Yakuza: since the Japanese mafia works

The yakuza is the acquaintance like Japanese mafia. In boingboing an interview has appeared to the reporter Jake Adelstein who has devoted himself to investigate on the yakuza. Threatened with death for some of the chiefs he explains it in the book Tokyo Vice.

Here I leave you with part of an interview that I have translated from English:

Why do the people join the yakuza?

There are usually the maladjusted ones of the Japanese society. The word itself comes from moon losing hand in the game. 893 (Ya-ku-za). It is the worst hand that one can have. This way, when they refer to themselves as yakuza, they refer like losers.

In the west of Japan, there is still many discrimination against the burakumin (I already told who the burakumin are), the alienated class. If you come from some parts of the country, it can be thought that you are low, dirty and impure. There are also many Korean yakuza because of the discrimination against them. Now it is better, but in the past, the employment options for the Koreans were the lounge of pachinko, operator of restaurants of yakiniku, clubs of sex, or the yakuza.

Some of them are normal persons who basically want to execute a small business providing safety to houses and business. They gather money of the bars and clubs of the quarter, and in turn, give a service. If there is a rebellious client, they give him a drubbing without calling the police. If someone does not pay the account, the Yakuza are going to his door to ask politely for the money.

Do they come from broken families?

Not necessary. Many of them come from wealthy families – children of police officers, bureaucrats. [My bodyguard and ex-chief of the Yakuza] Mochizuki-san grandfather was a police officer, and his father worked for that of government all his life.

Sometimes, if the parents worried about the use of drugs of his children, they will take it to a place of the yakuza to convince this boy, and to extract it of the drugs, and to do of him a man. It would do it, and then the child will join the yakuza later.

But I am sure that it is not what the parents want!

Very well, at least, his child does not take drugs: truth? And it has a work. In fact, a lot of of the normal people it goes to the Yakuza to solve problems. In Japan, the civil judgments always take a lot of time it to manage to resolve, and even if it gains the judgment, nobody is going to expire – if a type owes money to him but they do not pay, the police officers are not going to go out to make use of his goods. If someone owes money to him or you are in a civil litigation, the yakuza will have half of what it owes to you of the person who harmed you. The half is alone but it is more rapid.

Do exist erroneous ideas that we have on the yakuza?

Mochizuki-san is a wonderful father. He is very patient and it never shouts him. Some family parents yakuza make sure that his children should not be yakuza. Some of them really do benefactions and contribute with funds to the orphan-asylums and other things. It is strange, but it keeps on being surprised.

Another thing that I surprise is that in his free days they are in his house with T-shirts of Mickey Mouse and sports pants, and I think, wow. He had never imagined this way when they are out of the work. I meet a chief yakuza that behaves like a baby, one puts nappies as a baby and absorbs the milk in the nipples of a woman. Do I say, this is what this fearsome man does for pleasing?

Of what you have said to me of him, there seems to be a person perfectly decent. What made him join the yakuza?

Emotion, the promise of the woman. The piled up one enormous debts in a “center of massages” – legal brothels of Japan. It supported his putting in his card until he could not return the money. It was trying to collect money when the owners yakuza Soapland: why do not I work for them and can pay to them?

What raisin very much now is that the people to graduate in the university and they are going to be employed at some company and, next, they realize that it is being financed by the yakuza. The Yakuza thinks, hey, this type is intelligent. It gains money. We might use it. So I will say to him: would you like being a member? We are going to make you important so that you do not have to spend two years the cleanliness of the office and answer the phone. It is an employment of for life! Due to the reputation of the Yakuza, most of the people are scared and hesitate to push back. When you do not know how the company works, it is a little difficult to begin behind.

Does the yakuza kill the people at random?

The value yakuza traditional is:“ Neither Katagi nor Meiwaku wo kakenai” we bother to the common citizens. You can come to us looking for gambling games, drug, or sex, and this is our business. But we do not bother to citizens of on foot. We are involved neither in thefts or assaults nor in violations. Now it is already not like that. Now everything is the money. The ideals that were supporting the traditional system of the meritocracy have gone away. You can buy his way to the power. The classic scheme of the life yakuza was usually the one that began in the fund doing what is, companies, the usury or prostituion or drugs, the extortion the blackmail, things yakuza quite standard. Finally, there would be a war of bands in which a member of a band shoots you rival, you go to the jail, and salt after 10 years in a higher position with a better salary. But since the gang warfares have diminished and the organizations have moved to the financial crimes, like the manipulation of the stock market or of managing the companies, opposite to the companies that appear in this list, the money has become more valuable than the honor. There was usually a premium for the one who was defending from the codes yakuza correct, but nobody already pays attention to them.

How does it take part there are the yakuza in the business in Japan nowadays?

On the financial markets, I would say that about 20 % of the quoted societies is hard connected to the yakuza. A lot of more money is obtained moving a million actions that with the drugs contraband in the streets.

How in the politics?

The Democratic Liberal Party was founded in the money yakuza.
grandfather of the ex-prime minister Koizumi was a member of the Inagawa-kai, it had everything tattooed up to his dolls. According to articles about magazines written in the nineties, the current received Minister of Finance Shizuka Kamei 400.000 dollars of a speculator yakuza and, certainly, it received donations of the usurers.

What does pop spend in the culture?

A big part of the industry of the spectacle is in charge of the yakuza. When a more dumb police officer leaked incidentally all the files of the Department of Metropolitan Police of Goto-gumi in 2007, a company called Productions Burning – of more powerful production in the country – was included one of the companies like a company organized like cover by delinquents. Nobody in the Japanese mass media because they are going to lose the access to his stars. It is like the Hollywood in the 50s, when the mafia had a big participation in everything.

Do you believe that one day you are going to change? Will there be in Japan a society without yakuza?

So that this happens, Japan needs two sew. There would have to be a law of criminal conspiracy so that it could sue the chiefs for the crimes committed by his subjects. It would not have to be a negotiation motive so that the people in the fund might denounce the persons over them, and a witnesses' protection program so that the persons who do agreements with the district attorney's office do not kill them as soon as they go out of the jail. There is needed a law that allows phone tappings – the laws are so strict now when hardly ever they are used. If you put all these things in his place, Japan might get rid of the groups yakuza. Probably clandestine, but that would never be powerful again.

Part of the reason for which sound so powerful now is that they are completely exposed. You can see the Yamaguchi-gumi head office in the Google Maps. The Inagawa-kai office is to another side of Ritz Carlton. Every year, the Academy of Police officer edits a list of 22 groups of crime organized with his names and directions. It is not a mystery who are or where they are.

What is avoiding the change?

The politicians. They do not want a law against the yakuza. I do not believe that there are politicians who do not have anything that about hiding. And if some politician begins having hard hand to the organized crime – if they do not kill it as they did it the mayor of Nagasaki – they are going to ruin his reputation.

The kit of the question is: the Japanese like the yakuza. They admire them. There are movies on them, cartoon stories books on them, there are fans' magazines … there are a part of the culture. They promote the traditional values.

One of the reasons Japan low valuations of delinquency of the street is due to the fact that these boys are very good executors. In the quarters where there is the companies or the cashing of money by protection, it will not be able to see the people being assaulted by the yakuza they do not want that the people are afraid of going there and spending money. There are the second police officer force and in this sense, and they realize a valuable role in the Japanese society.

Universal City

On having had just visited dotônbori, we go towards the hotel to rest the following day. The offer of the trip was including the earnings for Universal Studios Japan, the amusement park based on movies of the Universal factory Studios as for example E.T., I return to the future and Jurassic Park.

When we come there they said to us that there had been a problem with the reservation and that in the hotel where we were going to be they did not have our rooms so there gave us better rooms in another hotel in the plant 26 where from we had a few fantastic conference of Osaka.

On the following morning we went to give a return Universal City while my brother-in-law was solving a problem with the earnings to Universal Studios, since theoretically only they were costing for the same day that we were coming to Osaka and not for the following day. The manager of the hotel came to speak with him to apologize on the confusion of the rooms so we ask him for the earnings for Universal Studios in return. Out of the amusement park it is full of shops, restaurants, hotels.

Street of Universal City

Roller coaster

Entry of Universal Studios

To buy for 10Y

In an outlet of the preinvoice of Gunma they have done an offer in which many of his products cost 10Y (only 8 cents of euro!). So much a pepper like some tile us. What many people have led to assembling almost to fight for buying.

Also there are many offers of marks known as Zara or H&M of 3 pledges for 1000Y (approximately 8 €) Many people take a box full of clothes for only 3 or 4€
What would happen if in Spain some clothes shop was selling for 10 cents??

Chronicle of the bird that gives rope to the world

For Christmas my brother and his fiancée gave me a pair of books of Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹), that of “dry Willow, asleep woman” (in Catalan) and that of “Chronicle of the bird that gives rope to the world”. This second was the one that I began reading and as it was happening I was getting fond more and more. It has not been the first novel that I have read of Murakami, in fact there has turned one of my favorite writers and there are already different the books that I have read like for example “Tokyo blues“, “Sputnik, my love“, “Kafka in the shore” y “To the south of the border, to the west of the sun“.

The Murakami style melts the world of the sleep and the real one and pop is considered to be a literature. In his books it is always possible to think how the personages look for the love and suffer the solitude, it has had a big success so much in Japan as in Occident although he began writing enough be late at the age of 30 years. It does not have too many friends with other Japanese writers whom he considers to be too much snobs and says that what the hace is to write for the people.

In the novel of “Chronicle of the bird that gives rope to the world” () counts the history of Tooru Okada that decides to leave his work in a lawyers' buffete to remain at home. Soon there disappears the cat, which calls like his brother-in-law Noboru Wataya, who lives with he and his wife Kumiko and they ask for the help a woman who has paranormal powers.

From this moment there begin appearing mysteries as the house left with a well, events in Mongolia during the second world war, one a baseball bat they all will be connected.

I leave you with a small fragment of the book:

I extracted the money, got it in the portfolio, wrinkled on and threw it to the wastebasket. I thought that it is as well as, little by little, the people are creating his secrets. It did not have conscience of concealing anything special from Kumiko. At first it was not important at all and so much it was happening to say it to him as not. But, as soon as the subtle channel was crossed, it was which it was the primitive intention, everything was remaining covered by the opaque veil of the secret. The same had happened with Crete Kanoo. It had told to my wife that the sister of Malta Kanoo had come to house. He had said to him that it was called Crete, that it was dressed in the style of beginning of the seventies and that had come to gather a tap water sample. But it had not mentioned that, after this, had begun doing meaningless secrets to me and that, before ending, had disappeared without saying goodbye. And the fact is that the history of Crete Kanoo was so extravagant that it was turning out to be impossible to tell it to him reproducing with accuracy all the tones to me. Or also, because it was possible that it was not doing any grace to Kumiko to know that Crete Kanoo, after concluding the task that had brought it to house, it had remained long moment doing awkward personal confessions to me. It had turned into other of my small secrets.

This novel is considered to be by the author his most finished work. It is very extensive (900 pages) but it allows to give this way more details to the reader and that this one could penetrate more into the history.

Last year went on sale the last called novel 1Q84 (ichi-kew (kyuu)-hachi-yon) alludes to the outstanding figure of George Orwell “1984 ″, in Japanese the letter sounds equally Q to the number 9, but it even has been translated neither into Spanish nor into English.

Yakiniku in Tsuruhashi

After going to tsutenkaku, we went to eat a little to the Tsuruhashi quarter. It is known by the Koreans' big quantity through that they live and the multitude of shops with Korean typical meal like the kimchi, fiancée's garments, falsified products and the restaurants of Yakiniku. I have already gone one day to restaurants of yakiniku, which as you know are a few restaurants with a grill on a fire in the center of the table in which you put the meat and roast it to your taste.

Between all the types of meat that you can choose we ate enough hormone. This word comes (according to the wikipedia) of the dialect kansai of hourumono 放る物 that it might translate like the remains and the guts, the part that remains of the animal once cuts the meat. In Spain it is known like tripe shop and it is used to do the tripe, sweetbread or stewed language.

Every type of hormone has his flavor and texture

There was some type of hormone that was creating a big flame

The restaurant is called Sora, he is one of the most famous in Osaka

Alley in Tsuruhashi

I dress from the space

For a few days I continue the twitter of Soichi Noguchi () and enjoy whenever it hangs a new photo, but the peculiarity is that he does it from the space. Born in Yokohama, this Japanese astronaut meets at present at the International Space station (ISS) in orbit the ground to 340 km of the ground at a 26.000 km / h speed

I leave you with some of the photos that more I have liked:

Mahajamba, Madagaskar

Glacier in the Patagonia

Madrid

Volcano in Nagasaki

Desert in Arabia

Space station

Big Cannon

Bahrain

Area of Kanto

If you have a twitter account you can follow him to and also to me if you still do not do it

Tokyo/Glow

Tokyo/Glow is a video created in timelapse created by Jonathan Bensimon in whom it is possible to see like the muñequito of a crosswalk one goes for a walk for the Tokyo streets. To obtain this effect there were used hundreds of lights LED that were illuminating the man and it was giving the sensation that was shining. After joining the multitude of photos, this fantastic video stayed.

Route Petapixel

Birthday of Kanchan

Today in addition to being Hina Matsuri is the Kanchan birthday that 2 years ago. And during this time it has become very big! (and fat person XD)

Where is this photo done?

New delivery of “Where this photo is done?”

This time is something difficult but I will leave a track tomorrow if nobody recognizes it.

track: it was an idea of Dôton Yasui to expand the commerce in the region.

Where is the photo done? 2

Where is the photo done? 1

Dôtonbori

How well it has been right elPachinko in the previous post it was a question of Dôtonbori in Osaka, so being useful I am going to continue with the chronicle of the trip to Osaka and to write on the stop in Dotonbori.

We will start with something of history to know the origin of this quarter. It was an idea of a local businessman called Doton Yasui that in 1612 wanted to connect two coasts of the river Yohori with the idea of increasing the business in the area. The project was interrupted after he died in the siege to the castle of Osaka but soon it was continued by his cousins. The new gentleman named the area Dôtonbori in honor to his creator (bori it means channel). And the area was created to lodge several theaters Kabuki and Bunraku. At present the area is full of shopping centers with shops and restaurants and is full of young people and tourists at any time of the day. One of the most well-known attractions of course is the Glico cartel.

A few photos of the area:

Nevada in Barcelona

Since already great you will have realized yesterday an intense snowfall fell down in Barcelona. Snowfalls of this style one is not habitual in Barcelona and, really alone memory like this and my mother says to me that other one was when it was me who was born 25 years ago.

In the university a holiday has turned into everything since we have not seen most of us to never snow this way. I leave to you a few photos and videos that I did yesterday:

Shogi – 将棋

Since you know already I am keen of the chess and I go from child playing championships. So it turns out to be quite logical that I was getting fond also of the shogi 将棋 or also called Japanese chess. Also it exists the GO that is provided with more fans in Spain but the way of playing turns out to be very complicated to me and I have not gone so far as to understand it completely well therefore I have not liked too much.

The method of game of the shogi is similar to the western chess but it has some important changes as it is the fact that the pieces that you have taken can be put by you again in the board by what it makes it much more complicated at the time of thinking possible moves.

I am going to explain to you every piece and the general rules if you want to get fond of playing:

The shogi board is 9×9 and the pieces are placed to the beginning in the first 3 lines.

歩兵 () would be the correspondent to the farmhand. It can only move ahead of 1 in 1 and to take also it is ahead not as in the chess that it is in diagonal.

THE XTH X OR XTH 歩 X X X X

香車 （ きょうしゃ ）esta piece since 歩兵 it is possible only to move ahead but it has no limit in the quantity of pigeonholes in which it can move.

THE XTH | X X 歩 X X X X

桂馬 （ けいま ）parecida to the horse but it has the peculiarity that only can move two pigeonholes forward and one towards the side

☆ X ☆ X X X X 桂 X

銀将 （ ぎんしょう ）este is the silver general, it can move to 3 pigeonholes that it has ahead and the two of the diagonal of behind but neither not to that of the sides nor to the same as behind.

OR OR OR X 銀 X OR X OR

金将 （ きんしょう ）el golden general, very important piece for the defense, can move to 3 pigeonholes of ahead and those of the side and behind

OR OR OR OR 金 OR X OR X

角行 （ かくぎょう ）es like the bishop of the chess since it moves for the diagonals, although only there is 1 for player to the beginning of the game.

＼ X X X ／ X ＼ X ／ X X X 角 X X X ／ X ＼ X ／ X X X ＼

飛車 （ ひしゃ ）es like the tower of the chess, it moves across lines and columns. Also it is begun only with 1 by player

THE XTH XTH │ X X X X │ X X ─ ─ 飛 ─ ─ X X │ X X X X │ X X

王将 （ おうしょう ）el king, just as in the chess it is the weakest piece and that it is necessary to have always well defended especially in this game where they can attack you for all bands suddenly. Only it moves 1 pigeonhole

THE XTH XTH X X X X OR OR OR X X OR 玉 OR X X OR OR OR X X X X X X

Also it is necessary to tell that so much 歩兵, 香車, 桂馬, 銀将 when they come to the 7th line they can crown and turn into a piece with the movements of a golden general. And when they are 角行 and 飛車 they add an extra movement therefore the bishop can move also sideways 1 pigeonhole and the tower in diagonal also 1 pigeonhole.

The initial position of the pieces is:

歩 歩
歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 角 飛 香 桂 銀 金 玉 金 銀 桂 香

A little that I like very much is that every Sunday morning at about 10 a.m. they do a program of Shogi in which some of the best players play of the whole Japan. I leave you with some video of famous players who play games to 1 minute:

An example of the Sunday program. While 2 players do his game they are commenting on it in a board for the spectators.

If someone wants to try of playing some game only he has to say it to me and to do an account to him in brainking and it is possible to play little by little. My user is lordjackes