Yakuza criminal organization - Essay Example

YAKUZA 2008 YAKUZA Introduction The Yakuza is the of the most famous criminal organization from Japan. However, the Yakuza is not a single homogeneous organization: it comprises several hundred of clans or gangs that operate in different cities. The Yakuza is involved - in some or other form - in many aspects of life in Japan and has certain interests in virtually every area of commercial activities. The Yakuza's sphere of influence is huge spreading from prostitution rackets to the government and top level businesses. At present, the Yakuza is considered to be one of the largest and most powerful criminal organizations in the world. Thus, the number of known yakuza members only in Japan is almost 85 thousand (Bruno 2007). Origins and History The origins of Yakuza can be traced back to the Tokugawa shogunate. Tokugawa's unification of Japan in the beginning of the 17th century brought peace to the country, but also produced approximately half a million of samurai unemployed and with practically no employment opportunities. Although many of these samurai turned merchants this option was acceptable and available to only few of them: the rest had not other choice but to search for other means to earn their living. Thievery and other illegal activities became an option for many samurai to support themselves (Seymour 1996). However, the precise origin of the organization is still debated: the diverse gangs that constitute the Yakuza have different origins. Furthermore, the versions of origin adopted by members of each gang often differ substantially from the actual origins traced through the historical records. Therefore, the most popular version is that the Yakuza developed from several different elements that characterized the Japanese society of Tokugawa period (Kaplan and Dubro 1986). Although the Yakuza claim that they originated from the Japanese versions of Robin Hood whose main function was to protect communities and restore social justice this standpoint is reasonably questioned by many. Thus, some researchers trace origins of the Yakuza to the so-called kabukimono (crazy ones): the group of samurai who adopted unusual hair styles, dressed in a strange manner, spoke in highly specific slang, had long swords and harassed ordinary people: "Some feel that its members are descendents of the 17th-century kabuki-mono (crazy ones), outlandish samurai who reveled in outlandish clothing and hair styles, spoke in elaborate slang, and carried unusually long swords in their belts. The kabuki-mono were also known as hatamoto-yakko (servants of the shogun)" (Bruno 2007, p. 1). The adventures of kabukimono are still a popular theme in Japanese folklore literature. At the same time, the claims of some groups of the Yakuza to have their beginnings from the communal police or machi yakko (servants of the town) that protected the community are justified. These groups of police had different types of organization and consisted of various members of the community. Some groups also included several samurais: only samurai had the right to carry swords while the rest of population was officially prohibited to do so (Kaplan and Dubro 1986). The origins of the most well-known groups of the Yakuza, namely tekiya (peddlers) and bakuto (gamblers) have better traceability due to the specific initiation ceremony that involves rituals that directly relate to the initial spheres of interest of these groups. Tekiya began to create organizations to take over at least some administrative functions and duties relating to commerce and especially to protection of their business. Thus, during trade fairs and festivals each peddler paid certain amount to run his business safely under protection of their own security forces. These forces were eventually recognized by the Edo government, and their leaders called oyabuns (top chiefs) were granted the right to carry a sword like samurai and nobleman (Hill 2003). Bakuto (gamblers) also represented a low caste (even lower than tekiya) of the Japanese society: gambling was completely illegal in Japan at that time. Consequently, the gambling centers concentrated in abandoned temples or other hidden places located at the edge of villages and towns. Most of these gambling houses also offered loans to their clients, and typically had not choice but to maintain their own security guards. The nature of gambling business resulted in much disrespect from the community, and many scholars argue that the negative image of the modern-day Yakuza originates from bakuto (Bruno 2007). The end of the Edo Shogunate followed by the Meiji restoration brought about serious changes to the structure of the Yakuza. The Meiji regime maintained its own police forces while the traditional armed forces such as the community police gradually lost its legitimacy. The pressure on gambling business controlled by bakuto also increased substantially forcing this group of the Yakuza go the rural areas where they traditionally ran their business into the cities. As a result, the Yakuza moved almost entirely to the urban areas and started to offer protection to certain districts or business activities (e.g. entertainment, commercial, prostitutions, etc). However, such protection turned into a racket in many cases, and the Yakuza started to cover the activities it had never been involved in such as construction businesses and rickshaw (Kaplan and Dubro 1986). The moving of the Yakuza into urban areas marked the new stage of the organization's development, and the emergence of a new group that later was called gurentai. Despite the ongoing debate on whether this new group could be considered 'yakuza' in the traditional sense of this definition there is little doubt that gurentai gave birth to another subgroup within the Yakuza, namely boryokudan (violence group). The new group was involved in the activities similar to those of the Mafia: control of workers unions and other similar organizations, violent actions, etc. However, despite the fact that in common legal terminology used in Japan yakuza gangs are typically referred to as boryokudan, Yakuza members consider this name an insult because it applies to any violent criminal, not necessarily a yakuza member (Bruno 2007). Structure and Organization Similarly to the famous Italian Mafia, the Yakuza was initially arranged in a familial fashion based upon adoption. In this type of structure, there a godfather at the top of the pyramid while new members are adopted and initiated, and the term used to define the relationship between the adopted child and the father is the oyabun-kobun relationship. "The oyabun provides advice, protection, and help, and in return receives the unswerving loyalty and service of his kobun when needed" (Kaplan and Dubro 1986, p. 19). New members must pass through a formal initiation procedure that involved an exchange of sake cups symbolizing the blood connection between the oyabun and the kobun. This ritual is normally performed at a Shinto shrine (Kaplan and Dubro 1986). The most famous organization within the whole Yakuza is the Yamaguchi Yakuza. This organization is known for the devotion of its members to the code of bushido: the code of honor that prescribed how the samurai must life and behave. As a result, the Yamaguchi Yakuza adopted many of the beliefs traditional for the samurai culture including the concepts of giri and ninjo that determined the system of relationships within the group. Giri (obligation) denotes the sense of duty that binds together all its members while Ninjo (emotion) refers to "generosity or sympathy to toward the weak and disadvantaged, and sympathy towards others" (Kaplan and Dubro 1986, p. 28). The traditionally samurai belief that violent death was an honorable and poetic fate was also adopted by the Yamaguchi. Such devotion to the traditional values and tradition of Japanese cultures contributed significantly to the romantic image of the Yakuza adding validity to their claims to originate from noble Robin Hoods of the past. The structure of the Yamaguchi-gumi perfectly illustrates the typical type of relationships and control observed within a yakuza clan. In 1991, the oyabun was the head of the clan and resided at the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters in Kobe. The full name for his position was the fifth oyabun that meant he was the supreme boss of the clan. So-honbucho (headquarters chief) also resided in Kobe, and controlled 6 gangs that included almost 110 members in the city. The oyabun's saiko komon (senior advisor) resided in Osaka and controlled 15 sub-groups of yakuza approximately 450 members in total. The wakagashira (the second man) also stayed in Osaka and had 41 gangs with 941 members under his control. The fuku-honbucho (assistant) controlled 8 gangs, a total of 164 members in Osaka. The top echelon of the Yamaguchi-gumi also included the kumicho who controlled numerous kumicho hisho (kumicho's secretaries), komon (advisors), shingiin (counselors), kaikei (accountants), and wakagashira-hosa (underlings of the second-in-command). Shateigashira (the third man) lived in another city, Nagoya and had 4 gangs which included a total of 111 members under his control as well as several assistants. The whole Yamaguchi-gumi organization included 102 shatei (senior bosses), and several hundred wakashu (junior bosses) whom controlled 750 gangs comprising approximately 31,000 members (Delfs 1991, p. 30-31). Other yakuza families are substantially smaller than the Yamaguchi-gumi, but adopt the same structure and system of command. Activities Traditionally, the Yakuza has been involved in numerous illegal money-making activities with gambling, prostitution, drugs, pornography and weapons being the most essential among them. The protection racket has also been among the traditional occupations for the Yakuza that persist up to this day. The Yakuza have also established and maintained relationships with corporate and political entities in Japan. These relationships became especially close in the aftermath of the Second World War: the political instability and economic problems that followed the war created a good opportunity for the Yakuza to reinforce their influence. However, this influence has seriously eroded in the decades following the war because the left-wing political parties - the counterparts of traditionally nationalist yakuza - lost much of their power and influence in the political system of Japan (Delfs 1991; Hill 2003). Since the end of World War II, different Yakuza gangs found themselves involved in a series of violent conflicts and lost much of their original influence. At the same time, a substantial increase has been observed in the boryokudan, and in the bosozoku (bikers), another minor yakuza gang. These minor clans have brought about a serious degree of discord into the system of relationships between criminal gangs with a "clear trend of declining solidarity and obedience among Yakuza members" (Kaplan and Dubro 1986, p. 273). Older members were frustrated with such situation when moral values were neglected while the use of guns and other modern weapons grew more and more popular among the new generation of yakuza. This transformation in ethics and behavior of the Yakuza members in the criminal underworld was reasonably perceived as a serious threat to the established order not only by the older generation of yakuza, but by law enforcement entities too (Hill 2003). During the post-War period, the Yakuza continued to control the illegal market as well as proceed with the traditional commercial operations. Simultaneously, they also entered the sphere of sea ports and the entertainment industry that grew rapidly in Japan. For example, the Yamaguchi-gumi concentrated on the entertainment industry in the Osaka and gained control over one of the larges sea port in Kobe. The attempts of American forces to undermine the influence of the Yakuza failed. Moreover, the Yakuza adapted perfectly to the western criminal style, including wearing clothing similar to those of American gangsters and the use of firearms. At this point, the Yakuza gangs stopped to strictly confine themselves to the traditional spheres of interest and expanded their activities onto any areas they found profitable (Kaplan and Dubro 1986). The period of fragmentation ended in the 1960s, when Yoshio Kodama, an ex-leader of nationalist party, launched the process of negotiations between various gangs such as the Yamaguchi-gumi, Tosei-kai, and with the Inagawa-kai. Although the negotiations had partial success in stopping violence between the clans, fights between different fragments continue up to now (Bruno 2007). Until lately, the majority of yakuza clans made profits from protection rackets in prostitution, shopping, and entertainment within their territory. Reluctance of yakuza victims to report the forced protection to the police played essential role in the success of such endeavor, but the Japanese police were also not willing to get involved in serious conflicts with the Yakuza on the territories controlled by clans. Largely due to that, yakuza organizations still have the status of semi-legitimate organizations. For example, instantly after the Kobe earthquake, the Yamaguchi-gumi family that controlled the city of Kobe contributed substantially to provision of disaster relief services. The fact that the Yamaguchi-gumi help had been rendered faster that the governmental help was reported by the media, and only reinforced the status of yakuza as almost legitimate organization. Precisely due to such situations, many yakuza groups claim that their profits should rather be viewed as a collection of a tax during the feudal epoch (Bruno 2007). Yakuza groups are often involved in an exclusively Japanese form of extortion, namely sokaiya. Basically, sokaiya represents a specific form of protection racket when the organization harasses a stockholders meeting of a larger businesses instead of small companies. Representatives of the Yakuza who get the right to attend stakeholder meetings purchasing a small share of stock scare the rest of stockholders who are aware of the Yakuza reputation, and can manipulate them to make certain decisions. Blackmail, coercive practices, forced disclosure of confidential information and other illegal methods of obtaining valuable information about operations, practices or leaders of large businesses also remain among the tools used by the Yakuza in their activities. Presence of some yakuza members in corporations helps keep such scandals involving secret and avoid any disclosure of illegal actions undertaken by the Yakuza. Some Japanese businesses include bribes to the Yakuza as part of their budgets up to this day (Delfs 1991). Yakuza also have strong positions in the Japanese banking and reality market. The mechanism of yakuza activities in this sector relies on the concept of Jiageya (land turner): holders of small real estates are forced to sell their real estates to enable the large corporations to realize larger development plans (Delfs 1991). With all the criminal and half-legal activities the Yakuza is involved in, theft is not accepted as a legitimate field of activity of this organization. Denial of theft as an instrument in making profits has much to do with the yakuza traditions: since they claim to originate from the community police they cannot afford thefts because this will openly violate the interests of the community. Furthermore, yakuza members are not directly involved in carrying out the business activities such as loan sharking, commercial operations, merchandizing, management of entertainment institutions etc.: they only collect the payoffs from those non-yakuza who perform these activities (Hill 2003). Conclusion Despite the efforts undertaken by the law enforcement agencies, the Yakuza still remains among the most powerful criminal organizations in the world and there is hardly any measures available these days to undermine its position in the long-term perspective. The Yakuza relies on a solid foundation of almost three centuries of effective functioning: firm hierarchical structure, strict codes of behavior, the ability to adapt to virtually any change - these are only few of the instruments that make the Yakuza so survivable. In fact, it will not be an exaggeration to say that the Yakuza has already become an essential part of Japanese culture and tradition, and despite the criminal nature of the organizations activities it's viability can hardly be put into question, at least in the near future. References Bruno, Anthony. The Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. CrimeLibrary: Time Warner, 2007. Dubro, Alec and Kaplan, David. Yakuza: The Explosive Account of the Japanese Criminal Underworld, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1986 Hill, Peter. The Japanese Mafia: Yakuza, Law, and the State. Oxford University Press, 2003. Robert Delfs. 'Feeding on the System: Gangsters Play Increasing Role in Business and Politics'. Far Eastern Economic Review, November 21, 1991, pp. 28-31. Seymour, Christopher. Yakuza Diary. Atlantic Monthly Press, 1996 Read More