Yakuza: Big In Japan

There was an interesting article about the yakuza in The Washington Post supplement of today's Daily Yomiuri:

I have spent most of the past 15 years in the dark side of the rising sun. Until three years ago, I was a crime reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's largest newspaper, and covered a roster of characters that included serial killers who doubled as pet breeders, child pornographers who abducted junior high-school girls, and the John Gotti of Japan.

Comments

[bingobangoboy]

Interesting topic but the article also encapulates a lot of what I find so annoying in journalism about Japan (or indeed, any topic which the readership is likely to know little about): sneaky little misleading assertions and mistruths all aimed at stimulating the reader's suspicions rather than educating them. Yes, "mobs" are legal entities, but of course mob crime isn't. Yes, based on previous cases, yakuza do "socialize with prime ministers and politicians," but only at great risk to the politicians' careers if the public ever finds out. Yes, Japan introduced new child pornography laws in 1999, but they were a revision of existing laws, not the first laws as Adelstein claims (the "child pornography is legal in Japan" meme never gets old). Adelstein is pretty slippery with that particular topic, but let's not waste our energy on that.
Without knowing a fraction of what I'm sure Adelstein knows about the Japanese and US police forces, I do have to wonder about his claims that the Japanese police don't cooperate or share information with the US. I mean, I'm *sure* they're happy to give information about illegal firearms and drugs entering Japan from the US, just as the US is happy to give the kind of information Adelstein talks about. But of course, the former case isn't really Adelstein's concern. I wonder if Japanese law enforcement is truly being difficult, or if they legitimately have concerns that are more important than helping the US. The FBI, in Japan(!) secretly cuts a deal with Japan's biggest crime boss, bringing him the the US to save his life in return for information? How many man-years of investigation on the Japanese side might they have ruined with that move? Could Japan have gotten away with that? And somehow, the US is the victim?
Of course, none of these criticisms reduce my sympathy for what Adelstein and his family are going through.

[Captain]

Over on FG, we have been discussing this:

http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20641

And Adelstein himself has been chiming in.

[MC]

Captain, thanks for the link--interesting discussion going on over there-bingobangoboy--you should check it out if you're interested in this topic.