Yakuza contributing to relief efforts.

[kristopher]

This Daily Beast article is by a former classmate from Japan.


Even Japan’s infamous mafia groups are helping out with the relief efforts and showing a strain of civic duty. Jake Adelstein reports on why the police don’t want you to know about it. Plus, more coverage of Japan’s crisis.

The worst of times sometimes brings out the best in people, even in Japan’s “losers” a.k.a. the Japanese mafia, the yakuza. Hours after the first shock waves hit, two of the largest crime groups went into action, opening their offices to those stranded in Tokyo, and shipping food, water, and blankets to the devastated areas in two-ton trucks and whatever vehicles they could get moving. The day after the earthquake the Inagawa-kai (the third largest organized crime group in Japan which was founded in 1948) sent twenty-five four-ton trucks filled with paper diapers, instant ramen, batteries, flashlights, drinks, and the essentials of daily life to the Tohoku region. An executive in Sumiyoshi-kai, the second-largest crime group, even offered refuge to members of the foreign community—something unheard of in a still slightly xenophobic nation, especially amongst the right-wing yakuza. The Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest crime group, under the leadership of Tadashi Irie, has also opened its offices across the country to the public and been sending truckloads of supplies, but very quietly and without any fanfare.

The Inagawa-kai has been the most active because it has strong roots in the areas hit. It has several "blocks" or regional groups. Between midnight on March 12th and the early morning of March 13th, the Inagawa-kai Tokyo block carried 50 tons of supplies to Hitachinaka City Hall (Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Prefecture) and dropped them off, careful not to mention their yakuza affiliation so that the donations weren't rejected. This was the beginning of their humanitarian efforts. Supplies included cup ramen, bean sprouts, paper diapers, tea and drinking water. The drive from Tokyo took them twelve hours. They went through back roads to get there. The Kanagawa Block of the Inagawa-kai, has sent 70 trucks to the Ibaraki and Fukushima areas to drop off supplies in areas with high radiations levels. They didn't keep track of how many tons of supplies they moved. The Inagawa-kai as a whole has moved over 100 tons of supplies to the Tohoku region. They have been going into radiated areas without any protection or potassium iodide.

The Yamaguchi-gumi member I spoke with said simply, "Please don't say any more than we are doing our best to help. Right now, no one wants to be associated with us and we'd hate to have our donations rejected out of hand."...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-18/japanese-yakuza-aid-earthquake-relief-efforts/#

[virgogal]

1. They have the money.

[kristopher]

2. Their position is society is an extremely different construct from anything you'll find here.

It is as if the culture takes known social illnesses and institutionalizes their existence in order to mitigate the overall damage that the human impulses behind those illnesses would otherwise cause.

It isn't at all the way we view things, and Jake when I knew him was quite the social crusader, but he has now without a doubt fully wrapped his head around the dynamics involved. I always enjoy reading his material because he truly knows his stuff.

[sudopod]

5. It's like the Patrician says:

If you're going to have crime, it may as well be organized.

[Warpy]

3. I heard about this a couple of weeks ago

and it's apparently a very longstanding tradition to help out whenever any sort of disaster strikes.

It's one of the reasons they're tolerated.

Crime gangs everywhere would do well to take note.

[crickets]

4. Fascinating read. -nt

[Bonobo]

6. Modern Yakuza began largely in the aftermath of WW2

They were patriotic and did a lot to help food distribution after WW2 in black market food/supplies.

http://www.oocities.org/pentagon/bunker/4794/nicola.html

http://www.yamasa.org/acjs/network/english/newsletter/things_japanese_12.html

http://www.japanese123.com/yakuza.htm

YAKUZA AND NINTENDO

http://brotherwormgear.blogspot.com/2009/06/nintendo-and-yakuza.html

[kristopher]

7. What defines "modern" in this context? nt

[Bonobo]

8. Pre-Edo or Mid-Edo. From Wikipedia:

Divisions of origin



Yakuza are a popular subject in film, television and video games


Yakuza fight in a festival
Despite uncertainty about the single origin of Yakuza organizations, most modern Yakuza derive from two classifications which emerged in the mid-Edo Period: tekiya, those who primarily peddled illicit, stolen or shoddy goods; and bakuto, those who were involved in or participated in gambling.<2>

Tekiya (peddlers) were considered one of the lowest social groups in Edo. As they began to form organizations of their own, they took over some administrative duties relating to commerce, such as stall allocation and protection of their commercial activities. During Shinto festivals, these peddlers opened stalls and some members were hired to act as security. Each peddler paid rent in exchange for a stall assignment and protection during the fair.
The Edo government eventually formally recognized such tekiya organizations and granted the oyabun (servants) of tekiya a surname as well as permission to carry a sword - the wakizashi, or short samurai sword (the right to carry the katana, or full-sized samurai swords, remained the exclusive right of the nobility and samurai castes). This was a major step forward for the traders, as formerly only samurai and noblemen were allowed to carry swords.
Bakuto (gamblers) had a much lower social standing even than traders, as gambling was illegal. Many small gambling houses cropped up in abandoned temples or shrines at the edge of towns and villages all over Japan. Most of these gambling houses ran loan sharking businesses for clients, and they usually maintained their own security personnel.
The places themselves, as well as the bakuto, were regarded with disdain by society at large, and much of the undesirable image of the Yakuza originates from bakuto; this includes the name yakuza itself (ya-ku-za, or 8-9-3, is a losing hand in Oicho-Kabu, a form of blackjack).
Because of the economic situation during the mid-period and the predominance of the merchant class, developing Yakuza groups were composed of misfits and delinquents that had joined or formed Yakuza groups to extort customers in local markets by selling fake or shoddy goods.<2>

The roots of the Yakuza can still be seen today in initiation ceremonies, which incorporate tekiya or bakuto rituals. Although the modern Yakuza has diversified, some gangs still identify with one group or the other; for example, a gang whose primary source of income is illegal gambling may refer to themselves as bakuto.


Burakumin
The Burakumin are a group that is socially discriminated against in Japanese society. The burakumin are descendants of outcast communities of the feudal era, mainly those with occupations considered tainted with death or ritual impurity, such as butchers, executioners, undertakers or leather workers. They traditionally lived in their own secluded hamlets and ghettos. Discrimination against the Burakumin continues into the present day, a legacy of the Japanese feudal/caste system.
According to David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro, burakumin account for about 70 percent of the members of Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest Yakuza syndicate in Japan.<3>
Mitsuhiro Suganuma, ex-officer of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, testified that burakumin account for about 60 percent of the members of the entire Yakuza.[4

[kristopher]

9. What defines "modern" in this context? nt

[Bonobo]

10. Sorry, I thought I answered.

I meant modern as in Post WW2.

Most people tend to think of the modern era of Japan as having begun after the Meiji Restoration.

[kristopher]

11. You said "modern Yakusa"

What makes a "modern Yakuza" distinct from a premodern Yakusa?

[Bonobo]

12. I guess I just meant the "Yakuza" as it is known now.

The post ww2 society in Japan is different and the yakuza have changed to fit it.

Now they wear suits. Back then, they didn't.

Now they have guns, back then they had swords or knives.

After the end of the war, lots of things were reborn and it's just my guess, I suppose that the Yakuza as we know them now -their organization and styles - were largely developed at that time.

[Bonobo]

13. Maybe you should ask this guy what he meant as well.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/organized_crime/41687

It seems common among Japanese studies people to make the distinction.

The real answer as to why is probably deserving of a much lengthier discussion than I can provide.