How traditional Japanese organized crime grew, flourished and lost its former influence
June 25 – the release date of the action Judgment , in which the yakuza – representatives of the Japanese criminal clans, play an important role. Responsible for the novelty is a team whose track record includes fighters from the Yakuza cycle, also dedicated to the showdown of the Yakuza. Western developers are also not averse to picking up this topic. Either in Hitman a task will pop up to eliminate the boss of the Yamaguchi-gumi clan, then Asian bandits will appear in the extremely frivolous Saint’s Row , then in GTA III, the yakuza members will arrange a war with the Colombians. True, in the West, Japanese mafiosi are usually shown in caricatures, and reality, as always, is much richer in nuances. Today we will talk about them.
From inception to flowering
Yakuza clans originated in the 17th century, during the days of feudal Japan. Even then, their representatives did not participate in anything – from selling stolen goods to organizing brothels and gambling dens. But the real growth of the power of criminal clans began in the 20th century, in the interval between the world wars. Few things help organized crime like the weakness of the state, and in the 1930s Japan was in a deep crisis, both in the economy and in politics. The Cabinet of Ministers changed almost every year. In order to somehow distract the nation from internal problems, the country’s leaders leaned on colonial expansion and climbed into China, which only complicated the situation – the war dragged on.
Kazuo Taoka, nicknamed “The Bear”, found himself in a period of growth and prosperity for the Yakuza – following the criminal road in 1929, he died (a natural death) in 1981, a dozen years before the tightening of Japanese legislation
Meanwhile, the yakuza expanded their activities in Japanese cities. Not forgetting, however, to make money on the same Chinese adventure as organizers of all kinds of provocations. In January 1932, the First Battle of Shanghai started – the Japanese landed in the city. But to start, they needed a reason. It was the beating of Japanese monks in Shanghai – a number of researchers believe that it was the Yakuza mercenaries who were involved in the case.
Criminal clans and brothel business expanded – there were almost always “brothel houses” in the rear of the Japanese army. The Yakuza recruited women mainly in colonies (for example, in Korea) and in the recently occupied territories. The topic for the affected peoples is extremely humiliating – the Japanese still remember this in many places.
In 1941, Japan finally played out with colonial ventures, provoking a conflict with the United States – a country with incomparably more powerful resources and industry. An embargo followed, a Japanese preemptive strike, and a long war that the Empire of the Rising Sun lost. Japan was occupied.
The front brothels in Asia are not going to forgive the Japanese. A statue symbolizing a forcibly taken away girl is located directly opposite the Japanese Embassy in South Korea
Shame and humiliation for the nation, but – new opportunities for the yakuza. The Korean and Vietnam Wars made Japan the main American base in the Pacific. And where there is a large army, there is also army property, which can be bought from dishonest quartermasters and resold at a profit. And also a solvent (with dollars!) Audience, hungry for bars, brothels and other hot spots in which the yakuza specialized. Therefore, their wealth and influence began to grow rapidly again.
In the 70s and 80s, everything was just great – it was the time of the general power of the criminal clans and the country’s economic growth. Society grew rich, but the connections of the mafiosi with politicians did not disappear. And the yakuza began to rapidly legalize the funds obtained by criminal means, investing them in a variety of businesses. Construction has become the largest investment target, which is logical for the country “on the rise”. Rumor has it that most Japanese skyscrapers were built in part with criminal money.
Favorite activities
While the yakuza started out as traditional organized crime dens and cheap labor intermediaries, Japan’s economic growth and corporate complexity has led to new practices. The most famous, perhaps, is sokaya, a type of corporate blackmail with a share of unique Japanese flavor.
In Asian culture, it is traditionally important to “save face” – often much more important than in European. To avoid unpleasant questions from shareholders or to suppress all kinds of rumors, managers of large companies sometimes invited yakuza to meetings. Those by their very appearance could make the rebels hold their tongues, or they began to make noise so that the audience did not have a chance to ask uncomfortable questions. But the yakuza quickly learned to exploit industrial weaknesses on their own. The scheme they developed was simple. They found dirt on the top management of a large company. Then they bought enough securities to attend shareholder meetings. This was followed by a simple and understandable blackmail – “pay the ransom money, or we will tell about this and that right in front of everyone, the shareholders will want to save face and will vote for your dismissal.”
In the 70s and 80s, Japanese top management in Tokyo’s skyscrapers trembled with horror at the mere thought of sokaya. Afraid today
The scope of the sokayi was such that in the 1980s the authorities passed a harsh law specifically against the practice. This changed the essence a little – the yakuza only began to better disguise themselves. The money received by blackmail was formalized as donations to charity and political activities of fictitious parties. Or the victims were offered to attend performances and exhibitions – with special tickets to the VIP box for completely disproportionate money.
One of the traditionally significant items of income is drugs. The Yakuza followed the same path as the European mafiosi – from rejection of “dope” to active trade in it. The Yakuza set up laboratories in Taiwan and South Korea, after which they transported batches to Japan and sold them through the streets and clubs.
Japanese mafiosi are also engaged in the production of pornography – fortunately, the experience of organizing brothels allows you to quickly find actresses. Digital technologies are also mastered: fraud, carding, hacking – all this is profitable, which means that the yakuza are interested.
Crusade
By the early 1990s, the yakuza had practically merged with the state power and the further, the more they were legalized. While the Japanese economy was growing rapidly, everyone was happy with everything. But growth slowed sharply in the 1990s. And then the government decided to wage a “small victorious war” by firmly grasping the yakuza.
The Japanese authorities are determined to gradually get rid of people like those shown in this picture. This intention was not an empty threat
It turned out to be relatively simple – the criminal clans have long felt not underground, but quite respectable organizations, and did not even try to hide. To destroy all organized crime overnight, as Mussolini almost did in his time, was, of course, impossible. This would require a dictatorship and determined street fighters, as in Europe in the 1930s.
The Japanese government acted in stages. Gradually, one “trough” after another was cut off, more and more stringent laws were adopted. Things were getting worse – the most unlucky members of the clans even switched to stealing watermelons .
Rescue attempts
The clans understood that sooner or later they would be killed. And they tried to resist. Someone – by open violence. For example, in April 2007, the mayor of Nagasaki was killed. The killer was a member of the powerful Yamaguchi clan – he fired twice, and one of the bullets hit the mayor in the heart.
During interrogation, the yakuza stated that the reason was the dented bumper of his car – he was driving through the construction site, fell into a hole, and the city authorities refused to pay compensation. It sounds, of course, like a mockery – the amount of damage is ridiculous. The incident with the bumper itself happened back in 2003 – during this time even the hottest and most unbalanced bandit would have cooled down. There is no doubt that the real reason for the action was in something else – for example, to send a kind of “message” to the authorities.
Another way, if not to prevent, then to postpone the coming disaster was charity. The Yakuza tried to win public sympathy by providing humanitarian aid to earthquake victims, including the victims of the famous 2011 Fukushima tragedy. But during the same Fukushima, information penetrated the media that the yakuza were recruiting homeless people to eliminate the consequences at the deadly radioactive station.
Sunset
So far, the clans have not been able to shake off the lingering stranglehold. Revenues are falling, organizations are withering. The fear of the yakuza is fading away – there are more and more requests to the police about racketeering. There were even successful complaints to the court from tenants to evict the yakuza living in the neighborhood: they say, we don’t want to live side by side with the bandit.
The disaster at Fukushima in a sense played into the hands of the yakuza – another good opportunity to score points in the public eye. But that wasn’t enough
If in 2007 there were 84 thousand yakuza in Japan, then by 2015 there were 30 thousand less. And at the end of 2018, the ranks of the yakuza were reduced to 30.5 thousand. Some happily expect a complete elimination of the power of criminal clans by 2020.
But not everything is so rosy. The Japanese government is quite capable of destroying the yakuza – the old, largely legalized, closely related to politicians, mafia. Fortunately, she was not particularly hiding, and was taken into account almost to the individual person.
But the decreasing number of people on the lists does not mean that organized crime is disappearing. Active “youngsters” (including those from among the Chinese and Korean bandits) may well give a damn about the traditions and connections of the Oyabun leaders. After all, it’s easy to be on your own – it is at least cheaper. And there is no need to invent any code.
Having destroyed the yakuza organizations, the Japanese can face a real bee swarm of small bands. Eliminating them one by one is not such a difficult task. But their total number and lack of control from large clans, as well as growing competition for a place in the sun, can provoke a real criminal war in the country – as in Yakuza releases, only on an even larger scale.
