Yakuza 'misunderstood' by foreign media

On May 30, the front page of the Los Angeles Times was emblazoned with the headline, “Japanese gang figures got new livers at UCLA.”

The story revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had facilitated the entry of four members of Japanese criminal syndicates into the U.S.—despite their criminal records and known gang ties—in exchange for information on money laundering which, as it turned out, did not prove especially useful in nabbing crooks.

“The U.S. considers Japan’s syndicates to be the world’s largest, and is more wary of them than are the Japanese themselves,” Shukan Jitsuwa (Aug 21-28) is told by a Japanese journalist on familiar terms with the inner workings of the FBI and CIA. “There is always the notion over why the Japanese government lets this vicious ‘mafia’ run rampant. Americans are also of the impression that the gangs will act as a hindrance to their economic activities in Japan.”

“Of several hundreds of billions of yen in investments, even if just 1% were to flow into the yakuza’s coffers, their crookedness would stand out,” the journalist adds. “Some Americans might tend to lump regular Japanese businessmen with yakuza, and regard such people as sinister. But there’s no evidence to support this. So they assemble whatever information they can with the aim of stirring up trouble.”

English publications dealing with the Japanese underworld go back over 30 years, but are still in relatively short supply. In 1975, Florence Rome published “The Tattooed Men,” which described Yamaguchi-gumi’s de facto chief Kazuo Taoka as “the godfather of godfathers.” Other books and articles have since appeared, but Shukan Jitsuwa is convinced that the western journalists who report on Japan’s syndicates generally describe their activities as the East Asian equivalent of the Italian Mafia.

But, the magazine argues, the Italian Mafia would never proudly their organization’s coat of arms (if they had one) outside their headquarters on New York’s 5th Avenue, or walk around wearing gang badges on their suit lapels. Nor do members of the Chinese triads in Hong Kong or Taiwan display their affiliation in such an open manner.

Foreign journalists, the article reiterates, are simply unable to comprehend the true situation of the yakuza.

“One hundred percent of foreign journalists are convinced that the yakuza are the same type of criminal organization as the mafia,” says the writer. “To some extent, such a misperception should be obvious, since they know nothing about the yakuza’s history. If you go back to their formative period you’re talking about 500 years ago.”

Considering the four yakuza liver transplants took place between 2000 and 2004, in Shukan Jitsuwa’s view the timing of LA Times story appears a bit suspicious.

“Jake Adelstein, the writer of the first article about the gang leader’s liver transplant in the Washington Post (on May 11) was a former reporter for one of Japan’s biggest newspapers,” says the aforementioned Japanese journalist. “He had mentioned in an interview that he was preparing to include it in an upcoming book. [Title: “Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan.”] By running the article in the Washington Post, it’s possible he may just engaging in advance publicity.”

It is widely known that the U.S. is pressuring the Japanese government to crack down harder on the yakuza. But Shukan Jitsuwa isn’t sure it’s that easy for the government to oblige. If the magazine is correct, American law enforcement officials have obtained precious little data on the whos, whats and wherefores of Japanese gangs.

“Up to now, the Japanese police have only provided the names and dates of birth of about 50 yakuza members, despite the fact that there are about 80,000 of them in total,” the aforementioned journalist tells the magazine.

“Whenever American economic or financial interests head overseas, it is the CIA that draws the lines,” he continues. “It’s necessary to carefully ascertain what are its real aims.

“Even if the U.S. takes a hostile view toward the yakuza, it’s probably in Japan’s interests for this country’s government, police and judiciary to refrain from dancing to America’s tune.”

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Latest 15 of 61 Total Comments Show All

GW at 12:40 PM JST - 22nd August

dxxjp

boy yr a fountain of new info on yaks arent ya! NOT!

All that you wrote is common knowlwedge for anyone hanging out in Jpn
dennis0bauer at 03:23 PM JST - 22nd August

DXXJP, My girlfriend worked at a japanese snacku so i went there after work some times, every now and then a local Yakuza boss would come with his underlings, and i had to sing Frank Sinatra's My Way, because he liked Franky. It was interesting to see the submissiveness of the lowest rank yakuza and his 20 year younger girlfrend. He always said i was his "friend"
mindovermatter at 12:33 PM JST - 23rd August

timtak

I read a paper which said that Mafia-type-organisations all provided a private policing service

You don't say....?

Of course they provide "policing" services, it's called "protection" money...

I'm sure they gave out trunk loads of money in Osaka & Kobe and any other disaster struck place that served a purpose for their operations...

I.E... Kobe & Osaka are two of the biggest Yakuza towns in Japan, they make a lot of money at these places... So of course they were going to help people out, whether they wanted it or NOT and a couple years down the road, they will be back to collect on these "favors"...

You can bet on it...! One thing or another, you don't get help from the Yakuza for nothing...
medievaltimes at 09:30 AM JST - 24th August

The Yaks like to see themselves as saviors. They arent. They keep the business playing field uneven.

I put a lot of the blame on the passive Japanese public. In most countries the public would be firebombing Yak offices.

The Yaks are in part preventing Japan from moving forward.
frontandcentre at 03:33 PM JST - 25th August

change - the police surveillance cameras that you mentioned are to make sure that the Yakuza are OK, not to spy on their activities. If the police had the balls - not to mention the political support - to seriously tackle organised crime, then they could walk in with their list and arrest everybody. Unfortunately for law-abiding citizens the police prefer a policy of containment and accepting that yaks have a degree of immunity, because they prefer yaks to control the majority of domestic crime rather than the triads. What irritates me is that foreigners are accused of misunderstanding the yakuza when in actual fact the Japanese have simply learned to turn a blind eye and accept their highly damaging criminal activities with their usual "shoganai" attitude.

DXXJP - the "disruption" by Yak shareholders of listed companies was in some cases welcomed (or sponsored) by the boards as it gave them an excuse to keep their AGMs as short and "uncomplicated" as possible... i.e. no difficult questions from legitimate shareholders either.

That's an example of where Yaks performed a service for business - though arguably to the detriment of society at large, by reducing accountability.
tkoind2 at 09:39 AM JST - 26th August

The real truth is that they Yakuza might as well be a government Ministry. They have as much impact and influence in Japan. And they are as influential.

I don't see them as the same as the US or Italian Mafia. And certainly not like MS13 or other global crime gangs. They are instead an unfortunate part of the fabric of Japanese society that serves some positive purposes as well as many negative ones. Much like the sitting goverment.

I'd like to see the Yakuza go away forever. But that would be the same as expecting phrases like "Shoganai" to go away forever. Just isn't likely.
Kijimuna at 01:22 PM JST - 26th August

Suckas got played
GW at 10:11 AM JST - 27th August

tkoind2

what you say is true but the old "systems" are slowly but very surely killing this country & its ability to compete with the world, but as you know the J-pop just love to collectively wollow in self pity & await the impending implosion & the response will be a massive shoganai but any foreigner here even paying attn only on rare occasions will know other wise
Howardtheduck at 11:22 AM JST - 27th August

Nihonjinron garbage. The Yaks are greedy, brutal thugs; there is no 'misunderstanding' there. Every time something is written that is embarrassing to Japan, the cultural 'misunderstanding' or 'confusion' card is played. We foreigners obviously can't see the purpose the Yaks serve. Mainly, lining the pockets of corrupt politicians, and depixelizing Japanese adult movies.
Patrick Smash at 01:28 PM JST - 27th August

I had a problem with a yakuza guy once. He was a complete arse, and just had to be thumped in the middle of a family restaurant by a six foot nine inch Irishman. His yakuza buddies promised more were on their way, as there were only 4 of them to deal with me and my 4 foot 6 inch Japanese girlfriend. I don't think I'd have done that to a group of dodgy looking Italians carrying violin cases, so I would agree the Japanese mafia is a little different to some others.
DeepAir65 at 09:14 AM JST - 28th August

Interesting article in The Times - makes you think http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industrysectors/bankingand_finance/article4621950.ece
Youdontknow at 11:07 PM JST - 29th August

I've also had the odd scuffle with a Yakuza or three over the years. But I don't find them at all intimidating. Rather the other way around. If they think they're tough, they ought to try living on Moss Side in Manchester, UK. Yaks soon back off when they realize a person CAN look after themselves!
realist at 05:41 PM JST - 1st September

Yakuza are scumbags - like all criminals - absolutlely no "misunderstanding" about that.
kjunluc2 at 05:53 AM JST - 2nd September

Those kinky-haired, four-fingered little bastards should be removed from society.

I once went into a little, dumpy joint in Maebashi and had a couple beers. There were five kinky-heads in a booth behind me. I asked the mama how much in English. She asked the yaks, "Dou shio ka." One says, "Ichi mahn go sen." She worked her pencil and pad a while and then said, "Ni mahn yen."

I laid ni sen on the bar and she started yellin "No,no,no! I put one back in my pocket and left.

She followed screaming like hell. I would never cheat an honest person out of one cent or one yen but have now qualms about crooked bastard like the Yak.

In 1950 I almost got into a fight with a shipmate for cheating a rintaku rider out of 50 yen. I hate thieves and crooks.
zurcronium at 09:30 PM JST - 6th September

Agree that the yaks are nothing like the italian or russian mobs.