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threatening their clients. Bitter
rivals of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the
two syndicates share a history of
fierce conflict. In February 2007, this
conflict nearly became an all-out
turf war following the assassination
of Ryoichi Sugiura, a senior member
of a Sumiyoshi-kai affiliate.Business involvement
The corrosive influence of the
Yakuza has demonstrably affected
both the entertainment business
and the sporting arena – including
sumo wrestling and the Pride
Fighting Championships, a martial
arts organization that held popular
televised competitions from 1997 to- In 2003, Australian martial
arts manager Miro Mijatovic was
abducted by an affiliate of the
Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate. He was
threatened with execution unless he
signed a contract transferring the
management of his world-class
fighters to the Yakuza group.
Mijatovic complied but later turned
informant and told the police how
the Yakuza had paid his fighters to
fix fights by injuring themselves.
The Yakuza have been involved
in the entertainment industry since
the end of World War II, running
talent agencies in order to extort
money from celebrities. In 2011,
the Tokyo Metropolitan Police
Department revealed that a popular
TV presenter, Shinsuke Shimada,
had close connections to the
Yakuza. Shimada was forced to
resign, and the case led to a series
of anti-Yakuza laws, such as the
revised Organized Crime Group
Countermeasures Law. This made it
legal to arrest anyone believed to be
involved in gang activities if he or
she made unreasonable or illegal
demands towards ordinary citizens.
Japanese author Tomohiko
Suzuki, who worked undercover at
the Fukishima nuclear power plant
ORGANIZED CRIME
shortly after the triple-meltdown
in March 2011 – claimed that the
Yakuza were heavily involved in
the Tokyo Electric Power Company
(Tepco), which operated the
nuclear plant. Suzuki asserted
that Tepco went to elaborate
lengths to mask safety violations
at the Fukishima plant, doctoring
film footage of broken pipes and
other neglect to avoid having to
spend money on maintenance.Shrinking membership
Internecine violence and serious
crackdowns on the Yakuza saw
membership decline by 14 per cent
between 1991 and 2002. Even as
its membership continued to
shrink, the Yakuza strove to assert
their presence: in 2010, lawyer
Toshiro Igari, a fierce anti-Yakuza
crusader, was found dead in his
Manila vacation home with his
wrists slashed. Many believed that
his death was a Yakuza hit staged
to look like a suicide.
In September 2016, Japanese
police arrested nearly 1,000 Yakuza
members, greatly depleting their
manpower and funds. Crucially, this
action also halted an imminent war
between rival syndicates, which
authorities feared would outdo the
bloody carnage unleashed by the
Yama-Ichi War. ■To get your whole
body tattooed, you
need endurance.
HorizenYakuza tattoos
The unique Japanese form of
tattooing known as irezumi
began as early as the
Paleolithic period. Over time,
tattoos became associated
with criminality. Starting in
the Kofun period (250–538 ce),
convicts were marked with
tattoos to indicate both the
nature and number of their
crimes. From 1789 to 1948,
tattoos were outlawed in
Japan, but the Yakuza showed
their contempt for the law by
having their entire bodies
tattooed. In keeping with
traditional irezumi, the Yakuza
have their tattoos completed
tebori (by hand), via a steel
spike attached to a rod. The
process is slow and painful- the colour red is created from
toxic iron sulphate which
causes illness – and a full body
tattoo takes years to complete.
The ability to endure this
suffering is proof of toughness,
while the financial cost
demonstrates wealth. Since
tattoos are connected so
strongly with organized crime
in modern Japan, people with
them are frequently forbidden
from using fitness centres and
bath houses. The mayor of
Osaka even pioneered a 2012
campaign to have companies
dismiss tattooed employees.
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