The Structure and Activities of the Japanese Yakuza - Case Study Example

The Japanese Yakuza (Student Name) (Course No.) (Lecturer) (University) (Date) The Japanese Yakuza Introduction The Japanese Yakuza is a criminal network comparable to many others; however, the network has several unique customs, which makes it different from others. The Yakuza takes on the family-like responsibilities, which is similar to the other criminal syndicates existing globally. The unique distinction sets it apart. Initially, the Yakuza were gamblers, peddlers, bandits, and the worriers gone wrong alleged to exist more than three hundred years. The original members of the yakuza had the Robin Hood-like features and rendered their services to both the shoguns and municipalities. The present gangsters in Japan are in different places, stronger, and weaker in different points in history. The organization began existing in the 1800s under Toyama Mitsuru, Samurai’s son, who also founded the Genyosha (Dark Ocean) (Friman, 2005, 157). Mitsuru’s aid, Ryohei Uchida, later founded the Amur River Society (Black Dragons). The Yakuza took over prostitution enterprises, distribution of liquor, gambling, entertainment, and began operations in areas considered for the gangs. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, the group made significant move towards drug trade, firearms, and other contraband trade. The Japanese yakuza also works closely with the Chinese Triads, Sicilian and American Mafia, Jamaica Posses, and Columbian drug cartels. The organization retains important role in Japan’s culture and history considering its significance to different citizens especially the politicians, bureaucrats, and the corporate elites. The yakuza in becoming active in international scene and starting to infiltrate different regions across the globe that makes it become more sophisticated (Sverdlick, 2006, 100). With globalization, the yakuza is managing to adjust the changes that continuously occur. Although most of their activities are common, the yakuza are keeping most of their roles below the surface under the eye of the law enforcement institutions. The Structure and Activities of the Yakuza Japan, for many years, experienced love-hate relationship with its outlaws. The medieval seafaring bands freelanced as the mercenaries working for those considered warlords or providing security from the trading vessels (Von-Lampe, 2015, 387). However, when their roles diminish, they are hunted as pirates. The yakuza often sold their skills to the military households and in turn receive tolerance towards their banditry. In the 1600s, the urban street gangs played the role of the police within their neighborhoods while fighting with Samurai within the shogun service. The feudal lords the paid the gang bosses to ensure provision of labourers for the construction projects. However, in the 1800s, the yakuza assisted the government forces within the military operations while some joined the nationalists thus, becoming vital forces in politics (Bingham, 2015, 42). The police, for many years, colluded with the gangs before receiving orders to crack them down nationally. Moreover, the business leaders collude with the gangs with an aim of impeding the labour unions and silencing the leftists. The hostility of the police towards the yakuza has intensified over the years with the raids on the offices and businesses run by the yakuza, areas on the senior members rather than the gangsters, and confiscation of the illegal profits (Tiffany & Wakatsuki, 2015). The “yakuza eradication” is becoming a popular policy with the politicians claiming their resolution to destroy the yakuza. In the 1960, when Eisenhower planned to visit Japan, the Japanese government visited the yakuza bosses with an aim of lending thousands of their men as security guards (Pollack et al., 2007, 121). The yakuza also played important in post-war economic rise in Japan; however, in the late 1980s, it began clear on the significance progress played by the yakuza, which was far beyond the traditional rackets into development of real estate, stock market speculation, and full corporate management. In the past two decades, the yakuza experienced strict crime laws, aggressive law enforcement, and increasing intolerance towards their presence among the Japanese public (Hill, 2003, 67). In 1991, the Japanese government introduced the Anti-Yakuza Law that imposed strict laws on the yakuza activities. To some extent, the government deemed some activities considered legal as illegal especially when the blacklisted gangs performed the activities. In 2008, the government made addition and amendments to the laws. The recent laws include Anti-Drug Provisions Law, the Organized Crime Punishment Law, and the Transfer of Criminal Proceeds Prevention Law, which majorly targeted the yakuza profits through suppressing financial frauds, transnational underworld banking, and money laundering. Yakuza and politics In most cases, violence and democracy are seen to be fundamentally incompatible. However, the two have been linked intimately and inextricably (Shikata, 2006, 417). For many years, there has been embedment in the practice of the modern Japanese politics especially with the inception of democracy within the country. Once the Japanese parliament opened it doors, the fistfights, threats, intimidation, and vandalisms became common in the Japanese politics especially on the campaigns, elections, and the legislative debates (Boyle, 2013). The major factor that contributed to the rising rates of physical forces was the existence of the violence specialists: the yakuza and the ruffians. The systemic and political violence during popular protests, in the parliament halls, and labour strife contributed to the rise in compromised party politics in Japan, which in turn led to militarism experienced in the 1930s. For the post-World War II years, the Japanese experienced the development in the preference for money over violence as their political choose of choice. Such changes in the tactics led to the political shift but not the evolution considering the insidious, under democratic, and exclusionary of corruption and bribery (Velgus, 2012). Since the existence of the Japanese yakuza, the country experienced dangerous, chaotic, and violently coined political practices. Besides, the criminal activities have become more political in nature (Chemko, 2002; Kusters, 2016). The yakuza influenced the Japanese national politics, but all evaporated. In the last century, the yakuza worked closely with the enforcers of the political parties, pressuring the voters, and silencing the leftists through intimidation and violence. However, using the physical forces in politics declined since the 1960s since money replaced violence at the major factor of coercing people. Since the occurrence of the political scandals in 1970s, most Japanese became intolerable to the politicians associating with the yakuza (Kumar & Skaperdas, 2008). If the yakuza still plays critical in influential role as the enforcers and mediators within the local government’s affairs, then it is clear that they conceal their activities remarkably. Influence of the Yakuza on International Relations Between 1960s and 1970s, the operations of the yakuza rose beyond Japan. The group began going to the Pacific Rim with an aim of extending its operations due to increase in extravagant incomes. During such period, the country experienced ultra-nationalism as most people joined the rightist groups, which caused many problems throughout the mainland Asia. During the Second World War, the yakuza infiltrated China to assist to pillage the continent while paying attention to the opium trade (Gibson & Gibson, 2007, 114). In the early 1960s, the yakuza had not appeared into the international scene in the proportion that the underworld institutions seemed to be doing at that particular time. However, the organization chose to remain in Japan, which at the time was then undergoing through economic growth (Grusin, 2005, 142; Takeuchi, 2007, 50). As a result, the Japanese economy reflected the sufficiency for the yakuza activities and the occurrence of moneymaking process. However, the trend changed in the early 1970s when the yakuza changed its first external move into South Korea. The Japanese made invasion and occupancy for 40 years until their defeat by the allied forces. However, in such time, many Koreans were already in Japan undertaking the forced labour. After the war, most Koreans became members of organized gangs that larger merged with the larger yakuza syndicates. Unlike most Japanese institutions, the yakuza accepted the Koreans into its ranks to act in line with their traditional practices that ensure incorporation of the outsiders within the society. Such alienation created favourable conditions for most Koreans to the yakuza. Hisayuki Machi played an important role in bringing powerful Korean yakuza into Japan. It was difficult to determine the link between the gangsters within the region considering inadequacy of prominent syndicate crimes there compared to the Japanese counterparts. The state has been too secure to allow such organizations to evolve. Hence, small crime rings increased instead. Within the Asian region, South Korea is considered the economic leader, which made it the prime location for the yakuza connections (Koh, 2014). Moreover, Korea is the centre of yakuza drug trafficking activities majorly in the methamphetamine, which the Japanese referred to as the white diamonds. Most drug activities occurred within the shops. Another problem associated with the yakuza was slave trade, which made the gang to expand quickly to pacific regions. Philippines also became home for the yakuza due to increased sex industry and connections. With increased poor economic and agreeable climatic conditions, the country became ideal for small gangsters (Schilling, 2003, 144). Just like Japan, the connection yielded political and bureaucratic elite where the yakuza were able to take advantage of increased corruption within the country. Besides, in the early 1980s, the knowledge on the yakuza residents became clear and started working with the Filipino gangs broadening its areas in gambling, fraud, and money laundering. In the 1970s, the yakuza made its presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore (Hill, 2003, 192). Besides such operations, the yakuza had been given such opportunities of becoming connected with its rivals in the Chinese Triads which are the central institutions retaining the connection in transition globally. Such connections created large problems, especially with the traditional practices. The yakuza not only established its operations in Asia, it also moved to different regions globally such as Western Europe, South America, and the Mid-Pacific. The yakuza tried made several attempts to move to different non-communist states (Stack & McKenzie, 2004, 188). Most Japanese left their country for South America, especially in Brazil. Specifically, the yakuza based its capital in Sao Paulo (Hill, 2013, 80). Nevertheless, towards the end of the 1970s, it was clear that yakuza was operating in Brazil due to large clash between them and Korea gangs operating within the city (Kaplan & Dubro, 2003, 141). Other countries in South America also experienced the effects of the yakuza including Columbia where the gang recruited women in the sex industry within Japan. There has also been smuggling activities linked to Argentina and cases of cocaine trafficking reported to occur from Peru to Japan. Yakuza and national relations The recession experienced by Japan hit the yakuza as well through the law concerning tougher gangster that control most regulations passed in 1992 which made it more difficult for the practices associated with gambling and extortion. There are initial assumptions that the yakuza were the ones approaching the bankers; however, the event turned to be the other way round. After the occurrence of World War II, there were enormous borrowings occurring to ensure that companies were competitive (Harris, 2010). Nonetheless, in the 1980s, the rates from financial banking were poor making the yakuza to look for finances elsewhere especially the international capital markets. As a result, there were significant losses in the loans making the banks to pursue new borrowers particularly the yakuza, which increased their portfolio (Lisowski, 2010, 76). The operations of the yakuza spread through the grapevine and most illegitimate institutions joining to acquire access to legal business. The banks lent to the front organizations of the yakuza identified as the kigyo shatei and sometimes lending them directly to the crime bosses. The country experienced the burst of the economy due to lack of money. Several incidents also occurred mysteriously due to attempts associated with bad-debt repayments (Rankin, 2012). Besides the usual underworld activity of the yakuza, there is an increment in corruption within political realm. There are conflicts of interests among the politicians, bureaucrats, and other ruling elites, which to some extent made the problem difficulty to address. Most people are hesitant in confronting the yakuza on their involvement considering the heavy reliance on them for the campaign funds and elimination of the rivals. In Japan, the yakuza contributed to the conflicts of interests among the individuals of bureaucracy (Hill, 2003, 52). Besides the illegal activities, import of foreign women into Japan has also been occurring since the 1970s, which the research identified as the white slavery. Conclusion The paper focused on the analysis of the Japanese yakuza, its political influence, and domestic and international influence. While the yakuza criminal network became successful for many years, it is difficult to ascertain whether their influence is on the rise or just decreasing on the international scene. Due to increased globalization globally, the yakuza increased its ability of affecting both the domestic Japanese society and international scenes. There are adequate measures globally to curb the rising rates of yakuza infiltration into the other countries. The country initially enjoyed peace; however, with existence of the yakuza, most politicians used the Yakuza in silencing their competitors and bureaucrats in doing illegal businesses. References Bingham, A. (2015). Yakuza Cinema. Contemporary Japanese Cinema Since Hana-Bi, 5(2), 39-62. Boyle, A. (2013, October 23). 10 Odd Facts About The Yakuza - Listverse. Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://listverse.com/2013/10/23/10-odd-facts-about-the-yakuza/ Chemko, V. (2002). The Influence of the Japanese Yakuza on International Relations. 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Yakuza: Japan's criminal underworld. Berkeley: University of California Press. Koh, M. (2014, February 21). 15 Scary Things You Didn’t Know About The Yakuza | Thought Catalog. Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://thoughtcatalog.com/michael-koh/2014/02/15-scary-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-yakuza/ Kumar, V., & Skaperdas, S. (2008, February 13). On The Economics of Organized Crime. Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://www.economics.uci.edu/files/docs/workingpapers/2007-08/skaperdas-15.pdf Kusters, A. (2016). Anton Kusters photos show inside Japan's yakuza crime underworld | Daily Mail Online. Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3282704/Prostitutes-guns-tattoos-amputated-pinkies-Extraordinary-intimate-photos-inside-Japan-s-fearsome-yakuza-crime-underworld.html Lisowski, M. (2010). Yakuza Girl. Digital Art Masters, 2(5), 75-79. Pollack, S., Schrader, P., Towne, R., Schrader, L., Okazaki, K., & Callaghan, D. (2007). The Yakuza. 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Encyclopedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 6(2), 383-389. Varese, F. (2011). The Secret History of Japanese Cinema: The Yakuza Movies. SSRN Electronic Journal, 4(2), 88-97. Velgus, J. (2012, October 4). Yakuza: Kind-hearted Criminals or Monsters in Suits? - GaijinPot InJapan. Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://injapan.gaijinpot.com/play/culture/2012/10/04/the-yakuza-kind-hearted-criminals-or-monsters-in-suits/ Von-Lampe, K. (2015). Recent publications on organized crime. Trends in Organized Crime, 18(4), 380-393.                           Read More