|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: Charles Jannuzi
||
|| First a comment on recent events. The Shrubya is here and he pulled a
|| surprise on Koizumi.
I see you've read my post ;-) So what happens if Koizumi tells Bush FU?
|| This is just more 'othering' of Japan to fit western preconceptions and
|| fantasies. What in the fuck does this guy really know about
|| Japan? What the
|| fuck does O'Neill know about Japan?
Do you think this is BS too? BTW how many fingers do you have Charles ;-)?
The Yakuza Johan Björck Anomalies Project Stockholm School of Economics & EIJS 1997 Course 9995 Introduction to the Economies and Business of East Asia http://www.hhs.se/EIJS/anomaly/JYakuza.htm (...) The Yakuza´s financial ties
Today the Yakuza is accused of having played a major role in creating the "bubble economy" of the late 1980´s. Taking advantage of the speculation fever of the era, especially in real estate business, gangs found much to do. "Those involved in jiegeya business, for example, visit small, old-style mom and pop shops concentrated in the shadows of high-rise buildings in a downtown area and persuade the owners to sell their premises."3 Land scalper (jiegeya) tactics practiced by Hiroshi Asaji ranged from "placing blaring stereo speakers next to the house of a stubborn resident to hiring a gang to crush six ribs of another owner."4 These people were connected to major real estate companies to whom they sold the properties to a premium price. As these companies got hold of land pieces at a bargain price they began to purchase land from anyone not caring about if they were Yakuza-related or not. Once the connections were built with financial institutions, the Yakuza was no longer content with jiegeya business; it started to run real estate business, develop buildings and golf courses on their own. And financial institutions just kept lending them money. That way, a base was established for direct and indirect transactions between Yakuza and securities firms and banks by the mid-1980´s.5
This was not the only way the Yakuza got a foothold in the Japanese financial system. The Ministry of Finance, at the end of 1984, requested the leader of Yamaguchi-gumi to come to Tokyo and help kick out Kanto-based Yakuza from sogo banks, mutual financing banks who are small in term of assets and have a weak management capacity, since these had incurred massive losses in failed stock and land speculation. Taking advantage of this situation, Yamaguchi-gumi not only expanded its business territory but also started interacting openly with the bank´s top management with the consent of the Ministry.
The Yakuza themselves say that they are not the reason for the acute problems in the Japanese economy. In an interview with Takayama Tokutaro, a big Yakuza boss, he concluded that "it is true that some Yakuza and their affiliate companies had a hand in forceful land evictions during the bubble economy, but large corporations and banks forced the Yakuza to do so. Yakuza was just used as their tool."6
Once the bubble burst and the property prices crashed; the credit unions, housing-loan corporations (jusen) and real estate companies had difficulties in getting their money back from the Yakuza. Terrified lenders are afraid of pushing the issue too far. The main difference between Japan and Sweden in this case must be that crime organizations were not able to act so openly in Sweden as in Japan. When the lenders in Sweden wanted to get their money back from their reckless lending the only problem they got was that people could not pay, not that they did not want to. This has resulted in that Japan is suffering from bad loans amounting to $350 billion7 that probably are unrecoverable.
This has resulted in the conclusion that "the collusive structure among politicians, bureaucrats and business is now in the way of the nation's development, but in the world of finance we have a structure of tie-ins among four, the above three plus Yakuza. Unless the structure is broken up the nation has no choice but to be doomed."8
Notes
"Yakuza: Past and Present"; Adam Johnson; found on Internet ibid "Who got the Yakuza into to our banking system?"; Takano Hajime; found on Internet "Yakuza and the banks"; Business Week 290196 "Who got the Yakuza into to our banking system?"; Takano Hajime "Hajime Takano´s Interview series- No. 1"; found on Internet "Yakuza and the banks"; Business Week 290196 "Who got the Yakuza into our banking system?"
======================================================== Yakuza: Past and Present Adam Johnson http://www.dar.net/~northrup/yakuza.html JAPAN 135 Prof. Naff
(...) Yakuza in Business and Politics
The yakuza has always been involved in politics and business right from the start. The groups are always hungry for more power and money, wherever they can find it.
In 1987, Noboru Takeshita was elected prime minister in Japan. There were always suspicions of gangster ties in the election. When questioned on the accusations in 1992, Takeshita denied knowing at the time that the yakuza were involved.
What happened was this: during one of his speeches, a group was blaring comments against Takeshita. Some other group of people had silenced the commentators.
The Liberal Democratic Party kingmaker was made to resign from politics in October 1992 when he admitted to receiving Y500m ($4m) from a delivery firm, Sagawa Kyubin. The owner of the firm, Hiroyasu Watanabe, paid the kingmaker for trying to help save his business. Watanabe admitted to asking Ishii Susumu, the late head of the Inagawa-kai, to silence the group. Susumu called in a gang from Kyoto, the Aizu Kotetsu, to do the job. Aizu Kotetsu had a grudge against Takeshita due to a confidence job (paying Y4 billion for a Y500m gold screen). Takeshita denied the screen deal, although money from it was given to his secretary.
Shigeaki Isaka, who was very close to the leader of Aizu Kotetsu, would help Takeshita win the election, in order to have a hold over him, possibly for future blackmail. (Economist, p33)
There is another yakuza incident that hits closer to home. West Tsusho, a Tokyo-based real estate firm, bought two American companies with help from none other than Prescott Bush, Jr, President Bush's elder brother.
What wasn't known at the time was that West Tsusho is an arm of the a company run by the Inagawa-kai's leader, Ishii Susumu.
Tsusho purchased Quantum Access, a Houston-based software firm) and Asset Management International Financing & Settlement, a New York City-based company.
Bush received a $250,000 finder's fee for Asset Manangement, as was promised another $250,000 per year for three years in consulting fees. Bush was unaware at the time that he was being a middleman for mob activity. (Time, Jun 24, 1991, p25)
A Bleak Future?
With the anti-yakuza countermeasure act in place, the future for the yakuza seems bleak, at least in Japan. The North American expansion could do very well, as they channel nearly $10 billion into legitimate investments not only in the US, but in Europe as well.
The FBI is gearing up to handle the new threat from the yakuza, now that their handling of the Mafia is nearly complete. However, their investigations will be difficult, as they can operate though shell corporations without the close scrutiny that hampers crooks in other companies. Also, money laundering is not a crime in Japan, so the investigations into the money angles of the yakuza will be extremely difficult. (Castro, p21)
However, yakuza in Japan are already seeing their future weaken.
Between April 21 and May 25 of 1992, police stations in many prefectures received nearly 145 calls from gangsters and their families asking advice on how to leave the gangs and go legitimate.
In response to this, over 60 companies in Japan offered to take in reformed yakuza as employees. (Shinnosuke, p358)
The future for the yakuza as of right now is uncertain. Perhaps the gangs will still survive in Japan, moving back into the underground where they hid during the occupation. Perhaps they will just move their operations elsewhere, amongst the Triads of southeast Asia, with whom they have had good relationships and business.
Only time will tell...