Reporter's look at yakuza gets personal

By Dan Scheraga

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bobbafett at 11:22 AM JST - 15th October

What does "yaks" mean? Are Mongolian cattle running organized crime in Japan?

hahahaha. Funny
BuddhismTech at 12:52 PM JST - 15th October

No I'm talking about the Yakitori, hotdog, noddle, pizza vendors that have little mobile stands on the street or from their van / car. They are everywhere from shinjuku to roppongi to yoyogi park

Oh! Oh! My mistake and misunderstanding! I just mixed up stall(standing) with stroll(walking). I was wrongly implying that some people would have to pay to a street vendor, sponsored by a Yakuza organization, for walking on a certain street in a red-light district. No problem.

BuddhismTech- You live in Tennessee, right? To be honest with you, you won't learn much about crime in Japan from where you are.

Yes. You are almost right. I live in northern Alabama, the home of so many smart people. I live there almost all of my life. Well, gogogo just explained about a street vendor to me. Now, I perfectly understood. I only learned about Japanese crimes through watching many Japanese movies and checking on some Japanese mainstream-media websites, like JapanToday, News on Japan, etc.

Personally, I think that I am better off if I don't know too much about criminal organizations, from Japan to America.

Sorry, I still believe that America's criminal organizations are much more lethal. They are closely working with another country which I can't identify on JapanToday. They don't have to act aggressively and violently. I am referring them to the financial cartels who handle propaganda, financial networks, underground banking, military adventures, border opening, unstoppable drug smuggling, surveillance (from camera to Internet), corrupted bills, bailouts, job outsourcing, medical scams, global warming scams, etc . Like I mentioned previously, I really can't specifically discuss on JapanToday, otherwise it can lead to a big argument and upset someone.

I consider the Yakuza very powerful IF they know how to use the Japanese propaganda to encourage Japanese to get involved in a war and largely manage the military industries. If Japan and America "switch" criminal organizations, Japan will experience some undesirable wars in other countries and so many lies made by the mainstream media, while America is dealing with prostitution, drug, and racketeering problems which are "already well known" to America. I will say that Japan is preferring to be comfortable with the Yakuza over the American criminal organizations.
gogogo at 02:44 PM JST - 15th October

Purchased the book, looking forward to reading.
JakeBird at 10:09 PM JST - 15th October

The Yakuza are saviors for the public. They have honor and the samurai spirit. They are very generous people.
BuddhismTech at 11:09 PM JST - 15th October

gogogo, wish you good luck with your book. Maybe I am wasting my time discussing about the book. Sex and violence sell very well in all countries, within our planet. A lot of people, both women and men, are strongly attracted to them. They can be ubiquitously found on TV, computer games, books, and Internet. Someone, like Jake Adelstein, is smart enough to take advantage of the human race's addiction and weakness to make money for himself.
BuddhismTech at 11:23 PM JST - 15th October

According to my perception, Jake Adelstein, American himself, is considered more powerful than a Yakuza member, because he knows how to be nosy around the distant foreigners' business or maybe lie a little to boost a public's interest.
Beelzebub at 12:01 AM JST - 16th October

BuddhismTech, I don't get it. You haven't read the book, but you are accusing the writer of lying. What is your agenda here? Please read the book and THEN say what you think was a lie, or else DON'T read the book and keep your tater trap shut.
MASSWIPE at 01:09 AM JST - 16th October

I'm a bit skeptical about Adelstein because he sometimes comes across as a non-stop self-promoter who can't remind you often enough that he was the first/only American/white person/foreigner to do this/that in Japan. But there are indications that his book may actually be worth buying: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/randoEMS/JakeAdelstein.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Vice-American-Reporter-Police/dp/0307378799&usg=_1jLA-hFTUaXQkc69jN0QI4rkyCU=&h=154&w=200&sz=5&hl=ja&start=14&tbnid=e_X1JAvMC2iPdM:&tbnh=80&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djake%2Badelstein%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Dja%26sa%3DGth
nishikat at 01:39 AM JST - 16th October

Going back to the part of "...in order to receive a liver transplant in the U.S. ahead of ailing American citizens..."

I found this:

http://www.organtransplants.org/understanding/unos/

Which quotes:

"...General principles, such as a patient's medical urgency, blood, tissue and size match with the donor, time on the waiting list and proximity to the donor, guide the distribution of organs. Under certain circumstance, special allowances are made for children. For example, children under age 11 who need kidneys are automatically assigned additional points. Factors such as a patient's income, celebrity status, and race or ethnic background play no role in determining allocation of organs..."

I guess it's misunderstood. Unless it's involving the son of Christ the FBI or any other organization cannot influence the priority list in any way. OK, I accept he made it to an American hospital but he just got the liver "ahead of ailing American citizens" because his case was at a certain medical priority as decided by the transplant protocol- and they found a match for him. Even if the guy was evil- medically it sounds ethical to me. The docs just did their jobs. Simply taken out of context at least in this discussion. But I wonder if the book claims the FBI had direct influence over the priority list.
bdiego at 07:42 AM JST - 16th October

You actually take that literally? Here's a hint: they're lying. By omission.
Beelzebub at 08:00 AM JST - 16th October

The docs just did their jobs. Simply taken out of context at least in this discussion. But I wonder if the book claims the FBI had direct influence over the priority list.

Nishikat: Have you ever heard of MONEY? It works wonders. The yakuza greased UCLA Medical Center's palm with a generous donation.

You know, it's really ludicrous to see people leap in and "debate" things they know absolutely nothing about. Other media picked on the liver transplant story well over a year ago and copies are posted all over the web. Here's some friendly advice: try acquiring some information instead of just speculating on what you think might have happened.
BuddhismTech at 02:48 PM JST - 16th October

heavyweight Tadamasa Goto had sold out his own gang to the FBI in order to receive a liver transplant in the U.S. ahead of ailing American citizens

I think that this sentence is a bit confusing. I did misread it. At first, I thought that liver transparents were intended for the rich American people. But it turned out to be the four Japanese gang members, including Tadamasa Goto, who were receiving the liver transparents at UCLA. Wow. Shocking.

The FBI was willing to help him, because he was going to give them more information about the Yamaguchi-gumi front companies, Japanese gangs, and mobsters. FBI had long suspected that the Yakuza was involved in money laundering in the U.S.?

Very, very, very ludicrous and insane!!!!! Why did the U.S. government "allow" the yakuza to visit the U.S., so they could perform money laundering? Very scandalous! The U.S. government has very, very notorious reputation for allowing criminals from different countries to enter in the U.S. Then the FBI, who are the agents of the U.S. government, wants to know a bit about the foreign criminals' businesses, after they do something bad in the U.S.? So stupid and ironic! Why doesn't the FBI investigate the corrupted U.S. government in the first place?! I am greatly irked by the U.S. government's endless scandals!

I have found a much better article which explains about the Yakuza's relationship with the FBI on the liver transparents.

Link: http://www.atypicallife.com/atypical-fbi-coordinates-yakuza-transplants/
BuddhismTech at 03:18 PM JST - 16th October

Oh well! I am treating Tadamasa Goto (and his Japanese associates), Jake Adelstein, and some officials in the U.S. government as if they are "accomplices". Very twisting! The FBI is being messed up!

I am starting to believe that Tadamasa Goto and Jake Adelstein are actually good friends, instead of acting as real enemies. I think that Jake wrote a "Tokyo Vice" book to save himself and the Yakuza, while making the FBI to look bad. His book is developed to misguide the world.

I am assuming that Jake and Goto are partners who are both involved in criminal businesses, such as associating with underground banking (a central bank can possibly operate and function as an underground bank) and reinforcing the international criminal organizations.
BuddhismTech at 03:35 PM JST - 16th October

Very, very, very shameful at the United States Department of Homeland Security and the United States Department of Justice for not doing their jobs! They go to the hell!!! Too many corrupted officials working there. They are more interested in protecting the Yakuza than the ordinary Americans.
nightvision at 08:06 AM JST - 20th October

^^No, the DHS, FBI and all the US acronyms were doing their jobs.

A liver transplant can only give the boss a few more years; info on Yakuza can save lives in the long run.