Japanese yakuza is also called "violent group", abbreviated as YAKUZA in Japanese, which means ruffian and scoundrel in Chinese.
Like all underworld forces, Japanese gangsters sell drugs, engage in prostitution, gamble, launder money, loan sharks, and extortion. But what is strange is that in Japan, yakuza gangs are "legal", and at one point there were more than 200,000 members.
You know, yakuza is extremely harmful to social stability, and everyone shouts about the existence, so why doesn't the Japanese government ban yakuza and recognize yakuza as "legal"?
- A popular Japanese yakuza
Japanese yakuza have a long history of more than 100 years. The earliest can be traced back to the Edo period, when social unrest and years of conquest, young and middle-aged men practiced martial arts to save their lives, forming samurai groups.
After the Meiji Restoration, the samurai class became larger and larger, which caused unease among the ruling class. As a result, the government issued a ban on swords, conscription and ranking, and a large number of samurai were suppressed into the bottom of society.
Losing the means of livelihood, a huge gap, some samurai began to go off the beaten track, commit violent crimes, burn and loot, and collect premiums.
With more and more samurai joining, various organizations formed gangs and divided the land, and the early gangster groups began to take shape.
In the 80s of the 19th century, the famous gangsters such as the "Black Dragon Society" and "Xuanyang Society" began to appear, relying on smuggling, gambling, prostitution, extortion and other means to do all evil, illegally accumulate wealth, and dominate one side at the same time.
Later, as the scale increased, gang organizations gradually participated in national political economy and other activities.
In 1912, Japan entered the short-lived Taisho era, and gangsters large and small sprang up at this time, and the famous Yamaguchi-gumi was born during this period.
As the largest gangster in Japan, the Yamaguchi-gumi has a distinct hierarchy and a special symbol "mountain" glyph badge.
Throughout the history of the development of the Yamaguchi Group, it is actually a history of the development of Japanese yakuza.
In 1915, when Yamaguchi Haruyoshi, the founder of the Yamaguchi-gumi, was in charge of the Kobe Port Shipyard, in order to prevent other workers from rushing supplies, he and 50 loaders in the group established the Yamaguchi-gumi to monopolize the transportation industry.
Later, it expanded its business to the entertainment industry and casino industry, and its strength gradually became larger and larger. It was passed down from the first generation of Meji Yamaguchi Haruyoshi to today's sixth generation of Meji Shinobu, and hundreds of years have passed.
And as an important promoter, the third generation of Mitaoka Kazuma has made a great contribution. This person is ruthless, and once cut out people's eyes with his bare hands,
He himself has been sentenced to prison several times for this.
In 1946, after Kazukuma Taoka became the third generation of the Yamaguchi Gumi, he actively explored the gang development model, including integrating forces within the group and developing gray industries through multiple channels.
After the end of World War II, Japan was defeated, and the United States troops entered Japan, demanding that Japan release the prisoners of the victorious powers and give them the best treatment.
At that time, there were more than 150,000 captured Koreans in Japan, who were deeply oppressed and exploited in Japan, and even if they were doing the most heavy and tiring work, when they could leave, they did not even have enough money to travel.
The U.S. military asked Japan to give the best treatment to the victorious powers, causing these Koreans to form groups to retaliate frantically against Japan. They burned and looted, and destroyed buildings.
As a result, society is in turmoil, and the people are even more miserable, but the Japanese authorities have no choice, and the US military is even too lazy to care.
In order to protect their own interests, the Japanese gangsters represented by the Yamaguchi Group have constantly fought with the Korean gang for territory, which can be regarded as indirectly "eliminating harm" for Japan, and the Japanese people have praised it as a "chivalrous way".
It was also during this period that the Japanese government recognized the legal status of yakuza and used yakuza as thugs to deal with matters that were inconvenient for them to interfere in the open. With the tacit approval of the government, there are more and more gangsters like Yamaguchi-gumi, and their power is also increasing.
Even things that the police can't manage, the gangsters can solve. If the government can't make money, gangsters can get into it.
In 1950, the Korean War broke out, and Japan became a logistics base for the US military, and the port of Kobe was a key supply point with its natural advantages.
The Yamaguchi-gumi in the port of Kobe was located in the port of Jiao, and the "Koyo Transportation" was established to provide various supplies to the US military during the war and make a fortune.
Relying on this "windfall wealth", Yamaguchi-gumi invested a huge amount of money to establish the "Kobe Performing Arts Club", began to get involved in the field of film and television entertainment, and discovered and cultivated the famous singer of the Showa era, Miku Skylark, and she alone could feed thousands of members of the Yamaguchi group.
After that, the yakuza represented by the Yamaguchi-gumi took the express train of Japan's economic take-off and achieved rapid development.
According to Japanese police data, the total economic output value of the country's 22 gangsters is as high as 20 trillion yen (about 1.6 trillion yuan), but only 20% are legal, and the rest come from drugs, gambling, prostitution and extortion.
In order to launder the looted "black wealth", the Yamaguchi-gumi colluded with politicians, won bids for construction projects, hired high-paid technicians, and established legal companies, such as real estate, IT industry, etc., and its influence infiltrated hundreds of listed companies.
Some experts even say that this has shaken the "foundation of Japan's economy."
At this time, the Yamaguchi-gumi seemed to enter its heyday, with more than 100,000 members at one point, and the unprecedented expansion of power greatly gave birth to the ambition of the Yamaguchi-gumi.
In 1960, Yamaguchi-gumi was determined to extend its power throughout the country, and as a result, a series of bloody incidents were created, such as the "Hakata Incident" in 1962, the "Hiroshima Proxy War" in 1963, and the "Matsuyama Incident" in 1964.
Various violent and bloody conflicts have made the Yamaguchi-gumi increasingly influential and 39 of Japan's 43 prefectures under its control or influence.
Since then, the Yamaguchi-gumi has become a household name, but its reputation has plummeted, and from the "chivalrous way" that everyone praises has become the "black road" that everyone fears.
During the worst years of gang fighting, many innocent Japanese people fell victim to the conflict, and mutilated corpses often appeared on the streets.
Sometimes people walk on the street, and a bullet is rushed through, and social stability is greatly threatened.
It is true that gangster forces ignore the law and control a large part of the illegal economy, causing social unrest. If it is not controlled, it will inevitably harm society and the country.
With the increasing number of crimes committed by yakuza gangsters, Japan's anti-gangster operations against yakuza began to be carried out on a large scale, and Japanese yakuza began to gradually decline.
cold
- The government cracked down on and controlled strictly, and the Japanese yakuza went into decline
In 1966, the Japanese police launched the first gang suppression operation, known as the "Top War", and Yamaguchi-gumi was the largest yakuza organization as its focus target.
During this operation, the police banned and cracked down on many gray industries in the Yamaguchi-gumi, but did not cause serious damage to the huge economic system of the Yamaguchi-gumi. After that, the police rounded up the Yamaguchi group several times.
In 1975, the Yamaguchi-gumi and another yakuza group, Matsuda-gumi, had a large-scale armed fight, and the Japanese police took the opportunity to arrest more than 20,000 Yamaguchi-gumi members during the unrest during the crackdown.
In addition to the police's vigorous crackdown on these external hidden dangers, the Yamaguchi Group is also facing great internal contradictions.
In 1978, Taoka was shot in the back of the head and died, and the Yamaguchi group wantonly provoked a conflict in order to find the murderer, and the dragons were leaderless, and the Yamaguchi group was in chaos, from which another gang, "Ichiwakai", was separated.
For the members who defected, the Yamaguchi-gumi continued to pursue and kill, and the two sides clashed continuously, and the shootout continued until the defeat of the "Ichiwakai" and forced to disband, but the power of the Yamaguchi-gumi was also greatly weakened.
In order to crack down on the yakuza represented by the Oyamaguchi Group, Japan promulgated the Law on Countermeasures against Organized Violence Groups in 1992 and the Regulations on the Exclusion of Organized Crime Groups in 2011.
All gangsters in the country have been registered under the real-name system, and restrictions have been placed on their daily behavior, one of which is that they cannot open bank cards and sign any contracts with legal agreements.
This law directly marked and marginalized the gangsters, and after the introduction of this law, no regular company dared to blatantly sign contracts with Yamaguchi-gumi and other yakuza to do business, which caused the gangster organizations to suffer a major economic setback.
However, Japanese gangster culture has long penetrated into all aspects of Japanese society, with a deep historical background and a strong economic background, and it is unrealistic to completely eliminate yakuza for a while, so Japan still recognizes the legal status of yakuza.
But the ultimate goal is to find ways to limit them to a certain extent. This can be seen in the fact that members of the organized crime group cannot open bank accounts, buy insurance, or take out loans.
Today, Yamaguchi-gumi has been upgraded to the 6th generation. But compared to the traditional gang model, the current Yamaguchi-gumi is more like an operating group company. The organizational structure is strict and the division of labor between all levels is coordinated.
Under the operation of this model, the Yamaguchi Group has been undefeated for a hundred years.
According to Fortune, Yamaguchi-gumi is still the world's most paid gangster. According to data from the Japanese National Police Agency, there are still 24,100 Yamaguchi-gumi gang members.
The members are dressed in suits and badges, no different from ordinary office workers, but once they take off their clothes, their gangster marks are clearly visible.
In Japan, anyone who is a member of a yakuza has a large area of tattoos on his body, from the neck to the ankle.
In the past, tattoos were only tattooed on criminals, but in Japan, tattoos have become a unique symbol of yakuza.
People discriminate against and isolate gangsters, so in Japan's public baths, tattooed men and women are forbidden to enter.
Under the restrictions of various laws and social consciousness, fewer and fewer young people want to join the gang. Coupled with Japan's serious aging population, half of Japan's national yakuza members are over 50 years old.
So much so that in recent years, there have often been news that 60- and 70-year-old gangsters are still fighting on the front line.
So under various restrictions, how do the gangsters at the bottom live?
- Gang members forced to "transform"
Gangsters are clearly hierarchical and adopt a "premium payment system", that is, gang members have to pay membership dues at each level. On average, each person pays 300,000-800,000 yen (about 18,000-50,000 yuan) per month. The allowance is only 200,000-300,000 yen (about 10,000-15,000).
This model of paying more and less overwhelms the lowest members, but if they fail to pay on time, they will be expelled from the gang at best, and "gang rules" will be used at worst.
So the gang members have carried out "transformation" in order to achieve their own KPIs.
Some people shouted and sold milk tea on the street, and some people made gangster peripherals and sold gangster memes online, only to be arrested by the police for infiltrating the evil culture. There are also people who fish in the wild to provide ingredients for their catering shops, but they are caught illegally fishing.
Because of their "gangster status", they are often "discriminated against" in the workplace. According to Japanese media reports, 80% of companies in Kitakyushu City said they were not willing to take risks to hire "yakuza members".
Even if these people succeed in "blackening", they will be affected by the five-year limit. Therefore, for a long time, the living conditions of these gang members will not be greatly improved. And this is also an urgent problem for Japanese society.
It is true that no country in the world allows the existence of yakuza that endangers society, and even in Japan, its yakuza can only operate within the scope permitted by law, and if any illegal acts are committed, they will be severely punished by law.
With the development of the times, Japanese yakuza will eventually fall into the trend of the times.