"The New Yakuza Unabridged Dictionary" reads the headline in Shukan Taishu (May 22). This title, somehow, does not sound like the sort of desktop reference book that Noah Webster -- or Oxford University for that matter -- would have compiled. And it's not. Rather, it's a six-page long article, which is about as much space as Shukan Taishu is likely to allocate for any given topic.
What sort of etymological data related to Japan's organized criminal syndicates, then, does one obtain for an outlay of 350 yen? Not a lot, but certainly some interesting insights into current events. Three examples follow.
For entries under the letter "S," we might find "Shutsujo demukae," which refers to the custom of greeting a gang member outside the prison upon his release at the end of his sentence. Times, it seems, have changed. In the old days, Shukan Taishu notes, after a high-ranking member served his time, it was not unusual for a contingent of a thousand or more -- even as high as 5,000 for a top-ranked gang leader -- to congregate outside the prison gates and "greet" their colleague upon his release. The authorities, however, have served notice that such public displays are no longer welcome; the maximum allowable number of greeters has been reduced to three.
Actually, the custom will probably not be missed.
"Most prison releases used to be conducted early in the morning or just before dark," a gang leader in Kanto (Tokyo and environs) tells the magazine. "So multitudes of gang members carrying chochin (paper lanterns) would gather. When I got released, the sea of faces welcoming me back was incredibly moving. But those days are over now I suppose."
"Still, a prison release is treated as an occasion for celebration," another gang source is quoted. "But we've ended the practice of inviting outside guests, and confine the party to close friends and relatives. It's not so much due to pressure by the authorities, but more like better self discipline on the part of the gangs."
In Shukan Taishu's yakuza lexicon, the letter "F," meanwhile, includes "firearms." According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, gangs in the country were involved in 24 known shootouts, mostly turf wars, during 2005. Most of them were one-time flare-ups that did not spill over into prolonged wars. The yakuza propensity to blast away at rivals with firearms, it seems, may be on the wane; the number last year was the lowest recorded since 1976.
This decline is probably due to revisions in the law that now make it possible to charge yakuza godfathers with abetting gun offenses committed by their underlings.
Nevertheless, it's clear that some hoods have squirreled away a sizable arsenal for a rainy day. Police recently confiscated a stash of 11 revolvers (with 220 cartridges), explosives and two AK-47 assault weapons (one with a grenade launcher), all believed to have been smuggled from the Philippines.
"The old hardware that used to get smuggled into Japan, from Cebu island, was shoddy," says a journalist who covers the Philippines. "But the new stuff, from Mindanao, is top-notch. The anti-government guerrillas down there need cash, and they're willing to sell the hoods anything, even bazookas, if the price is right."
Finally under "I," we find the word IT, which means the same thing in Japanese that it does in English: Information Technology. It seems that gangs are finding that the way to win battles is to acquire accurate intelligence in terms of their rivals' potential, and to do that, computers can give them the necessary edge.
The more astute gang leaders, therefore, have assigned "intelligence teams," to dig up what they can find on potential rivals, developing databases that include graphics (photos), and details of their habitual behavior patterns, such as where they go to eat and drink, their known business associates and their love interests.
Then when and if trouble erupts, and the rival hood tells his minions, "Okay, let's start checking those guys out," it's already way too late: by this time your gang already has a full dossier of data about him, and he's probably about to find himself in for a nasty surprise.
These days, the Internet may even serve as a means of gang recruitment. And the blogs are full of snippets of information about gang doings. Although a perusal of Google did not turn up any home pages for the syndicates, Shukan Taishu suggests that yakuza front companies do operate official sites, and the names of top "oyabun" (godfathers) can be found listed in the corporation's directors.
(By Masuo Kamiyama, People's Pick contributor)
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/ne ... 0000c.html
na das ist doch mal ein nützliches Buch, ob das auch Amazon hat?
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