7 ms·

I don't know much about modern day Yakuza but it seems pretty impressive, morals aside, to have grown from essentially gambling fronts in Japan to managing mult

I don't know much about modern day Yakuza but it seems pretty impressive, morals aside, to have grown from essentially gambling fronts in Japan to managing multinational arms deals of military grade equipment on behalf of country governments. I imagine these people would be quite successful if they aimed at more legal areas of business. There's still a lot of opportunity for morally shitty but legal areas in corporate America.

krapp 4y ago
>I imagine these people would be quite successful if they aimed at more legal areas of business. As I understand it, the Yakuza basically have their hands in everything related to entertainment (especially gambling and porn) in Japan, including the video game studios. There's a story about a certain four-letter video game studio that had a developer's sister kidnapped to keep them from working for Nintendo[0], a company that had its own Yakuza connections when it sold hanafuda cards and ran love hotels[1]. But... what's the point of being an organized crime syndicate that only obeys the law? [0]https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/11/rumour_leading_japanese_game_company_kidnapped_devs_sister_to_stop_them_from_working_with_nintendo https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/11/rumour_leading_jap... [1]https://www.cbr.com/nintendo-japanese-yakuza-history/ https://www.cbr.com/nintendo-japanese-yakuza-history/
- thaumasiotes 4y ago
  > a company that had its own Yakuza connections when it sold hanafuda cards Nintendo never stopped selling hanafuda cards. I have a set right now.
makeitdouble 4y ago
> if they aimed at more legal areas of business They touch a lot of land related business (construction, real estate market, worker groups), and will also front "grey" areas like non-bank loans, risky work contracting (sending workers to Fukushima...), credit card contracting, and as sister comment points out, entertainment and sexy work. In short, they've well expanded into any area where shitty morals is a strong business advantage.
- weaksauce 4y ago
  > In short, they've well expanded into any area where shitty morals is a strong business advantage. I guess that's most of those businesses if not all business then
- cperciva 4y ago
  any area where shitty morals is a strong business advantage. They're active in politics too?
  - makeitdouble 4y ago
    Sadly, yes https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/japan-s-political-thugs-exposed-1553629.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/japan-s-political-t...
px43 4y ago
> I imagine these people would be quite successful if they aimed at more legal areas of business. My understanding is that Yakuza are generally "Burakumin", which is basically a sub-ethnicity that has been discriminated against in Japan for hundreds of years. They have a strong cultural heritage of decorative tattoos, which is why people with tattoos aren't allowed in gyms or nice restaurants in Japan. It's illegal to discriminate against them in the workplace, but basically every company still does extensive family background checks looking for any sign of Burakumin heritage, and if discovered, they'll suddenly realize that you just aren't a good fit for the company. This is why they're "born to lose". They can't get legitimate high paying jobs, so they build their own ecosystem that they can thrive in. Lots of criminal participation around the world comes directly as a result of systemic discrimination. These are often smart people making the best of a shitty situation that they were born into. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burakumin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burakumin
- weq 4y ago
  Unlike the rhetoric of "Just Say No", this is what black markets are. They are not run by idiots, but generally desperate people with no other means. Once you are over the line in that world, the good doesnt matter. You are working underground, anything goes. Desperate people get taken advantage of, but the yakuza are just one link. This route is usually controlled by the triads, they have been arming conflict in the golden triangle for years. Like any other capitalists, blackmarket syndicates expand and fight for terroritory. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/meth-syndicate/ https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/meth-syn...
  - watwut 4y ago
    I dont know about yakuza specifically. But in general, this is not true or at least not true everywhere. Our local mafias and "black market" were not desperate people. They were people seeing opportunities and taking advantage of them to the max. Some of them generated desperate people among their victims, sure. But, those rarely turned into bosses or gang members. Most of what they did were choices and not a result of "not having any other choice".
  - 4y ago

krapp 4y ago

>I imagine these people would be quite successful if they aimed at more legal areas of business. As I understand it, the Yakuza basically have their hands in everything related to entertainment (especially gambling and porn) in Japan, including the video game studios. There's a story about a certain four-letter video game studio that had a developer's sister kidnapped to keep them from working for Nintendo[0], a company that had its own Yakuza connections when it sold hanafuda cards and ran love hotels[1]. But... what's the point of being an organized crime syndicate that only obeys the law? [0]https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/11/rumour_leading_japanese_game_company_kidnapped_devs_sister_to_stop_them_from_working_with_nintendo https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/11/rumour_leading_jap... [1]https://www.cbr.com/nintendo-japanese-yakuza-history/ https://www.cbr.com/nintendo-japanese-yakuza-history/

thaumasiotes 4y ago
> a company that had its own Yakuza connections when it sold hanafuda cards Nintendo never stopped selling hanafuda cards. I have a set right now.

makeitdouble 4y ago

> if they aimed at more legal areas of business They touch a lot of land related business (construction, real estate market, worker groups), and will also front "grey" areas like non-bank loans, risky work contracting (sending workers to Fukushima...), credit card contracting, and as sister comment points out, entertainment and sexy work. In short, they've well expanded into any area where shitty morals is a strong business advantage.

weaksauce 4y ago
> In short, they've well expanded into any area where shitty morals is a strong business advantage. I guess that's most of those businesses if not all business then
cperciva 4y ago
any area where shitty morals is a strong business advantage. They're active in politics too?
- makeitdouble 4y ago
  Sadly, yes https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/japan-s-political-thugs-exposed-1553629.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/japan-s-political-t...

px43 4y ago

> I imagine these people would be quite successful if they aimed at more legal areas of business. My understanding is that Yakuza are generally "Burakumin", which is basically a sub-ethnicity that has been discriminated against in Japan for hundreds of years. They have a strong cultural heritage of decorative tattoos, which is why people with tattoos aren't allowed in gyms or nice restaurants in Japan. It's illegal to discriminate against them in the workplace, but basically every company still does extensive family background checks looking for any sign of Burakumin heritage, and if discovered, they'll suddenly realize that you just aren't a good fit for the company. This is why they're "born to lose". They can't get legitimate high paying jobs, so they build their own ecosystem that they can thrive in. Lots of criminal participation around the world comes directly as a result of systemic discrimination. These are often smart people making the best of a shitty situation that they were born into. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burakumin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burakumin

weq 4y ago
Unlike the rhetoric of "Just Say No", this is what black markets are. They are not run by idiots, but generally desperate people with no other means. Once you are over the line in that world, the good doesnt matter. You are working underground, anything goes. Desperate people get taken advantage of, but the yakuza are just one link. This route is usually controlled by the triads, they have been arming conflict in the golden triangle for years. Like any other capitalists, blackmarket syndicates expand and fight for terroritory. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/meth-syndicate/ https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/meth-syn...
- watwut 4y ago
  I dont know about yakuza specifically. But in general, this is not true or at least not true everywhere. Our local mafias and "black market" were not desperate people. They were people seeing opportunities and taking advantage of them to the max. Some of them generated desperate people among their victims, sure. But, those rarely turned into bosses or gang members. Most of what they did were choices and not a result of "not having any other choice".
- 4y ago