|
|
Click to set custom HTML
|
Yakuza Mafia Syndicate
Yakuza (Japanese: ヤクザ, [jaꜜkɯza]), also known as gokudō (極道, "the extreme path"), are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan (暴力団, "violent groups"), while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" (任侠団体 or 仁侠団体, "chivalrous organizations"). The yakuza are notorious for their strict codes of conduct and their organized fiefdom-nature. They have a large presence in the Japanese media and operate internationally with an estimated 102,000 members.
Despite uncertainty about the single origin of yakuza organizations, most modern yakuza derive from two classifications which emerged in the mid-Edo period (1603–1868): tekiya, those who primarily peddled illicit, stolen or shoddy goods; and bakuto, those who were involved in or participated in gambling.
"Tekiya" (peddlers) were considered one of the lowest social groups in Edo. As they began to form organizations of their own, they took over some administrative duties relating to commerce, such as stall allocation and protection of their commercial activities. During Shinto festivals, these peddlers opened stalls and some members were hired to act as security. Each peddler paid rent in exchange for a stall assignment and protection during the fair.
The Edo government eventually formally recognized such tekiya organizations and granted the oyabun (leaders) of tekiya a surname as well as permission to carry a sword—the wakizashi, or short samurai sword (the right to carry the katana, or full-sized samurai swords, remained the exclusive right of the nobility and samurai castes). This was a major step forward for the traders, as formerly only samurai and noblemen were allowed to carry swords.
Bakuto (gamblers) had a much lower social standing even than traders, as gambling was illegal. Many small gambling houses cropped up in abandoned temples or shrines at the edge of towns and villages all over Japan. Most of these gambling houses ran loan sharking businesses for clients, and they usually maintained their own security personnel. The places themselves, as well as the bakuto, were regarded with disdain by society at large, and much of the undesirable image of the yakuza originates from bakuto; this includes the name yakuza itself (ya-ku-za, or 8-9-3, is a losing hand in Oicho-Kabu, a form of Baccarat).
Because of the economic situation during the mid-period and the predominance of the merchant class, developing yakuza groups were composed of misfits and delinquents that had joined or formed yakuza groups to extort customers in local markets by selling fake or shoddy goods.
The roots of the yakuza can still be seen today in initiation ceremonies, which incorporate tekiya or bakuto rituals. Although the modern yakuza has diversified, some gangs still identify with one group or the other; for example, a gang whose primary source of income is illegal gambling may refer to themselves as bakuto.
"Tekiya" (peddlers) were considered one of the lowest social groups in Edo. As they began to form organizations of their own, they took over some administrative duties relating to commerce, such as stall allocation and protection of their commercial activities. During Shinto festivals, these peddlers opened stalls and some members were hired to act as security. Each peddler paid rent in exchange for a stall assignment and protection during the fair.
The Edo government eventually formally recognized such tekiya organizations and granted the oyabun (leaders) of tekiya a surname as well as permission to carry a sword—the wakizashi, or short samurai sword (the right to carry the katana, or full-sized samurai swords, remained the exclusive right of the nobility and samurai castes). This was a major step forward for the traders, as formerly only samurai and noblemen were allowed to carry swords.
Bakuto (gamblers) had a much lower social standing even than traders, as gambling was illegal. Many small gambling houses cropped up in abandoned temples or shrines at the edge of towns and villages all over Japan. Most of these gambling houses ran loan sharking businesses for clients, and they usually maintained their own security personnel. The places themselves, as well as the bakuto, were regarded with disdain by society at large, and much of the undesirable image of the yakuza originates from bakuto; this includes the name yakuza itself (ya-ku-za, or 8-9-3, is a losing hand in Oicho-Kabu, a form of Baccarat).
Because of the economic situation during the mid-period and the predominance of the merchant class, developing yakuza groups were composed of misfits and delinquents that had joined or formed yakuza groups to extort customers in local markets by selling fake or shoddy goods.
The roots of the yakuza can still be seen today in initiation ceremonies, which incorporate tekiya or bakuto rituals. Although the modern yakuza has diversified, some gangs still identify with one group or the other; for example, a gang whose primary source of income is illegal gambling may refer to themselves as bakuto.
Feared: Belgian photographer Anton Kusters spent months negotiating to be granted unprecedented access into the world of the Yakuza (pictured), Japan's criminal underworld syndicate.
Insight: After winning their trust, Kusters spent two years embedded with a Yakuza crime family in Tokyo. He tells of the incredible things he saw first hand with one of the world's most fearsome mafia crime organisations.
Structure
During the formation of the yakuza, they adopted the traditional Japanese hierarchical structure of oyabun-kobun where kobun (子分; lit. foster child) owe their allegiance to the oyabun (親分, lit. foster parent). In a much later period, the code of jingi (仁義, justice and duty) was developed where loyalty and respect are a way of life.
The oyabun-kobun relationship is formalized by ceremonial sharing of sake from a single cup. This ritual is not exclusive to the yakuza—it is also commonly performed in traditional Japanese Shinto weddings, and may have been a part of sworn brotherhood relationships.
During the World War II period in Japan, the more traditional tekiya/bakuto form of organization declined as the entire population was mobilised to participate in the war effort and society came under strict military government. However, after the war, the yakuza adapted again.
Prospective yakuza come from all walks of life. The most romantic tales tell how yakuza accept sons who have been abandoned or exiled by their parents. Many yakuza start out in junior high school or high school as common street thugs or members of bōsōzoku gangs. Perhaps because of its lower socio-economic status, numerous yakuza members come from Burakumin and ethnic Korean backgrounds.
Yakuza groups are headed by an oyabun or kumichō (組長, family head) who gives orders to his subordinates, the kobun. In this respect, the organization is a variation of the traditional Japanese senpai-kōhai (senior-junior) model. Members of yakuza gangs cut their family ties and transfer their loyalty to the gang boss. They refer to each other as family members - fathers and elder and younger brothers. The yakuza is populated almost entirely by men and the very few women who are acknowledged are the wives of bosses, who are referred to by the title ane-san (姐さん, older sister). When the 3rd Yamaguchi-gumi boss (Kazuo Taoka) died in the early 1980s, his wife (Fumiko) took over as boss of Yamaguchi-gumi, albeit for a short time.
Yakuza have a complex organizational structure. There is an overall boss of the syndicate, the kumicho, and directly beneath him are the saiko komon (senior advisor) and so-honbucho (headquarters chief). The second in the chain of command is the wakagashira, who governs several gangs in a region with the help of a fuku-honbucho who is himself responsible for several gangs. The regional gangs themselves are governed by their local boss, the shateigashira.
Each member's connection is ranked by the hierarchy of sakazuki (sake sharing). Kumicho are at the top, and control various saikō-komon (最高顧問, senior advisors). The saikō-komon control their own turfs in different areas or cities. They have their own underlings, including other underbosses, advisors, accountants and enforcers.
Those who have received sake from oyabun are part of the immediate family and ranked in terms of elder or younger brothers. However, each kobun, in turn, can offer sakazuki as oyabun to his underling to form an affiliated organisation, which might in turn form lower ranked organizations. In the Yamaguchi-gumi, which controls some 2,500 businesses and 500 yakuza groups, there are fifth rank subsidiary organizations.
The oyabun-kobun relationship is formalized by ceremonial sharing of sake from a single cup. This ritual is not exclusive to the yakuza—it is also commonly performed in traditional Japanese Shinto weddings, and may have been a part of sworn brotherhood relationships.
During the World War II period in Japan, the more traditional tekiya/bakuto form of organization declined as the entire population was mobilised to participate in the war effort and society came under strict military government. However, after the war, the yakuza adapted again.
Prospective yakuza come from all walks of life. The most romantic tales tell how yakuza accept sons who have been abandoned or exiled by their parents. Many yakuza start out in junior high school or high school as common street thugs or members of bōsōzoku gangs. Perhaps because of its lower socio-economic status, numerous yakuza members come from Burakumin and ethnic Korean backgrounds.
Yakuza groups are headed by an oyabun or kumichō (組長, family head) who gives orders to his subordinates, the kobun. In this respect, the organization is a variation of the traditional Japanese senpai-kōhai (senior-junior) model. Members of yakuza gangs cut their family ties and transfer their loyalty to the gang boss. They refer to each other as family members - fathers and elder and younger brothers. The yakuza is populated almost entirely by men and the very few women who are acknowledged are the wives of bosses, who are referred to by the title ane-san (姐さん, older sister). When the 3rd Yamaguchi-gumi boss (Kazuo Taoka) died in the early 1980s, his wife (Fumiko) took over as boss of Yamaguchi-gumi, albeit for a short time.
Yakuza have a complex organizational structure. There is an overall boss of the syndicate, the kumicho, and directly beneath him are the saiko komon (senior advisor) and so-honbucho (headquarters chief). The second in the chain of command is the wakagashira, who governs several gangs in a region with the help of a fuku-honbucho who is himself responsible for several gangs. The regional gangs themselves are governed by their local boss, the shateigashira.
Each member's connection is ranked by the hierarchy of sakazuki (sake sharing). Kumicho are at the top, and control various saikō-komon (最高顧問, senior advisors). The saikō-komon control their own turfs in different areas or cities. They have their own underlings, including other underbosses, advisors, accountants and enforcers.
Those who have received sake from oyabun are part of the immediate family and ranked in terms of elder or younger brothers. However, each kobun, in turn, can offer sakazuki as oyabun to his underling to form an affiliated organisation, which might in turn form lower ranked organizations. In the Yamaguchi-gumi, which controls some 2,500 businesses and 500 yakuza groups, there are fifth rank subsidiary organizations.
Female: The Yakuza syndicate is made up almost entirely of men, the few women in their ranks are known as 'ane-san' - or 'older sister'.
Four largest syndicates
Although yakuza membership has declined following an anti-gang law aimed specifically at yakuza and passed by the Japanese government in 1992, there are thought to be more than 58,000 active yakuza members in Japan today. Although there are many different yakuza groups, together they form the largest organized crime group in the world.
|
|
|
|
Current activities
|
Many yakuza syndicates, notably the Yamaguchi-gumi, officially forbid their members from engaging in drug trafficking, while some yakuza syndicates, notably the Dojin-kai, are heavily involved in it.
Some yakuza groups are known to deal extensively in human trafficking. The Philippines, for instance, is a source of young women. Yakuza trick girls from impoverished villages into coming to Japan, where they are promised respectable jobs with good wages. Instead, they are forced into becoming prostitutes and strippers. Yakuza frequently engage in a unique form of Japanese extortion known as sōkaiya. In essence, this is a specialized form of protection racket. Instead of harassing small businesses, the yakuza harasses a stockholders' meeting of a larger corporation. They simply scare the ordinary stockholder with the presence of yakuza operatives, who obtain the right to attend the meeting by making a small purchase of stock. Yakuza also have ties to the Japanese realty market and banking, through jiageya. Jiageya specialize in inducing holders of small real estate to sell their property so that estate companies can carry out much larger development plans. Japan's bubble economy of the 1980s is often blamed on real estate speculation by banking subsidiaries. After the collapse of the Japanese property bubble, a manager of a major bank in Nagoya was assassinated, and much speculation ensued about the banking industry's indirect connection to the Japanese underworld. |
|
The malnourished pedigree dogs were unwanted breeding stock for an underground industry netting millions of pounds a year for criminal gangs.
Caged: A bulldog tries to escape through a gap in the wire.
|
Yakuza have been known to make large investments in legitimate, mainstream companies. In 1989, Susumu Ishii, the Oyabun of the Inagawa-kai (a well known yakuza group) bought US$255 million worth of Tokyo Kyuko Electric Railway's stock. Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has knowledge of more than 50 listed companies with ties to organized crime, and in March 2008, the Osaka Securities Exchange decided to review all listed companies and expel those with yakuza ties.
As a matter of principle, theft is not recognised as a legitimate activity of yakuza. This is in line with the idea that their activities are semi-open; theft by definition would be a covert activity. More importantly, such an act would be considered a trespass by the community. Also, yakuza usually do not conduct the actual business operation by themselves. Core business activities such as merchandising, loan sharking or management of gambling houses are typically managed by non-yakuza members who pay protection fees for their activities. There is much evidence of yakuza involvement in international crime. There are many tattooed yakuza members imprisoned in various Asian prisons for such crimes as drug trafficking and arms smuggling. In 1997, one verified yakuza member was caught smuggling 4 kilograms (8.82 pounds) of heroin into Canada. Prior to his death in 1980, former Italian-American Mafia member Mickey Zaffarano, who controlled pornography rackets across the United States for the Bonanno family, was overheard talking about the enormous profits from the pornography trade that both families could make together. Another yakuza racket is bringing women of other ethnicities/races, especially East European and Asian, to Japan under the lure of a glamorous position, then forcing the women into prostitution. |
Because of their history as a legitimate feudal organization and their connection to the Japanese political system through the uyoku (extreme right-wing political groups), yakuza are somewhat a part of the Japanese establishment, with six fan magazines reporting on their activities. Yakuza involvement in politics functions similarly to that of a lobbying group, with them backing those who share in their opinions or beliefs. One study found that 1 in 10 adults under the age of 40 believed that the yakuza should be allowed to exist. In the 1980s in Fukuoka, a yakuza war spiraled out of control and civilians were hurt. It was a large conflict between the Yamaguchi-gumi and Dojin-kai, called the Yama-Michi War. The police stepped in and forced the yakuza bosses on both sides to declare a truce in public.
At various times, people in Japanese cities have launched anti-yakuza campaigns with mixed and varied success. In March 1995, the Japanese government passed the Act for Prevention of Unlawful Activities by Criminal Gang Members, which made traditional racketeering much more difficult. Beginning in 2009, led by agency chief Takaharu Ando, Japanese police began to crack down on the gangs. Kodo-kai chief Kiyoshi Takayama was arrested in late 2010. In December 2010, police arrested Yamaguchi-gumi's alleged number three leader, Tadashi Irie.
According to the media, encouraged by tougher anti-yakuza laws and legislation, local governments and construction companies have begun to shun or ban yakuza activities or involvement in their communities or construction projects. The police are handicapped, however, by Japan's lack of an equivalent to plea bargaining, witness protection, or the United States' Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Laws were enacted in Osaka and Tokyo in 2010 and 2011 to try to combat yakuza influence by making it illegal for any business to do business with the yakuza.
At various times, people in Japanese cities have launched anti-yakuza campaigns with mixed and varied success. In March 1995, the Japanese government passed the Act for Prevention of Unlawful Activities by Criminal Gang Members, which made traditional racketeering much more difficult. Beginning in 2009, led by agency chief Takaharu Ando, Japanese police began to crack down on the gangs. Kodo-kai chief Kiyoshi Takayama was arrested in late 2010. In December 2010, police arrested Yamaguchi-gumi's alleged number three leader, Tadashi Irie.
According to the media, encouraged by tougher anti-yakuza laws and legislation, local governments and construction companies have begun to shun or ban yakuza activities or involvement in their communities or construction projects. The police are handicapped, however, by Japan's lack of an equivalent to plea bargaining, witness protection, or the United States' Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Laws were enacted in Osaka and Tokyo in 2010 and 2011 to try to combat yakuza influence by making it illegal for any business to do business with the yakuza.
Hierarchy: Gangs are headed by an 'oyabun' or 'kumicho', which translates as 'foster parent' and 'family head', who give orders to their fiercely loyal 'kobun' - or 'foster children'.
Constituent members
Burakumin
The burakumin are a group that is socially discriminated against in Japanese society, whose recorded history goes back to the Heian period in the 11th century. The burakumin are descendants of outcast communities of the pre-modern, especially the feudal era, mainly those with occupations considered tainted with death or ritual impurity, such as butchers, executioners, undertakers, or leather workers. They traditionally lived in their own secluded hamlets.
According to David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro, burakumin account for about 70% of the members of Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest yakuza syndicate in Japan.
The burakumin are a group that is socially discriminated against in Japanese society, whose recorded history goes back to the Heian period in the 11th century. The burakumin are descendants of outcast communities of the pre-modern, especially the feudal era, mainly those with occupations considered tainted with death or ritual impurity, such as butchers, executioners, undertakers, or leather workers. They traditionally lived in their own secluded hamlets.
According to David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro, burakumin account for about 70% of the members of Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest yakuza syndicate in Japan.
According to a 2006 speech by Mitsuhiro Suganuma, a former officer of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, around 60 percent of yakuza members come from burakumin, the descendants of a feudal outcast class and approximately 30 percent of them are Japanese-born Koreans, and only 10 percent are from non-burakumin Japanese and Chinese ethnic groups.
Ethnic Koreans
While ethnic Koreans make up only 0.5% of the Japanese population, they are a prominent part of yakuza, perhaps because they suffer severe discrimination in Japanese society alongside the burakumin. In the early 1990s, 18 of 90 top bosses of Inagawa-kai were ethnic Koreans. The Japanese National Police Agency suggested Koreans composed 10% of the yakuza proper and 70% of burakumin in the Yamaguchi-gumi. Some of the representatives of the designated Bōryokudan are also Koreans. The Korean significance had been an untouchable taboo in Japan and one of the reasons that the Japanese version of Kaplan and Dubro's Yakuza (1986) had not been published until 1991 with the deletion of Korean-related descriptions of the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Japanese-born people of Korean ancestry are considered resident aliens because of their nationality and are often shunned in legitimate trades, and are therefore embraced by the yakuza precisely because they fit the group's "outsider" image. Notable yakuza members of Korean ancestry include Hisayuki Machii, the founder of the Tosei-kai, Tokutaro Takayama, the president of the 4th-generation Aizukotetsu-kai, Jiro Kiyota, the president of the 5th-generation Inagawa-kai, Hirofumi Hashimoto, the head of the Kyokushinrengo-kai, and the bosses of the 6th / 7th Sakaume-gumi.
While ethnic Koreans make up only 0.5% of the Japanese population, they are a prominent part of yakuza, perhaps because they suffer severe discrimination in Japanese society alongside the burakumin. In the early 1990s, 18 of 90 top bosses of Inagawa-kai were ethnic Koreans. The Japanese National Police Agency suggested Koreans composed 10% of the yakuza proper and 70% of burakumin in the Yamaguchi-gumi. Some of the representatives of the designated Bōryokudan are also Koreans. The Korean significance had been an untouchable taboo in Japan and one of the reasons that the Japanese version of Kaplan and Dubro's Yakuza (1986) had not been published until 1991 with the deletion of Korean-related descriptions of the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Japanese-born people of Korean ancestry are considered resident aliens because of their nationality and are often shunned in legitimate trades, and are therefore embraced by the yakuza precisely because they fit the group's "outsider" image. Notable yakuza members of Korean ancestry include Hisayuki Machii, the founder of the Tosei-kai, Tokutaro Takayama, the president of the 4th-generation Aizukotetsu-kai, Jiro Kiyota, the president of the 5th-generation Inagawa-kai, Hirofumi Hashimoto, the head of the Kyokushinrengo-kai, and the bosses of the 6th / 7th Sakaume-gumi.
Needle: Yakuza members are known for their trademark, artistic tattoos, known in Japanese as irezumi, covering their entire bodies.
Secretive: Yakuza traditionally met in public baths where they could reveal their intricate tattoos and know no one was carrying a weapon.
Indirect enforcement
Since 2011, regulations that made business with members illegal as well as enactments of Yakuza exclusion ordinances led to the group's membership decline from its 21st century peak. Methods include that which brought down Al Capone; checking the organization's finance. The Financial Services Agency ordered Mizuho Financial Group Inc. to improve compliance and that its top executives report by 28 October 2013 what they knew and when about a consumer-credit affiliate found making loans to crime groups.
This adds pressure to the group from the U.S. as well where an executive order in 2011 required financial institutions to freeze yakuza assets. As of 2013, the U.S. Treasury Department has frozen about US$55,000 of yakuza holdings, including two Japan-issued American Express cards.
This adds pressure to the group from the U.S. as well where an executive order in 2011 required financial institutions to freeze yakuza assets. As of 2013, the U.S. Treasury Department has frozen about US$55,000 of yakuza holdings, including two Japan-issued American Express cards.
United States
Yakuza activity in the United States is mostly relegated to Hawaii, but they have made their presence known in other parts of the country, especially in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as Seattle, Las Vegas, Arizona, Virginia, Chicago, and New York City. The Yakuza are said to use Hawaii as a midway station between Japan and mainland America, smuggling methamphetamine into the country and smuggling firearms back to Japan.
They easily fit into the local population, since many tourists from Japan and other Asian countries visit the islands on a regular basis, and there is a large population of residents who are of full or partial Japanese descent. They also work with local gangs, funneling Japanese tourists to gambling parlors and brothels.
In California, the Yakuza have made alliances with local Vietnamese and Korean gangs as well as Chinese triads, with Vietnamese as the most common alliance. The alliances with Vietnamese gangs dated back in the late 1980s, and most Vietnamese gangsters were used as muscle, as they had potential to become extremely violent as needed. (Yakuza saw the potential following the constant Vietnamese cafe shoot outs, and home invasion burglaries throughout the 1980s and early 1990s). In New York City, they appear to collect finders fees from Russian, Irish and Italian mafiosos and businessmen for guiding Japanese tourists to gambling establishments, both legal and illegal.
Handguns manufactured in the US account for a large share (33%) of handguns seized in Japan, followed by China (16%), and the Philippines (10%). In 1990, a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver that cost $275 in the US could sell for up to $4,000 in Tokyo. By 1997 it would sell for only $500, due to the proliferation of guns in Japan during the 1990s.
The FBI suspects that the Yakuza use various operations to launder money in the U.S. In 2001, the FBI's representative in Tokyo arranged for Tadamasa Goto, the head of the group Goto-gumi, to receive a liver transplant at the UCLA Medical Center in the United States, in return for information of Yamaguchi-gumi operations in the US. This was done without prior consultation of the NPA. The journalist who uncovered the deal received threats by Goto and was given police protection in the US and in Japan - Source
They easily fit into the local population, since many tourists from Japan and other Asian countries visit the islands on a regular basis, and there is a large population of residents who are of full or partial Japanese descent. They also work with local gangs, funneling Japanese tourists to gambling parlors and brothels.
In California, the Yakuza have made alliances with local Vietnamese and Korean gangs as well as Chinese triads, with Vietnamese as the most common alliance. The alliances with Vietnamese gangs dated back in the late 1980s, and most Vietnamese gangsters were used as muscle, as they had potential to become extremely violent as needed. (Yakuza saw the potential following the constant Vietnamese cafe shoot outs, and home invasion burglaries throughout the 1980s and early 1990s). In New York City, they appear to collect finders fees from Russian, Irish and Italian mafiosos and businessmen for guiding Japanese tourists to gambling establishments, both legal and illegal.
Handguns manufactured in the US account for a large share (33%) of handguns seized in Japan, followed by China (16%), and the Philippines (10%). In 1990, a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver that cost $275 in the US could sell for up to $4,000 in Tokyo. By 1997 it would sell for only $500, due to the proliferation of guns in Japan during the 1990s.
The FBI suspects that the Yakuza use various operations to launder money in the U.S. In 2001, the FBI's representative in Tokyo arranged for Tadamasa Goto, the head of the group Goto-gumi, to receive a liver transplant at the UCLA Medical Center in the United States, in return for information of Yamaguchi-gumi operations in the US. This was done without prior consultation of the NPA. The journalist who uncovered the deal received threats by Goto and was given police protection in the US and in Japan - Source
Profiteering: The Yakuza said to earn billions of pounds every year from arms trafficking, prostitution, gambling, narcotics and blackmail.
Guns, girls... and amputated fingers: Extraordinarily intimate photos from inside the world of Japan's Yakuza crime gangs
These astonishing photographs give an unprecedented glimpse inside the world of the Yakuza, the Japanese organised crime syndicates, known for their brutality, tattoos and strict code of honour - they make billions of pounds a year from arms trafficking, prostitution, illegal gambling and blackmail.
Belgian photographer Anton Kusters spent two years with a feared Yakuza crime family in Tokyo and was given intimate access to their secretive, and often violent, inner circle.
The yakuza began as con artists and illegal bookmakers from the lowest social classes in the 1600s and developed into one of the most deadly and wealthy organised crime syndicates in the world.
Known for their brutality, members traditionally cover their bodies with intricate tattoos. They are known to cut off their own fingers as an 'apology' for offending their leaders and kumichos themselves have done the same to spare the life of one of their kobun.
There are thought to be nearly 100,000 Yakuza members in Japan. When they enlist in individual gangs they are taken to a secret location where they are trained in hand-to-hand combat and meditation.
More than 3,000 members of Japan's largest Yakuza gang recently split off from the group - sparking fears of a bloody turf war in the western city of Kobe. In the 1980s, at least 500 people were arrested and 20 people killed when a similar yakuza feud spiralled out of control.
In his own words, from his book 'Odo Yakuza Tokyo', Anton tells of the two years he spent embedded with a Yakuza crime family in Tokyo.
Belgian photographer Anton Kusters spent two years with a feared Yakuza crime family in Tokyo and was given intimate access to their secretive, and often violent, inner circle.
The yakuza began as con artists and illegal bookmakers from the lowest social classes in the 1600s and developed into one of the most deadly and wealthy organised crime syndicates in the world.
Known for their brutality, members traditionally cover their bodies with intricate tattoos. They are known to cut off their own fingers as an 'apology' for offending their leaders and kumichos themselves have done the same to spare the life of one of their kobun.
There are thought to be nearly 100,000 Yakuza members in Japan. When they enlist in individual gangs they are taken to a secret location where they are trained in hand-to-hand combat and meditation.
More than 3,000 members of Japan's largest Yakuza gang recently split off from the group - sparking fears of a bloody turf war in the western city of Kobe. In the 1980s, at least 500 people were arrested and 20 people killed when a similar yakuza feud spiralled out of control.
In his own words, from his book 'Odo Yakuza Tokyo', Anton tells of the two years he spent embedded with a Yakuza crime family in Tokyo.
Ritual: Yakuza members are known to cut off their fingers in a ritual 'apology' when they have offended family leaders. They also offer to chop off their 'pinkies' as a sacrifice to save the lives of younger members who would otherwise be murdered for offending senior members.
It quickly became a subtle story. The first time I saw a Yakuza member in the streets of Kabukicho, Tokyo, I was sitting in a bar having a beer with my brother. Up until then, we had the same idea as everyone else: crazy tattooed gangsters running around with swords and guns killing each other every chance they got. But this guy was dressed up in a suit and behaving politely, straight and confident.
He walked the street literally as if he owned it, and people bowed and greeted him along his way. We talked to him and found out his name was Souichirou.
A little later, he smiles when we ask him the question straight up. He's an upper-level street boss of the borough his family controls, and he has an office smack in the middle of it: 'We seldom do that anymore nowadays, killing' – note the word 'seldom'.
We ask about me photographing him and his family, long term. He agrees to start negotiations. Eventually, it will take us a full year of intense and difficult meetings to finally get permission. That year, spring 2009, is the first time I go out the photograph them.
It happens to be a five hour early morning ride to the prison at Niigata, where two members are due to be released that day. The family drives out to welcome them back. At 4 a.m., as dawn breaks, I ride along in the car that drives Nitto-san, a senior boss of the family. It is cold.
A little later, he smiles when we ask him the question straight up. He's an upper-level street boss of the borough his family controls, and he has an office smack in the middle of it: 'We seldom do that anymore nowadays, killing' – note the word 'seldom'.
We ask about me photographing him and his family, long term. He agrees to start negotiations. Eventually, it will take us a full year of intense and difficult meetings to finally get permission. That year, spring 2009, is the first time I go out the photograph them.
It happens to be a five hour early morning ride to the prison at Niigata, where two members are due to be released that day. The family drives out to welcome them back. At 4 a.m., as dawn breaks, I ride along in the car that drives Nitto-san, a senior boss of the family. It is cold.
Evolution: Today's Japanese gangsters are moving away from the image of tattoo-covered killers who are missing the odd finger and into white-collar crime. One expert said the tradition of the gun-toting tattooed Yakuza is dying out with members more likely to carry an iPad.
'Morality': The Yakuza, known by Japanese police as 'boryokudan' or 'violent groups', are famed for their strict moral code and respect.
Corporate criminals: While the culture and social attitudes towards Yakuzas is changing in Japan, they crime families are still as dangerous and influential as ever.
Small in posture, his gaze penetrates right through me as Souichirou instructs me to greet him first. Say 'yoroshiku onegai shimasu'. Bow.
His handshake is firm. It seems like he immediately knows what I'm made of, and as he turns away to attend to other business, I get further instructed the basics of behaving, what to say, where to stand.
They don't interfere with my images in any way. Everything is so subtle. The details I all see in the corner of my eye, cufflinks, groomed hands, perfect haircuts, scars, cars, tailored suits, leather shoes, missing digits, bodyguards, glimpses of tattoos… everything screams 'control', and yes, if there ever were a scale for air thick with tension, this surely would be the epitome of it.
And for those who don't, there is always that place in the mountains, several hours away, from which one does not return. Slowly I'm starting to realize that - beside the obvious criminal element - Yakuza might be more about a way of life.
It appears to me like the young ones are seeking a sense of belonging, while the senior bosses see it as their task to instill traditional values upon their followers. Many times individuals are opportunistic to gain 'positive press' in the outside world, but largely it seems like they seldom care what happens around them.
His handshake is firm. It seems like he immediately knows what I'm made of, and as he turns away to attend to other business, I get further instructed the basics of behaving, what to say, where to stand.
They don't interfere with my images in any way. Everything is so subtle. The details I all see in the corner of my eye, cufflinks, groomed hands, perfect haircuts, scars, cars, tailored suits, leather shoes, missing digits, bodyguards, glimpses of tattoos… everything screams 'control', and yes, if there ever were a scale for air thick with tension, this surely would be the epitome of it.
And for those who don't, there is always that place in the mountains, several hours away, from which one does not return. Slowly I'm starting to realize that - beside the obvious criminal element - Yakuza might be more about a way of life.
It appears to me like the young ones are seeking a sense of belonging, while the senior bosses see it as their task to instill traditional values upon their followers. Many times individuals are opportunistic to gain 'positive press' in the outside world, but largely it seems like they seldom care what happens around them.
Kinship: There are almost 100,000 Yakuza members in Japan and the majority belong to individual gangs with bloodshed over the years when members defect between families and fight for control over the lucrative trades in narcotics, money laundering and vice.
Death: Over the years bloody wars have broken out among the Yakuza crime syndicate since it was formed in the 1600s. Crime family leaders are laid to rest in luxurious coffins as a mark of respect.
As they have mastered to walk the fine line of doing both good and bad, they have carved a path for themselves that is so intertwined with Japan as a country, that projections sometimes describe a society without Yakuza to be worse than with.
In February of 2010, one of the most important bosses of the family suffered a fatal stroke. His death was imminent. Home at the time, I pretty much dropped everything, and jumped on a plane to Tokyo.
Even though he had always kept very much to himself, I had observed, gotten to know, and photographed the man for over 12 months. To see him lying there in that hospital bed, helpless in a coma with no chance of recovery, felt very… human.
I went to visit him three days in a row. The third night, at 2.30am, he died.
His girlfriend and older brother allowed me to attend the traditional Buddhist funeral that was about to take place. At that point, most images I
made seemed too intimate to publish. Perhaps time would tell. Perhaps, in the greater context of the story, they'd find their place. It was cold those days in February, and I was under-dressed - Source
In February of 2010, one of the most important bosses of the family suffered a fatal stroke. His death was imminent. Home at the time, I pretty much dropped everything, and jumped on a plane to Tokyo.
Even though he had always kept very much to himself, I had observed, gotten to know, and photographed the man for over 12 months. To see him lying there in that hospital bed, helpless in a coma with no chance of recovery, felt very… human.
I went to visit him three days in a row. The third night, at 2.30am, he died.
His girlfriend and older brother allowed me to attend the traditional Buddhist funeral that was about to take place. At that point, most images I
made seemed too intimate to publish. Perhaps time would tell. Perhaps, in the greater context of the story, they'd find their place. It was cold those days in February, and I was under-dressed - Source