What is the Yakuza?
Yakuza is a general term used to refer to traditional Japanese gangs or criminal organizations.
Yakuza Development History
The Yakuza’s origins date back to quite a while, but after the Yakuza grew they were considered gangsters. It is widely believed that since the Edo period, which means, before 1867, the Yakuza was an organization with the original name of the “Black Sea Chamber of Commerce” that specialized in operating at sea and accepting the murder of tenants gathered from small criminal groups. treasurers and mercenaries. There is an opinion that the Yakuza started from the samurai era when the shogunate came back to power and peace again left the samurai landless. This led to the samurai gather into an organization and specialize in illegal activities to make a living.
Yakuza Activities
Members of the Yakuza operate under the direction of the “tycoons” and there will be a “tycoon of all tycoons” directing the general operation of the Yakuza groups. The original Yakuza activity was initially smuggling and murdering prostitutes and drugs to “make money”. Later, due to many events of history, the Yakuza began to become involved in domestic politics with many coups and assassinations behind the Yakuza.
When fascism arose in Japan, 60,000 Yakuza members once joined the fascist forces. But the main activity of the Yakuza is still smuggling and murder to benefit from the war. According to estimates by many researchers, the Yakuza at times are up to 16 billion dollars per year.
Although the Yakuza have gone through many years with the departures of various Yakuza leaders, Yakuza gangs have almost never had a purge between different groups.
Today the Yakuza has spread all over the world and is involved in all kinds of illegal activities in the world from big countries like the US, Russia, China to smaller countries.
According to a source said during the 2011 Yakuza tsunami was one of the first groups to come here to aid people. They work for charity, not for fame. The Yakuza are sometimes defending Japanese people living abroad as well. Yakuza magazine is also available in Japan, but it is not popular.
Yakuza influence
The Yakuza has around 90,000 members and is at most estimated to have nearly 200,000 members after World War II. Back then the Yakuza had even more force than the Japanese army. Since then, the number of Yakuza has gradually declined but remains a force with great influence not only in economics but also in politics. And the Yakuza’s activities are public.
The hallmark of the Yakuza is that they get tattoos and sometimes lose their little finger. The tattooing is only ritual, but the Yakuza consider it a very sacred ritual and they tattooed in many different shapes. There are many Yakuza tattooed almost full body, most Yakuza have dragon phoenix tattoos, flowers, gods … even the Yakuza also tattoo and according to a statistic from 2005 more than 90% of the Yakuza tattoos me.
Currently the Japanese Yakuza have decreased in number and gradually ceased to be in public activity. However, the current Yakuza with huge amounts of money still has a great influence on Japan’s politics and economic dominance, hiding under big companies or investment projects. When traveling to Japan, there are some places in Tokyo that you should not go to near Ueno, Roppongi, Kabukicho. These are some of the most infamous locations with references to the Yakuza.