Yakuza: Japan's Criminal UnderworldKnown for their striking full-body tattoos and severed fingertips, Japan's gangsters comprise a criminal class eighty thousand strong--more than four times the size of the American mafia. Despite their criminal nature, the yakuza are accepted by fellow Japanese to a degree guaranteed to shock most Westerners. Yakuza is the first book to reveal the extraordinary reach of Japan's Mafia. Originally published in 1986, it was so controversial in Japan that it could not be published there for five years. But in the west it has long served as the standard reference on Japanese organized crime and has inspired novels, screenplays, and criminal investigations. This twenty-fifth anniversary edition tells the full story or Japan's remarkable crime syndicates, from their feudal start as bands of medieval outlaws to their emergence as billion-dollar investors in real estate, big business, art, and more. |
Contents
THE KODAMA YEARS | 29 |
THE MODERN YAKUZA | 109 |
THE MOVE ABROAD | 221 |
A New Yakuza | 325 |
A Note on Research | 335 |
Notes | 339 |
Glossary | 373 |
377 | |
387 | |
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Common terms and phrases
activities Agency American April arrested Asahi Asian authorities bakuto banks began Boryokudan bosozoku Bubble Economy burakumin China Chinese cops corporate corruption crime syndicates criminal Daily Yomiuri drug early economic extortion firms force foreign gamblers gambling gangsters godfather golf groups guns Hawaii Hong Kong Honolulu huge hundred Inagawa Inagawa-kai industry interviews investigators investment Ishii Japa Japan Japanese Japanese police June Kakuji Inagawa Kanto-kai Kazuo Taoka Kishi Korean kuza laundering law enforcement loans Lockheed Machii Mafia Mainichi Daily meth million mobsters National nese officials operations organized crime Osaka Osano oyabun oyabun-kobun payoffs percent political politicians postwar Prefecture prime minister prostitution rackets real estate reports rightist Ryoichi Sasakawa sangokujin Sasakawa scandal SCAP Shimbun smuggling sokaiya Sumiyoshi-kai Taoka tattoos tekiya tion Tokyo trade triads ultranationalist underworld United women yakuza boss yakuza gangs Yamaguchi Yamaguchi-gumi Yoshio Kodama