Around the end of March, a
61-year-old gang member was arrested in Tokyo for swindling
housewives. His modus operandi was to peddle apples
door-to-door—offering five for 1,900 yen—and then shortchanging
women who paid him with a 10,000 yen note.
The story, widely reported in the
vernacular media, demonstrates just how hard members of underworld
syndicates have been hit by the economic recession.
“A yakuza lives by his manhood,” a
member of a rival syndicate frowns to Spa! (May 5-12). “No outfit
that puts up with such things can justify its
existence.”
But it seems that hoods down on their
luck have been reduced to earning their livelihood through such
menial tasks such as being paid to stand in line to purchase
concert tickets; serving as matchmakers for men who want to tie up
with cheap mistresses; pushing homeowners to renovate aging
dwellings; and finding tenants for vacant bars and other shops in
“neon” areas. Still others moonlight as cabbies.
“Some yakuza have been reduced to
such straits that they hold meetings in fast food restaurants
instead of coffee shops in hotels,” remarks author Manabu Miyazaki,
whose late father headed a Kyoto gang. “During the bubble era in
the 1980s, it was nothing for the more flamboyant ones to go
through several million yen a night at clubs in Ginza or Roppongi.
Now, I’m amused by what I’ve been hearing about how they get into
disputes over just a few thousand yen.”
On the other hand, some newly hired
salarymen, particularly those in such fields as finance and real
estate, are so dissatisfied with their company’s low remuneration
packages they’ve found it financially advantageous to do
moonlighting jobs for gangs.
“The gangs are faced with aging
membership and are having trouble recruiting, so they’re willing to
go along and accept part-timers,” another source tells the
magazine.
Even if salarymen prove incompetent
as part-time gangsters, they are still obliged to cough up the gang
membership fees, which they can apportion from their regular
income. So that makes them a steadier source of revenues than
destitute yakuza.
On the other hand, one might say the
salarymen show no real commitment to the traditional yakuza
regimen.
“It’s hard to nurture them in the
ways of the yakuza,” the source concedes. “And they’re not amenable
to communal living that real yakuza go through during their
apprenticeships.”
Meanwhile, flashy imported cars seem
to be another yakuza standby on the way out.
“We’ve been changing from sedans to
passenger vans like the Toyota Hi-Ace,” a gang member tells the
magazine. “They cost more than sedans but they get better mileage.”
The vans can be ordered with smoked glass windows, to at least
maintain a more sinister or menacing image. They are also less
likely to get their driver pulled over for spot-checks by
police.
So be on your guard for vans with
smoked windows, Spa! advises. Better to humbly yield the right of
way than risk a run-in with an intimidating hood.