(Saitama Soccer Stadium far, just north of Tokyo)
(Expressway around Tokyo passing through Urawa Area, just north of Tokyo)Another Look at Yakuza
(Un autre regard sur Yakuza)
When President Mr. Bush was competing with Senator Mr. Kerry in 2004 US Presidential Election, the President, to our surprise, approved use of the term “Yakuza,” meaning Japanese organized crime or its members, or the Mafia of the Japanese version, in a certain video used in his election campaign.
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A look at "Yakuza":
Script
President Bush (as he's seen moving around the White House): "I'm George W. Bush, and I approved this message."
Narrator (while the cover of a book written by Kerry in 1997 appears on-screen): "John Kerry says he's 'author of a strategy to win the war on terror'?"
Narrator (as the image changes to a cartoon of Japanese gangster, with a World War II-era Japanese flag in the background): "Against the Japanese yakuza."
Narrator (photos of Osama bin Laden and Yasser Arafat emerge): "Never mentions al-Qaeda. Says nothing about Osama bin Laden. Calls Yasser Arafat a 'statesman.' "
Narrator (Kerry's photo reappears, with a magazine cover in the background): "The New Republic says Kerry's plan 'misses the mark.' "
Narrator (while the words "Kerry's focus?" "global crime" and "not terrorism" are shown): "And Kerry's focus? Global crime, not terrorism."
Narrator (as Kerry's face reappears, a "thought bubble" connected to his head with a question mark inside): "How can John Kerry win a war if he doesn't know the enemy?"
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-07-01-bush-ad-analysis_x.htm
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So, an inner circle of President Mr. Bush seems to be well informed of Japanese organized crimes.
According to a certain notable Japanese critic, the Bush administration adopted a policy toward Japan that was intended to eliminate influences of “Yakuza” on the Japanese economy, since the grave economic slump in Japan in 1990’s was apparently aggravated by involvement of, and interference by, Japanese organized crimes (maybe just like there is a shadow of the Mafia behind the US subprime loan problem).
According to his comment, in April 2002, CIA, FBI, and other US agencies had studied, as a kind of full-scale research and investigation, covert and secret connections and associations between Japanese politicians and organized crime.
Based on results of the investigation, the Bush Administration secretly requested the Koizumi Administration to purge politicians who were identified as having taken an interest in dark business for dark money, actually leading to downfall of some anti-Koizumi politicians mostly in the ruling party, LDP.
What is peculiar in this operation is that the clandestine operation against the Politician-Gangsters Symbiotic Relationship targeted also the politicians who had a strong tie with North Korea, since a majority of members of Japanese gang groups were identified as ethnic Koreans living in Japan.
Consequently, several conservative politicians were arrested or indicted, driven out of the stage of national politics, or forced to resign from, or neglected in appointment to, influential posts in the Japanese Government, while several liberal politicians, especially with a strong tie with North Korea, were also forced to suffer exposure of their doubtful or unlawful conducts that had been long concealed from the eye of the public.
( http://www.pluto.dti.ne.jp/~mor97512/C0355.HTML )
However, the dark relationship with “Yakuza” in the Japanese society is not the monopoly of some politicians; traditionally, the entertainment business has been regarded as being inevitably linked with organized crime just like in the U.S.
Further it is said that, especially in local communities of Japan, there is a kind of a dark triangle of power balance among politicians, the police, and organized crime; when organized-crime members are targeted by the police, they ask a friendly politician for help since they can in secret help the politician in election and fund-raising for so-called political activities, according to some allegation.
( http://www.news.janjan.jp/living/0304253271/1.php )
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But, what I am concerned much about is that this triangle has been expanded to include those working in the media industry in Japan, including newspaper companies.
(Even in the Livedoor incident in Japan, the young president of Livedoor, an IT company, is said to have tried to purchase in an unlawful manner, though supported by Lehman Brothers Holdings, a majority of stocks of a subsidized radio broadcaster of Fuji Television Network and thus Fuji TV itself, so as to control the TV station, while his original capital source was reportedly rooted deep in the underground world. However, as I wrote in the EEE Reporter blog at that time, the God interfered and the young billionaire's dream was broken as he was prosecuted and brought to justice, so that Fuji TV is now enjoying its independence. But, a TV station could be abused at any time by those ambitious people or shady groups.)
It is because when I was reading Japanese blog comments by a certain newspaper reporter on the Internet, I had some uncomfortable feeling, since the reporter used the specific first person in his writing, “Washi.”
In English, the first person is always “I.”
But in Japanese, there are some different expressions to mean "I," almost 22 different words including dialectal, local or obsolete ones; but major ones are,
Watakushi (decent), Watashi (normal), Boku (for boys, young males, or pompous males), Ore (for young males and grow-up males talking with friends), and Washi (for ordinary grown-up males in their own communities in Western Japan and gangsters).
The use of “Wahi” for the first person is very controversial, since one of the largest organized crime is based in a Western Japan city and their members are mostly well known for using “Washi” as their own first person, though it is common for grown-up males in Western Japan to call themselves “Washi” in private conversations.
Especially, this dialect expression became notable nationwide when a culprit called himself "The Monster with 21 Faces" used this first person in many intimidation letters he sent to certain companies and the police in a famous extortion case around 1985. In the letter, the use of "Washi" really gave an impression that he was associated with Yakuza members prone to do any harms to citizens if necessary for money or such.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glico_Morinaga_case
With these facts, “Washi” somehow invokes a dark image especially when it is heard in Tokyo, the central city of Eastern Japan where “Washi” has not been traditionally used.
So, it is a big surprise that a certain reporter of the first-rate newspaper company uses this first person even in his personal blog.
( http://blog.livedoor.jp/toshiaki399/ )
The reporter is somehow prominent in Japan as he published a book on off-the-book money for covert operation by the Japanese Government.
But, as he also presented his detailed knowledge on “Yakuza” in his blog, he might get too much accustomed to such an environment where relationships between some politicians, some ex-public prosecutors, some lawyers, some elite police officers, some businessmen, and gangsters are deplorably interwoven.
Indeed, the newspaper company should instill discipline to their staff writers and reporters, so that they will never use any first person that would create discomfort among readers and subscribers. Otherwise while they are imitating gangsters’ tone, they might become a kind of gangsters in their profession like some of their sales persons
( https://www.mynewsjapan.com/reports/122 )
Truly, even the US President seems to be concerned sometimes with involvement of gangsters in Japanese economy, mostly the money market and the property market, while US financial institutes are eager to more freely enter the Japanese money market without any obstacles from “Yakuza” people.
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Japanese stand-up comedians from Western Japan casually call themselves with the first person “Washi,” but foreigners must not use it even if they master Japanese conversation skills, since Japanese gangsters often use it.
(That is why some old wise men in Japan often advise that you should not join politics as it is tantamount to swimming with the dangerous tide full of dark mud of desire of people.
Yet, you may be saved, if you have nothing to do with gangsters…)
“The Famous Prostitute Is to Be Punished”
(Die Grosse Hure bestraft wird)