the Red Cross.
Looking back at the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck the northeast coast of Japan, the Yakuza were the first on the scene sending over 70 trucks loaded with supplies - and this is according to Jake Adelstein, a crime reporter in Japan. Here's a blog I wrote about their aid back on March 26, 2011: HELP.
Hey... they aren't just guys trying to shake down some businessmen in a dark alley, the Yakuza really do consider themselves to be ninkyo dantai (humanitarian group). Well... perhaps it's not the first way they describe themselves, but you know what I mean.
Says Adelstein: "They (the Yakuza) are always in place when a disaster happens."
While that can be taken in two ways, Adelstein actually means the more positive way.
He continues: Since Japan is in a hurry to reconstruct, eliminating organized crime elements from reconstruction and waste disposal is simply not possible.
Japan - It's A Wonderful Rife thinks he means that the Yakuza are heavily involved in construction and sanitation concerns. Hunh... go figure.
Traditionally, the Yakuza are, thanks to their strict code of conduct, are not allowed to allowed to dabble in street crimes, robberies or prostitution, Japanese society as a whole tolerates them. Fears them, sure, but they don't bother the average person and so they are welcome to go about their business.
For the Yakuza, helping people helps them live up to that same code of conduct. It also means they are involved in legitimate businesses such as sanitation and reconstruction.
part of it is self-serving, and not as altruistic as they might expect you to believe. The Yakuza don't do anything without thinking about how it will affect their image. And their finances.
Japan's weak economic climate has also affected the Yakuza.
"With less money around and a stagnant economy, there's less money for them to make. So they have moved into the financial sector," explains Adelstein. "Yakuza invest in emerging stock markets, move money overseas and are involved in large-scale financial crimes.
"And then, of course, extortion, gambling and drugs are still making the revenues."
The Yakuza is not merely one outfit. It's 22 fraternal organizations with some 86,000 members. For example, the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest such group, has about 40,000 employees, or members, if you prefer.
So... wanna join the Yakuza? There's a membership fee. It does involve money, and it's usually gained through a violent crime... which does go against the Yakuza code... but then, they aren't members and are doing the crimes to become one.
What about the whole finger thing? It is true that a finger may be cut off for transgressions against the fraternity, but it is also true that members cut off their own finger as a sign of loyalty.
We'll leave the final word to Adelstein, who dared report on one of the Yakuza's more powerful bosses - Goto Tadamasa (surname first). Adelstein reported on Goto becoming an FBI informer in exchange for a liver transplant in California.
He was told: "Erase the story... or we'll erase you. And maybe your family. But we'll do them first so you learn your lesson before you die."
For more information on the Yakuza, read this BLOG written by my self.
Files by
Andrew Joseph
Well... sort of. Like their Italian counterparts, the Yakuza can be a fearful organization of "legitimate Japanese businessmen", but they are also more than likely diversified into legitimate businesses.
All I know is that when I lived in Japan back in the early 1990s and sometimes, accidentally met with the local city Yakuza boss, it was always a cordial affair.
I was perhaps a bit ill at ease... but it was only because I wanted to make sure I didn't say or do anything stupid. I did after all teach his son at Ohtawara Chu Gakko (Ohtawara Junior High School)... a good-looking, but tough kid who always treated me with respect. he earned mine with the way he treated me. And his dad, perhaps being less Yakuza boss and more of a father, showed me the same respect by buying me a few drinks.
Anyhow... forget about the tattooed, nine-finger, ninja-shooting killers. These guys are smart. They play the stock market better than most and when it comes to the community—these guys are able to get the job done with greater efficiency than the Red Cross.
Looking back at the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck the northeast coast of Japan, the Yakuza were the first on the scene sending over 70 trucks loaded with supplies - and this is according to Jake Adelstein, a crime reporter in Japan. Here's a blog I wrote about their aid back on March 26, 2011: HELP.
Hey... they aren't just guys trying to shake down some businessmen in a dark alley, the Yakuza really do consider themselves to be ninkyo dantai (humanitarian group). Well... perhaps it's not the first way they describe themselves, but you know what I mean.
Says Adelstein: "They (the Yakuza) are always in place when a disaster happens."
While that can be taken in two ways, Adelstein actually means the more positive way.
He continues: Since Japan is in a hurry to reconstruct, eliminating organized crime elements from reconstruction and waste disposal is simply not possible.
Japan - It's A Wonderful Rife thinks he means that the Yakuza are heavily involved in construction and sanitation concerns. Hunh... go figure.
Traditionally, the Yakuza are, thanks to their strict code of conduct, are not allowed to allowed to dabble in street crimes, robberies or prostitution, Japanese society as a whole tolerates them. Fears them, sure, but they don't bother the average person and so they are welcome to go about their business.
For the Yakuza, helping people helps them live up to that same code of conduct. It also means they are involved in legitimate businesses such as sanitation and reconstruction.
part of it is self-serving, and not as altruistic as they might expect you to believe. The Yakuza don't do anything without thinking about how it will affect their image. And their finances.
Japan's weak economic climate has also affected the Yakuza.
"With less money around and a stagnant economy, there's less money for them to make. So they have moved into the financial sector," explains Adelstein. "Yakuza invest in emerging stock markets, move money overseas and are involved in large-scale financial crimes.
"And then, of course, extortion, gambling and drugs are still making the revenues."
The Yakuza is not merely one outfit. It's 22 fraternal organizations with some 86,000 members. For example, the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest such group, has about 40,000 employees, or members, if you prefer.
So... wanna join the Yakuza? There's a membership fee. It does involve money, and it's usually gained through a violent crime... which does go against the Yakuza code... but then, they aren't members and are doing the crimes to become one.
What about the whole finger thing? It is true that a finger may be cut off for transgressions against the fraternity, but it is also true that members cut off their own finger as a sign of loyalty.
We'll leave the final word to Adelstein, who dared report on one of the Yakuza's more powerful bosses - Goto Tadamasa (surname first). Adelstein reported on Goto becoming an FBI informer in exchange for a liver transplant in California.
He was told: "Erase the story... or we'll erase you. And maybe your family. But we'll do them first so you learn your lesson before you die."
For more information on the Yakuza, read this BLOG written by my self.
Files by
Andrew Joseph
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