The Japanese mafia

Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, is launching an internet site. Other than lupare and harp crime in Sicily, the Mafia of the Rising Sun takes advantage of the latest technologies, including the network. But not only did the Yakuza also compose a song business, as do some of the most important international companies. This wave of renewal may be due to the fact that membership of a criminal organization is at historic lows. To regain the public and customers, the watchword is to renew themselves, so how are you doing exactly the Yakuza.


After founding his journal in 2013, the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, launching a website, accompanying him to the composition of a soundtrack, a song in traditional business, which speaks of the virtues of the spirit Ninkyo, as the ideal of masculinity that fights injustice and helps the weak. In a period of declining membership, the criminal organization of Japan runs for cover and it does leveraging technology. The web portal has been created by the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi, one of the most important of the Yakuza mafia, which is divided into "gangs" as in Italy. But because the Yakuza can do all this? The answer lies in the fact that in Japan, this organization is not illegal, as operates in the field of prostitution and extortion. The police have always tolerated their operations, sometimes making bribe to cover the most violent gestures. In the Land of the Rising Sun, the clan of the Yakuza are real company, with headquarters and shareholders. However, members are increasingly falling; at the time, the number of participants is at historic lows, why are springing up all these initiatives. Already, in 2013, there was the publication of the magazine dedicated to the members, which also included a page of poetry, as well as the "editorial" written by the leaders. The name of the website, however, is not focused on the group Yamaguchi-gumi or the Yakuza, but has a completely different title. Translated into Italian, in fact, the site name is "The alliance of the ban on the drug and the purification of the nation." From the very simple structure, the site contains video footage, photo galleries, and the history of Mafia association.

Among the videos posted on the site, one showing the pilgrimage to a temple, an image certainly far from the stereotypes about the Japanese mafia. Still, the Yakuza is different from the Italian Mafia. Nothing Pizzini or arrests after years on the run, as happened to the boss Bernardo Provenzano. In Japan, the Yakuza are seen more as businessmen than as criminals. In addition, incidents of violence are much less practiced by this organization, which is not bloody massacres or ambushes.

Yakuza tattoos

But it is not only the Yakuza crime, websites and magazines, but is also famous for its special tattoos that decorate the entire body of their members. The designs are the most diverse, but there are some popular subjects, such as the dragon and the tiger. Despite this tradition, the affiliates of the Yakuza keep hidden their tattoos, to the point that few Japanese know this practice. Moreover, in many public places, such as gyms, Japan has banned entry to people with tattoos. Yet, Yakuza tattoos have a charm that has gone beyond the boundaries of Japanese and now have spread imitations in the West.

The origins of the Yakuza, although not entirely clear, are to be found in the nineteenth century, during the Edo period. Japan, hitherto worn down by incessant wars, managed to find a certain political and social stability during the Tokugawa shogunate. Despite this, many samurai, who until then had roles sounding, failed to fit into the bureaucratic system and, feeling marginalized by society, gathered in small groups called hatamotoyakko, devoted to the oppression of the population, considered by many the progenitors Yakuza. There are also theories that propose links with ninjas. Others believe that their ancestors were the machiyakko, bands of ronin at the service of defenseless people, but they also involved]], acquired a spirit purely nationalist. The organization also specialized in acts of intimidation against political opponents and the conclusion of agreements with influential people in the world economy, thus guaranteeing places more and more respected and substantial gains. The organization went through a period of crisis after World War II, when Japan was occupied by the allied forces led by the United States, but managed to stay in business, and even to gain the esteem of the coalition, taking advantage of divisions within the SCAP .

The Yakuza got the task of maintaining law and order, in exchange for contracts in the building. So it was that the Japanese mafia was reborn and became even more influential than before infiltrated the Liberal Democratic Party, provided bodyguards to the most important political, leaned election campaigns bringing votes with threats and often intervened in the industrial sector. With the ever-increasing power of the organization, the SCAP worked drastic measures, arresting about 50,000 people, of which only a fraction was doomed. Its proximity to the neo-fascist and xenophobic right-wing groups is confirmed by the protection provided to the terrorist fugitive black Delphi Zorzi.

In 1992, the Japanese government, in order to hinder the rise of the organization, issued the anti-boryokudan, who declared illegal all those associations who resort to violence and intimidation. Initially, the measure seemed to be paying off, as more than a thousand members were arrested and thousands more came out of their tour to take in activities according to law. But with time turned out to be ineffective, since the members of the clan disappeared joined more powerful ones as Yamaguchi-gumi and Sumiyoshi-kai Kobe to Tokyo, thus increasing their supremacy.

The Yakuza also enjoys the support of many Japanese who see it as the protectors on which to rely, despite numerous awareness campaigns by the Japanese government. For this reason his followers circulate safely with clothes on board prestigious luxury cars, casually show their business card and come together in elegant buildings where it is easy to see their logo. Because of this, the Japanese police are a number of difficulties in stopping the organization.