Yakuza and the Japanese Society

Yakuza, also known as Gokudo is a transnational organized crime syndicate, originating in Japan. Yakuza is made up of many syndicates, each involved in departments of crime, such as drug trafficking. Although very powerful in Japan, Yakuza have limited influence on overseas countries such as The United States. Throughout Asia Yakuza has been one of the more distinguished crime syndicates, boasting connections to the Japanese banking, realty market and media.

Ukiyo-e and its Effects on Japanese and Western Culture Art is a very important aspect to Japanese culture. It is a visual expression of Japanese culture and history. Japanese art covers many subjects such as landscapes, historical and fictional stories, people, and architecture. Throughout Japanese history, one of the most popular genres of Japanese art were the Ukiyo-e, wood block prints.

The social structure of Japan was composed with 7 parts, which includes the shogun, samurai, farmers, artisans, merchants, outcasts and non-humans. Next to the shogun, the samurai is looked at with the most prestigious position in their society. As a samurai, they are taught to act and behave in a certain way. This is called the code of Bushido, which states that “the true warrior must hold loyalty, courage, veracity, compassion, and honor as important, above all else. An appreciation and respect of life was also imperative, as it added balance to the warrior character of the Samurai.”

A ninja or what they call them in feudal Japan “Shinobi” was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The ways of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, assassination and guerrilla warfare. Their methods of waging warfare were very bad and beneath the samurai, who observed strict rules about honor and combat. For a century or more the mix of Chinese and Native tactics created a school for ninjas. It was first formulized by Daisuke Togakure and Kain Doshi around the 12th century. Daisuke was a samurai but failed regional battle and forced to end his samurai title. In 1162 Daisuke met Kain Doshi and together they organized the first ninja school.

First and foremost, I was astonished by the level of inquiry of the students at Mishima-Kita Senior High School. It blew me it. We have visited several high schools and Cram Schools, including Nada High School, and not a single student has asked used tough, politically relevant, and even cross-culturally taboo questions. I was extremely impressed by the girl who asked if the use of an atomic weapon on Japan during WWII was justified. This question is cross-cultural taboo between American and Japanese people. Its something nobody wants to talk about. This tabooness is exactly what made it a great question, because speaking about taboo subjects can be incredibly constructive. Students also talked to us about a myriad of difficult issues including

In American culture the word, conformity, seems to have a negative connotation, but in countries like Japan, conformity seems to be a way of life. Why are the Japanese so willing to conform? Why are they so willing to be just like everyone else? The following will summarize a short video about Japanese conformity, as well as provide my own analysis of the video, and my own views on Japanese conformity.

Japan is known for their low crime rates and high economic standards, but what they do not discuss is their involvement in one of the biggest organized crime rings in the world. Japan is home of the Yakuza, a Japanese mafia that dates all the way back to the year 1603. This organized crime group was first known as Tokugawa Shogunate. The Tokugawa Shogunate started in 1603 and formed into, what is now called the Yakuza, in 1868. This group originally split into two different groups called the Tekiya and Bakuto.

Following the topic of race the Japanese society were as well not discussed about in the textbook in the appropriate way. This particular race had gone through a lot of hardship and was removed from the homes and brought to camps, which were like prisons. The reason behind the removal of the Japanese American was to get rid of them from the west side due to the fear that the Americans felt of having them in the United States was not safe. In for most the Japanese American reflected as a threat to the American and they could not handle that in result, the Americans got rid of them for the safety of the US. As having the opportunity to watch the class film, Something Strong Within it demonstrated the living conditions and the horrible lifestyle

They have been very powerful and until this day they are influential to the Japanese society. Organized crime continue to threaten the public safety. According to Nakamura (2007), people are tormented by crime because the criminals will choose any means for their selfish gains and their financial benefit (Nakamura, 2007). For example, if an individual business owner fails or refuses to pay a protection fee which is requested by the crime group controlling a region could lead to a tragedy (Nakamura, 2007). The member would destroy the business by acts such as intentionally crashing a stolen truck into the business (Nakamura, 2007). In 1991, Japan first introduce its first anti-Yakuza law to help fight against organized crime groups, more specifically at that activities of the Yakuza. This law placed tight restriction on their activities. Since then, more laws have been put in place to combat the illicit Yakuza profits by suppressing financial fraud, money laundering, and transactional underworld banking (Rankin, n.d.). Additionally, this anti-Yakuza law has been classified an executive law rather than a justice law. Japan does not have any law that penalizes the organization of criminal groups (Shikata, 2006). Unfortunately, the police must first identify the Yakuza groups with evidence indicating that the group is a criminal organizations. After, the police are able to launch an order known as the “recurrence prevention order” if they determine that the member are engaged in unlawful fundraising. If found in violation, the Yakuza will be punished only if it is determined that these orders have been breached. However, established laws have not stopped the Yakuza from continuing operating and conducting in illegal activities. Membership to the Yakuza is not considered illegal and unlike bosses

Organized crime is a dilemma on an international scale that has many adverse effects on society, including human safety, risking peace, and the economic, social, cultural, political and civil development of the countries operates within. It would be naïve to believe that we can could completely get rid of organized crime. Many believe that organized crime will never end. It may be combated, it may decrease over time, but it will always exist. The solutions to preventing organized crime will come through finding ways to track down those involved and charging them with their crimes. In this paper I will discuss on how the United States government can decrease the power of the Yakuza.

The Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine established in 1869 in Tokyo. It was constructed in order to honor and worship the soldiers who have died for their country in the Boshin Civil War that brought about the Meiji restoration and sacrificed their lives in the service of their emperor to build a firm foundation for Japan to become a truly peaceful country. For some Asian countries such as China and South Korea, which had been victims under Japanese imperialism and aggression in the first half of the 20th century, the shrine was built to commemorate Japanese war criminals in the World War II, and it has become a blatant symbol for Japanese wartime militarism from the

The rise of fascism in Europe and in japan in the years in-between world war one and world war 2 was a direct response to the catastrophic problems rising out of world economic problems and to some degree the treaty versicles in 1919. Germany, Italy, and japan turned to a drastic solution to their problems, and this led to emergence of strong, nationalistic dictatorships in all nations

In 1866 the seclusion conflict in Japan could only be resolved by war and forcing the ruler of Japan to step down. The Satsuma and Choshu became allies against the Shogun. Shortly after the Shogun responded by having an army go to Choshu but the Shogun's army has weak soldiers and not well equipped leading to their defeat. When the Shogun was asked to give up his lands he refused and moved his army to fight against Kyoto. A civil war followed after this in 1867 and the power of the Tokugawa clan was destroyed. The Tokugawa clan ruled for over centuries and wanted Japan to stay isolated, and the Satsuma and Choshu clans wanted the Emperor to have full power, not the Shogun. When Emperor Komei died in 1867 Mutsuhito took thrown but failed to

Japan is a social community in comparison with the individualized community of the United States. The Japanese are very loyal to their family and the groups they are part of; so loyal that the Yakuza have a specific acts to prove such loyalty. Members of the Yakuza would cut off a portion of their fingers to make up for a mistake that was made, the more popular way of making up for a mistake in today’s Yakuza is shaving their head, which is less brutal but still a form of dedication. A well-known identifier for the Yakuza are the tattoos they have. Even though tattoos have grown in popularity around the world, the Yakuza take great pride in their tattoos and carry the responsibility and the respect of the Yakuza image. “The power of the yakuza,

The Yakuza, unlike most criminal organizations in the world, do not exist in secrecy. The Yakuza have made themselves public and have set many offices throughout Japanese, which are surrounded by barb and armed guards (43). They also have created printed business cards for their organization and published magazines detailing their criminal society. Some of their activities are actually legitimate business operations, such as running construction projects and various public works projects, real estate firms, and finance operations such