Thought you guys might find this article fascinating, about an inside look at the Yakuza.
Here's a taste:
One of main sources of income they had was debt collection. They would actually go and buy entire loan databases and pay off the money people owed. Of course, after that happened, those debts were just transferred over to the yakuza. Also, after Fukushima [the nuclear disaster], they helped rebuild some houses; only it wasn’t a simple philanthropic relationship. These people now owe the gang. I was with the kaichou when he got a second tattoo. The gang had just entered into an alliance with another family, so as a show of loyalty he had his original full-body tattoo burned off with hot coals and replaced with a new tattoo. It took 100 hours to complete. They called him “The Master of All Pains.” Coming in, I thought I would be dealing with thugs. While I was shielded from the violence, these yakuza still seem more like economic criminals. Life here is not a Kill Bill movie. It turned out everything was more subtle.
One of main sources of income they had was debt collection. They would actually go and buy entire loan databases and pay off the money people owed. Of course, after that happened, those debts were just transferred over to the yakuza. Also, after Fukushima [the nuclear disaster], they helped rebuild some houses; only it wasn’t a simple philanthropic relationship. These people now owe the gang.
I was with the kaichou when he got a second tattoo. The gang had just entered into an alliance with another family, so as a show of loyalty he had his original full-body tattoo burned off with hot coals and replaced with a new tattoo. It took 100 hours to complete. They called him “The Master of All Pains.”
Coming in, I thought I would be dealing with thugs. While I was shielded from the violence, these yakuza still seem more like economic criminals. Life here is not a Kill Bill movie. It turned out everything was more subtle.
Cool stuff. You did omit some of the negative stuff, but there appears to be some positives as well.
Why not identify what activities are prohibited by law from other folks performing that the Yakuza performs with a high degree of coersion and outright violence and then make these activities completely legal. Then see how bad the Yakuza is?