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Yakuza - the Japanese Mafia - are they Losing their Honour?

Yakuza – the Japanese mafia – are they losing their honour?


Italy has the La Cosa Nostra.
America has the Mafia
The Irish and Jews have their own crime organizations in America.
Southeast Asia has the Triads
China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have the Tong


These are all well-known organized crime organizations
 However, there is one organization that was not mentioned in the above list, a group that has been around for over 300 years. A group known to have as much honour and principle as the Mafia, and is just as strong, if not stronger.

According to journalist David Kaplan, Japan is home to a formidable group of gangsters. (http://members.tripod.com/~orgcrime/japdarkside.htm)


The group is Yakuza

"Ultimately, the Yakuza will become like the U.S mafia", explained Kakuji Inagawa, Japan's most esteemed godfather. "In the future there will be one national mob. Like my organization, the bigger firms will take over. You can see the move towards a more corporate structure." Inagawa was not at all happy about this turn of events. He continued: "The mafia will kill for profit. The yakuza most respect morals and regulations and obey them – but that tradition is fading… it would be easy if we could turn back the pages of time. It is because of the generation gap that I worry."
(Kaplan, David, Yakuza – Japan's criminal underworld, 2003:325)



Introduction

In this assignment I will look at the yakuza, the Japanese mafia, and how they have transformed from ancient samurai to the notorious gangsters that they are today. What has changed their form of conduct, and are they going away from their original traditions of honour and loyalty? Is it simply the fact that the world has turned into a much more cynical society than in the old days? Has it come to the point where greed is gradually wiping out what the yakuza originally stood for? Or are they just following the development like any other business have been forced to do in the past and recent years? Why do the yakuza still exists in modern Japan?

Cash is king, and there are no longer any limitations for what certain people or groups are willing to do to obtain wealth and prosperity. Can the yakuza still defend their unique place in society by showing to ancient samurai ancestors, or their Robin Hood image told through old plays and stories? For many Japanese authors, historians and others, the history of organized crime in Japan is an honorable one. There is a feeling that persists amongst some Japanese, including a large number of the police force, that organized crime in their country bears a noble past. (Kaplan, David, Yakuza – Japan’s criminal underworld, 2003:4)

To understand this romantic image of the gangster, we have to go back almost four centuries to the country's middle ages.


History

The word Ya-ku-za means 8-9-3. This comes from the card game Hanafuda, also called Oicho- Kabu, a game reasonably simular to what we know as Blackjack. If added, the sum of these three numbers come out to an even twenty, and this is the worst score one can obtain. As a hand with twenty gives no points what so ever, the yakuza draws the parallel to themselves as the bad hand of society. In other words, the yakuza enjoy, and are proud, to be outcasts in the Japanese society.

It was the Bakuto-branch (the gamblers) of the yakuza who introduced and established this term, and gradually it was used to refer not only to gambling groups, but also outlaws in general. (http://web.telia.com/~u31302275/yakuza.htm)


The kabuki-mono

The yakuza origin can be traced back as far as to the year 1612, even though there is some debate around this subject amongst yakuza members.

Some, though very few, assert that they are descendents of the 17th century kabuki-mono, which means the crazy ones. The Kabuki-mono was also known as hatamotoyakko, servants of the Shogun.

In year 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu, was the most powerful man in Japan. He was appointed Shogun by the emperor in 1603, and from then on Tokugawa shoguns would keep the whole country under tight control for a long period of time. This is known as the Tokugawa era. (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2128.html)

As this peaceful era in Japanese history went on, the demand for samurai naturally decreased. This led to the unemployment of nearly 500.000 samurais, and they were now leaderless ronins.

From now on these former samurais switched sides considering law and order. Having had their focus on community service, they now started stealing and creating mayhem wherever they went. They terrorized their surroundings and brought fear to the society.
The Kabuki-mono was recognized by their distinctive haircuts, their unusual, and to most people, odd way of dressing, and not to mention the fact that they carried long swords at all times. They also spoke with certain slang.

They worked in gangs and were extremely loyal to one and another, by protecting and helping each other, even if that meant to go against their own families.
(http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/1.html)


The machi-yakko

The modern yakuza does not like the thought that they are descendents of the crazy ones, and refuse to see the Kabuki-mono as their ancestors. They have another theory about where they have their sire. Not surprisingly, the official Yakuza history portrays the group in much warmer terms.

According to today's yakuza, they come from the machi-yakko, which apt enough means servant of town. They were the middle class of medieval Japan. Originally their main focus was to protect their villages from intruders, often the kabuki-mono.
(http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/1.html)

The majority of the machi-yakkos were simple men with normal professions such as farmers and storekeepers, but there was also the occasional ronin. They had far worse equipment and less training than their opponent. This was the proper Robin Hood-gang, standing up for the defenseless, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. They were looked upon as heroes by the village's citizens.

One similarity was that they were all adept gamblers, something that brought them even closer together. Much like today's yakuza, the Machi-yakko had very strong bonds between the members, and especially to their leader. (http://www.gangland.net/yakuza.htm)


The Yakuza members

It was not until the middle to late 1700's that the early Yakuza surfaced.
There are three general categories which the yakuza members fall under. These names are still used today for the different branches of the yakuza activities. I will here give a brief introduction to Tekiya, Bakuto and Gurentai.

Tekiya were the street vendors. Traditionally they were traveling merchants of medicine and worked the markets and the fairs. They were hustlers and conmen, using every trick in the book to delude the customer. At the same time their oyabun, their leader, who collected protection money and other dubious income, was given the authority of supervisor. He could then carry two swords, just like the samurai, and was also allowed to have a surname. All this because everything they did seemed legal from the outside. (http://members.tripod.com/~orgcrime/yakuzahistory.htm)

While the tekiya worked their ways around the markets, the bakuto remained mostly around the highways and towns. They were gamblers, and one can say that they contributed to Japan's tradition for gambling. The Bakuto became what Tokyo criminologist Hoshino calls "the kernel of organized crime groups" in Japan. 
(Kaplan, David, Yakuza – Japan’s criminal underworld, 2003:13)
 As the Bakuto organized into groups and expanded into other operations such as loan sharking, half of the groundwork for the modern yakuza was born. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakuto)

The third category is the gurentai. During and after the occupation under World War II, the hoodlums, called gurentai, began to form their organization. As there was a power vacuum in the government, the gurentai took advantage of the situation. They managed to establish a strong gang. They made good money and obtained a great deal of power when the demand for black market goods exploded. A lot of the products on the black market were, ironically enough, food rationed out by American troops. (http://www.web.telia.com/~u31302275/yakuza.htm)

The gurentai were the first to swap their swords with guns, and that took Japanese crime to a new, and until then, unknown level. The Gurentai can be compared with the American mob and its leaders with Al Capone as a front figure.
The denominator for these three branches is that everyone in each group is from the same background. They were misfits, unemployed and delinquents. It gave them a sense of belonging somewhere and in that way the yakuza became a family for many.
(http://members.tripod.com/~orgcrime/yakuzahistory.htm)

Today most new members are young men coming from the bosozoku. These are speed tribes, with a great passion for motorcycles and crime. A significant amount of the "rookies" are also picked up amongst boxers and martial artists. 
The yakuza have no history or reputation in forcing new members to join them.


Modernization of the Yakuza

In 1867/1868, the Tokugawa era found an end in the Meiji restoration. The emperor Meiji was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo which became the new capital. Meiji got his imperial power back. The actual political power was transferred from the Tokugawa Bakufu into the hands of a small group of nobles and former samurai. (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2130.html)


This gave Japan a rebirth, and the first step of becoming an industrial nation had begun. Japan formed a strong army and political parties and parliament got put on its feet. Of course, the yakuza had to follow Japans deploying society
 Yakuza recruited many new members from the lower-middle class, and by that expanded their criminal network. In the years to come the yakuza began to infiltrate the political system by taking sides, mainly with the right-wing parties, the ultranationalists. Over time the yakuza and various politicians developed a very close relationship, leading to increased corruption in the government.

Powerful friends have always been a valuable asset to organized crime organizations. Even in today's world the yakuza can, at times, dominate local politics


Until 1925, Japan had an emperor as the chief of state, but following the European model, this changed. Democracy became superior to the aristocracy, and in 1925, public vote for all men was initiated. It did not take long before both socialistic and communist parties were up and running, something that was not at all popular in some layers of society. All of a sudden the government asked for the yakuzas help. When it came to assassinations and similar tasks, who better to ask than the yakuza? They were to train underground organizations financed and managed by ultranationalists. Supporting the right wing became, for the yakuza, both patriotic and profitable at the same time. Yakuza groups were an effective tool in the fight against radicalism and others in opposition. 
This changed after the bombing of Pearl Harbour; the government was now no longer in need neither for the ultranationalists or the yakuza.(http://members.tripod.com/~orgcrime/yakuzahistory.htm)


After World War II, the Americans saw the yakuza as one of the allies biggest threats. They looked closely into all Yakuza activities, but in 1948 the investigation ceased as the Americans believed to have the situation under control. In spite of this the yakuza continued to operate and were now organised under two oyabuns, leaders. The fact that they had several high-level government officials in their back, made their existents far easier. In 1950 the Americans gave up, and came to the conclusion that they could not prevent the powerful yakuza from operating in Japan.
The yakuza went on conducting their business, but now in a much more violent manner. Swords were passé, and guns had taken its place. Their victims were not any longer limited to storekeepers and gamblers, but the common man was now also to be exposed to yakuza crimes.

Between 1958 and 1963 the yakuza increased immensely. Over a period of only five years, the number of members went up with over 150%, to 184.000 members, operating in the 5.200 different gangs all over Japan. 
(Kaplan, David, Yakuza – Japan's criminal underworld, 2003: prologue p. xvii)

Yakuza structure
 The yakuza syndicates are structured in a hierarchy, a pyramidal structure. All the members of the clan are obliged to obey the oyabun, he is the "father" and is therefore responsible for his men. His word is the law, but to be able to demand such obedience he must protect them against all dangers. The structure builds on the oyabun-kobun- (father-son) and the kyodaibun-(brother) relationships. The boss will have an oyabun-kobun relationship with his men. This goes for everyone but the senior executives, they will be the boss' younger brothers. The oyabun also has what the Italian mafia calls a consigleri, a sort of advisor, a left hand for the boss. In yakuza terms he is called saiko-komon, and is in control of lawyers, accountants and other advisors.

Once a member one must pay a monthly membership fee, attend various yakuza ceremonies and do as told by the executives. By failing to any of this, punishment such as fines, beatings, expulsion, finger amputation and, if some major offence has been committed, the death sentence, will be given by the oyabun. On the far brighter side, a yakuza membership gives many advantages in respect of having both a brand image and a strong network of criminals in the back. (Hill, Peter, The Changing face of the Yakuza, 2004:107)

Yakuza and the authorities

Most Japanese people have a very strong dislike towards the yakuza for obvious reasons. At the same time the yakuza has a heavy position in the Japanese society. Yakuza are largely tolerated by the police as long as they do not inflict any harm or danger on the ordinary public. In some lines of thinking the yakuza makes the workday for the police easier. They prefer dealing with a highly organized system of crime than with a large number of individuals operating totally independently of each other. But there is a lot more to it. If you look at the relationship between the yakuza and the police over the last five decades, several conclusions can be drawn. Number one is that this relationship has been dynamic rather than static. Second, yakuza is not one single organisation, but a web of different groups with different strategies when it comes to handling the upper-world. Third, the police must also be seen as a divided force. On one hand you have the security and on the other the criminal investigators


The yakuza actually has a history of cooperating with the police. They would surrender suspects to the authorities, exchanging information with the police, and keep non-gang trouble-makers off the street. Some even claim that the yakuza-police relationship is of a symbiotic nature
(Hill, Peter, Yakuza, Law and the State, 2003:248)

Yet the relationship that the yakuza once enjoyed with the police is becoming colder and colder, partly because of a series of corruption scandals that is forcing the police to act in a more socially upstanding manner and partly by police reluctance to deal with individuals involved in drug trade.

The yakuza has been standing for a major part of Japanese crime for a long time. From 1960 through 1992, the yakuza were responsible for up to 20% of homicides, 20% of burglaries, 25% of assaults, 40% of blackmail and 50% of intimidation, and they formed about 40% of the prison population.
(http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/yakuza.html)

By the standards of organized crime elsewhere, the inter-gang warfare of the yakuza has been reasonably limited in recent decades. This is due to a number of factors; the mature state of Japanese organized crime, the low background levels of violence in Japanese society; and recently, more robust legal measures concerning such activities. The leaders of the different gangs have realized that they have a lot more to lose than to gain from an open display of violence in the Japanese streets. (Hill, Peter, The Changing face of the Yakuza, 2004:110)


Boryokudan law

To prevent this tendency from proceeding something had to be done from the high level of politicians. As Public disgust at the corrupt leaders, the death of police officers and innocent citizens and the inadequacy of the criminal law piled up, it was about time to react.

March 1. 1992 the Japanese government passed unanimously a new law, the Act for Prevention of Unlawful Activities by Boryokudan members. Boryokudan is a term for yakuza or other criminal gangs. This law mainly sets down a new pair of rules when it comes to profits made from any form of extortion, which was not covered in the former law on the matter. (http://members.tripod.com/~orgcrime/yakuzahistory.htm)


A group would be designated a boryokudan provided that:
1. over a certain proportion of its members have a criminal record
2. the group is organized hierarchically
3. the organization's members make use of the group's reputation to make money.
(Hill, Peter, The Changing Face of the Yakuza, 2004:103)

It also identifies organisations with strong criminal and violent tendencies. The main effort done by the yakuza to avoid being defined as a boryokudan is to hide behind actual businesses and companies, and use them as fronts. This has at least made the yakuza's job a little bit harder to carry out. In addition to this new law, the government established regional centers who where to raise the public knowledge and awareness regarding yakuza related issues. (Hill, Peter, The Changing Face of the Yakuza, 2004:102)
Even thought the government has tried to eliminate the different cells in the organisation, they have not succeeded on doing this. According to police statistics from 2002, there are 84.400 boryokudan members in Japan. Of these only about half are full members, the rest associate members. Comparing to the peak in 1963, when the yakuza had over 184.000 members, today's number is fairly modest. The yakuza has, nevertheless, grown from its 1995 low of 79.300. After the law of 1992 came into force, it has been very hard to verify any exact number of organized criminals, since many of these now are working "undercover". (Hill, Peter, The Changing Face of the Yakuza, 2004:106)

To put the numbers in perspective, the United States with more than double the population has "only" 20.000 organised crime members in total.
(http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/1.html)

The yakuzas power is still far too strong and far reaching for any government to put an end to it in the near future.


Yakuza law

The government makes new laws and tries to have a certain control of the organized crime by doing this, but the truth is that the only rules that are obeyed by the yakuza are their own.
To keep a certain control in a generally hostile environment the yakuza have made some rules that apply to all members, and which are strictly enforced.

There are five cardinal rules:
do not disobey, or cause a nuisance to your superiors
do not betray your gang or your fellow gang members
do not fight with fellow members or disrupt the harmony of the gang
do not embezzle gang funds
do not touch the woman of a fellow gang member

All of these rules are not to be broken under any circumstances, but the most important rule of them all is without a doubt number one. This is done quite clear through a well-know yakuza saying:"If the oyabun (boss) says that the passing crow is white, then you must agree." (Hill, Peter, Yakuza, Law and the State, 2003:72)


Yakuza activities – sources of income

The yakuza business activities change according to general development in society, both when it comes to market opportunities and different levels of law enforcement. (Hill, Peter, The Changing Face of the Yakuza, 2004:108)

In the Yakuza world, all types of economic activity are called shinogi
 Japan's gangsters have discovered that the criminal world does not require chivalry or ideology
 The yakuza is involved in numerous places in Japan's everyday economy. They control big blocks of shares in the stock market, they are heavily represented in real estate, and they have considerable political influence. Their structure can be seen as a multinational corporation
 As for more traditional mob-operations, the yakuza works in many different areas. Some of these are loan-sharking, corporate extortion, prostitution, pornography, gun trade, gambling, money laundering, narcotics, tourist scams and sex tours. (http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/1.html)

A third of the yakuza's income comes from drug related business according to the police. They are particularly involved with methamphetamines – or what the Japanese call "awakening drugs"
 Estimates of total yakuza income can never be made with any degree of certainty. To try to give a little glimpse of the enormous sums we are talking about, the National Police Agency estimated that the total income of boryokudan groups in Japan was over 9.4 billion U.S dollars. And this was in 1989. Very few know for sure how much money the yakuza are making today. (Hill, Peter, Yakuza, Law and the State, 2003:89)

A highly respected Japanese journalist suggested a figure of over five trillion yen, only in profit, in the mid 1980s. But times are changing. Recent estimates shows that the majority of yakuza are struggling far more today to make ends meet than ever before. (Hill, Peter, The Changing Face of the Yakuza, 2004:109)


Honour

Honour – the sense of respect that people show each other for each and everyone's ethical and social value as a citizen and a human being. The acknowledgement of everyone's right to be respected
(Freely translated from the definition of honour in the Norwegian encyclopedia CAPLEX)

Honour is without a doubt one of the first things that comes to mind when I think about Japan. The term consists of so many values that one has to respect
 The Japanese honour includes honesty, respect and courage. In the old days if a person where to behave dishonourably, he or she had committed a truly serious offence, and could be sentenced to death. More than anyone else, the samurai have been the strongest spokesmen when it comes to honour. They were living in a way for people to follow and live up to. They were always to be relied upon and trusted in any grave situation, and their loyalty was above all, impeccable
 The Japanese people, just as the samurai moral code, have a very strong sense of honour. Even today, people hold on to their dignity and don't want their honour to be insulted or lost.

So what has the yakuza kept of this national heritage?

They for sure can not be trusted, and they do not lead a life of which one should admire, less follow. They keep losing the respect that the people may have offered them in the past, every time an innocent bystander gets shot down during a gang war shoot out. Their business has been progressively releasing any sense of honour, for the sake of sheer profit, which translates is a growing problem for the organization and for society.
Nonetheless, High ranking yakuza argues that they are not truly evil: their code of chivalry and samurai values calls upon them to defend the interest of society's weaker members, and their conduct expresses their noble values, not violence. However, evidence clearly shows that such conception may very well be outdated. (http://members.tripod.com/~orgcrime/yakuzahistory.htm)

Kakuji Inagawa, who I quoted in the introduction of my paper, is not the only boss who is worried about the development seen the last years. Long time Kyoto boss Tokutaro Takayama told a reporter, "Today, they don't care anymore about obligations, traditions, respect and dignity. There are no rules anymore
"(Kaplan, David, Yakuza – Japan’s criminal underworld, 2003:325)


The biggest, and perhaps most disturbing change, is the loss of the samurai ideals that were once such an important part of the culture of Japan's crime syndicates.
In the jungle that is today's society, such things as traditions, respect and dignity is a luxury which one can not afford. Only the fittest survives
 With the huge amount of resources and money that the yakuza are in control over, it is not easy to stick to the ancient code of honour that was the old tradition. Times are bound to change, and so is the yakuza. They have to adapt to the environment as everyone else, strictly to survive.

The new yakuza
 Even though the Japanese gangsters have a long history of killing, robbing and extorting, they consequently assert that their enterprise has a noble side to it. Some critics raise the question if the yakuza ever were truly chivalrous. The yakuza has played the role as the integrated, yet rejected, the legal yet criminal. According to award-winning journalist David E. Kaplan, the yakuza does have a chivalrous side, but that is exactly what is changing, and progressively disappearing. The image of noble outlaws has ceased to exist in the minds of citizens, to be replaced by an image of reckless criminals who thrive on fear and oppression
 (Kaplan, David, Yakuza – Japan's criminal underworld, 2003:326)
 One of the main reasons why the yakuza is changing, for the worse according to most people, is the retirement of the old bosses. They still had a clear picture of principles and values that they meant the yakuza should follow in their daily business. These ideas and beliefs were maintained by strict discipline. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. As the younger yakuza take over power, the organization changes both its focus and structure.


The white collar yakuza

There has always, at least up until now, been a clear diversion between the tekyia and the bakuto. This is changing, which is a sign that the yakuza structure is in decay. The former head of Tokyo's anti-mob unit, Seiji Iishiba, commented on the fact that the distinct yakuza groups are disappearing: "You can't tell who's who anymore. It is now like a department store." This, of course, also makes the job for the crime fighters a lot harder, since everyone now is doing whatever it takes to make a quick yen, or a million.
What emerged in the 1980s was the interi yakuza. This was yakuza with greater skills in the business world, intellectual gangsters. Then along came the keizai yakuza, who were economic gangsters. They managed to put the yakuza in a position in corporate Japan which is unimaginably advantageous. It did not take long before the yakuza were sitting on enormous amounts of money and stocks. This has been referred to as one of history's greatest transfers of wealth to organized crime.(Kaplan, David, Yakuza – Japan's criminal underworld, 2003:327)

The yakuza possess such enormous resources and competent member that they are able to juggle the financial market almost as they please. If this continues, Japan is on the verge of a huge wave of economic crime. Who will be capable of stopping these reckless thugs in business suits? And how



Traditions are fading

It is an entirely new generation mafia who are taking over. Regrettably, the new buds on the yakuza-tree do not carry the same beliefs and creeds as the old branches. They have gone straight from motorcycle gangs or similar criminal youth groups, and into a life as a yakuza. It's a different world with different values, and such fast-paced street punks have no respect for the traditional gangland rituals and ceremonies. Maybe the most important of all yakuza rules have been to always obey your boss. Now they do not even submit to their superiors, and their will to give their life in the line of duty is equal to zero. Another thing that was absolutely unthinkable not long ago is the practice of whistle blowing. Nowadays yakuza have been caught snitching on, and turning in, their very own bosses.

There is no doubt what so ever that money is playing a larger and larger role in the gangster society. Not that this has not been the main focus from the very beginning, but it is the way that business is conducted that is frightening; presently yakuza seem to entirely disregard the means, while focusing only the results.

A main goal for all yakuza bosses has since the beginning was to achieve control of the criminal underworld. However, current leaders maintain their distance regarding such old-fashioned ideals, when sorting out their priorities. Currently, we witness a clear relinquishment of tradition and honour, with the blind pursuit of profitability rising above any old, outdated moral code.

"Today, accumulating great wealth or succeeding at an enterprise has become their only goal", wrote Hoshino, the same criminologist quoted earlier in this paper. He adds that present yakuza are much more fearful of being caught and sent to jail. (Kaplan, David, Yakuza – Japan's criminal underworld, 2003:327)
The main reason being that, due to the lack of organization, when modern criminals are incarcerated, the business stops, along with the normal stream of revenue.

As greed is pushing the yakuza up and ahead, the respect for human life also decreases. According to the old laws and traditions, katagi no shu, the citizens under the sun, should not be harmed. This creed about not hurting the common people is just as old as the yakuza itself. Yet this code seems be losing its purpose.

Firearms are by law prohibited in Japan. This law has huge cracks in it as guns are used in every aspect of the yakuza everyday errands. The ban on handguns seems to be less effective every day that goes by. Shootouts in broad daylight, guns involved in loan sharking as well as in corporate extortion, this is the new reality that confronts law enforcement officers all over Japan.

In 1976 the American scholar David Bayley wrote: "Japan is a totally disarmed society; criminals hardly ever carry firearms." This was soon to change radically. Only eight years later a police official said that there was no doubt in his mind that literally every yakuza owns and carries a handgun, even on the streets. This is as far from the previous situation as one can get, if this is the fact. Yakuza are obviously one of the great, and by far the biggest weapon smugglers in Japan. And for that reason they are heavily armed, often with state of the art guns, mostly smuggled in from the U.S. (Kaplan, David, Yakuza – Japan's criminal underworld, 2003:328) Another expert on the topic, Peter B.E. Hill, claims that the yakuza rarely carry guns and usually hides their weapons in a third party's house. Even bodyguards walk around unarmed in time of peace between the gangs. (Hill, Peter, The Changing Face of the Yakuza, 2004:111) At least one thing is sure, a lot has happened since the days of the sword. The yakuza have a history that gives them a special place in Japan, even today, but no matter how they defend their position, there is nothing chivalrous about gunning down innocent bystanders. No matter what the cause is, or how much money is involved. I am guessing that rather few of the deceased bosses are turning in their coffins as we speak from this mockery of the old codes. The yakuza has progressively released its status as an honorable, yet criminal organization that even the police respected, to a greedy and criminal enterprise which spares no efforts to reach its goals.


The decline of the yakuza

Over the last century, Japan has had considerable economic, political and social change. To maintain their position, the Japanese crime organization, yakuza, has been forced to rapidly adapt to these changes. During the last decade there are two main factors that have had a serious impact on the yakuza and their ways; the 1992 boryokudan law, and the economic crack in 1990, known as the collapsing bubble. Since then, legal and social developments have undermined the yakuza. To avoid and reduce this impact, they have adopted a lower profile and much more effort is put into resolving gang disputes in a peaceful manner, as not draw more attention than necessary. But again earnings weigh heavily. As long as illegal markets exist, the criminals will be there to take advantage of this. And while the political will to break the syndicates down, is as passive as it is today, the survival of the yakuza is certain. Still, the space and places where they can operate has been diminishing, and it still is. (Hill, Peter, The Changing Face of the Yakuza, 2004:97) Since Japanese authorities keep their cards to themselves it is hard to say whether the yakuza are in a period in decline or if their numbers are still increasing as the tendency shown above indicates. A reason for this secrecy can be that the government is ashamed to disclose the true extent of the power of the yakuza in the country.

At the same time Japanese companies are offering former yakuza members jobs and rehabilitation programs. It is not against the yakuza law to break up from the organization and chose ones own path, and this is what Japanese corporations are trying to encourage. This was an initiative that started up just after the boryokudan law was passed. Between April 21st and May 25th 1992, there were reports of 145 calls from members of the yakuza and their families on how to leave the criminal world and becoming a law-abiding citizen. (http://members.tripod.com/~orgcrime/yakuzahistory.htm)

It is hardly impossible for an outsider to know if these are signs of decline or not. The numbers of yakuza are still high, and the added secrecy that arose after the passing of the new law in 1992, might just work as an advantage in the end. The yakuza took some active steps to avoid the new law's effect. All contact and cooperation with the police ceased to exist and subgroups were ordered to remove all kinds of gang insignias from their offices. For all we know, the yakuza can be more active than ever, growing in the dark, playing cat and mouse with the authorities. To quote the American author Anthony Bruno; "Like the fabled ninjas of ancient Japan, they can be everywhere and nowhere, but they’re always lethal."(http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/6.html)


An ending reflection

All things considered, it comes across quite clearly that the socio-political turbulences throughout the history of Japan have contributed greatly both to the rise and the decline of the yakuza, particularly where it concerns the organization's moral sense.

Early in the 18th century, the yakuza organized itself in response to a power vacuum in the government; the country had been concealed within itself for a long time, and only then did it begin to adapt to western concepts such as organized politics and democracy. After centuries of military government, the Meiji Restoration brought along a period of peace and diplomacy, but the transition was by no means easy, and many people had to find a way to manage themselves, as their heritage and tradition slowly begun crumbling under their feet. The yakuza was a perfect example of a group that thrived on values of inner balance and order, in many ways comparable to a huge family; values that addressed the tradition and culture which gradually faded.

The original members regarded themselves as the "bad hand" of a society that was already intrinsically wrong. In those times, they were actually comparable to a group of modern days Robin Hoods, since they took money from the wealthier, and to a degree actually helped the less privileged (or at least they avoided hurting them). They were bound together by inextricable values of brotherhood and obedience to the hierarchical superiors, values that were residual from a long heritage of warriors and fighters. Even tough not many of its members were actually ronin, or wandering samurai, the yakuza surfaced as a group of mischievous individuals that banded together under a biased interpretation of the Bushido, or the way or the warrior. Mostly, they were men who couldn't find a place in society, and whose individual strengths, as well as the ability to work together granted them power, to the point where the very government would use them as a means to dismiss political tensions within the country.

However, times have changed in the past few centuries, and the ideals of yesteryear keep losing their influence, amidst the modern, roaring seas of capitalism. It was the blind sake of profit that would cast the yakuza father away from their honorable beginnings, into an era of mere opportunism and theft, where the value of the human life is secondary to the value of money. They have been changing their attitudes not only externally, in the sense they progressively disregard the lives of innocents, but even more so internally, where traditional values of respect and allegiance were slowly replaced by turmoil and confusion, a reckless pursuit of financial reward and personal interests.

The yakuza has been progressively turning into a band of organized thugs, quite comparable to the western mob, rather than their honorable, albeit criminal ancestors; such realization is sad, even more so when we consider how it reflects the underlying processes of global economic renewal and roaring corporativism which potentially afflict us all, in the strange new world order which dawn we already begin to witness.

Posted by: FICHTNER, SANDEE

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