With the enactment of an anti-organized crime legislation in October of 2011, members of yakuza gangs, or Japanese organized crime syndicates, are said to be considering leaving the country to look for more financial opportunities abroad, according to Shukan Asahi Geino. The government’s fight against the Japanese mafia are only getting fiercer and more serious as it makes more and more arrests of yakuza. Last week, the National Police Agency (NPA) announced that it is giving stock trading firms open access to its database containing members of organized crime.
However, this plan of underground gangsters may not be as successful as they may think. Many pitfalls lie in the way of their success in other countries. A boss of a Kanto-based gang has pointed out that the yakuza have a strict and specific code of honor, which is not shared by other mafia overseas. He warns, “they will face danger and they will clash with the foreign gangs.” Furthermore, the world is already keeping watch for the yakuza. Late last year, the United States were able to track down the assets of the Sumiyoshi-kai, Japan’s second largest organized crime group, found within the U.S. territory and had them effectively frozen. It’s top two bosses have also been blacklisted in America, and all American businesses and citizens are now prohibited from transacting with them.
Still, there will always be yakuza remaining in the country. It will be tough, says the boss. But, they are adapting in the changing times. Shukan Asahi Geino reports of the so-called han-gure factions that are composed of bikers not subject of the anti-crime laws, and how the yakuza utilizes them for its benefit.
[via Tokyo Reporter]