Golly, just last week The Economist had an article about Neo Nazis in Germany and the increased police awareness after a spout of racially motivated beatings and killings.

Anyways, we know you buy Pureboi for the articles.

I wish I could say that all this neo nazi stuff was just something that was bloated up by the media, but - unfortunately, it seems that in some parts of East Germany one extreme has been substituted by another. It not a HUGE movement though - just for the record. But, just the fact that there are still some people like that at all in my country makes me feel terrible.
And, some of the German-Japanese-comradeship is still alive, at least in Japan. A friend of mine was stopped on his bike in Aoyama the other night. The policeman asked him where he was from and - after hearing his suspect was from Germany - said "OH, you're German. Ah, dont worry, i wont check you. We fought in the war together, right." My friend was so shocked he didnt react at all, and couldnt join in the enthuisastic high five the policeman offered,he just stood there mouth open.

Silly me, the NYT wouldnt make a big deal outa nothin would they? http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/sports/soccer/04racism.html?ex=1150171200&en=0d4e67afb0c63a7f&ei=5070&emc=eta1

On a completely different note: Maybe there could be another connection between Pureboi and the World Cup. Why not have a special on our sexy mascot Goleo...something for the girls. He's not wearing pants as it is, and - i m sure he would be willing to take his shirt off. Just - he might have to shave a little...He is a "pure boy" and so sporty...

So let me get this straight, we're blaming the Japanese if they're on the same side as Neo-Nazis, and we're blaming the Japanese if they're running away from them too?

This sort of "they can't win" double bind directed at a whole race or nation is, alas, exactly the way racial hatred operates.

momus: I just looked up your wikipedia page and the fake myspace page. I liked the Wendy Carlos song, it was very cute. I have no idea why Wendy Carlos would sue you over that. The Michelin thing mistifies me as well. Too bad that some folk cant take a joke.

I didnt really get "the madness of lee scratch perry" tho.

Come to think of it, this is the first time I've checked your music!

Chris and momus: nice to see we're all getting to know one another. Your photo blog rules, Chris - you should update it. And while I don't get your music much, momus, your eyepatch is bitchin'.

In terms of daily doses of questionable content, I am a huge fan of Yukan Fuji. The online version ZAKZAK is especially good for people like me who are outside Japan looking in. As far as I can tell (and that's not much), although Japanese-language online media seems to be improving a lot lately (leaving the newspapers in the dust), ZAKZAK has been around for at least 2 years providing copious amounts of scandal and hearsay with only the most salacious articles being only available on the newsstands.

I don't see much all-out right wing propaganda in ZAKZAK as much as the "we report what the mainstream won't" marketing angle (plus lots of entertainment news, girls in bikinis - I swear to god one was 9 years old - a hooker matchmaking service, and a full-on porn section)

One interesting aspect of the weeklies/lowbrow dailies is the matter-of-factness of their reporting on yakuza activity. I've seen 6-page interviews with the Yamaguchi-gumi leader as if he were a CEO (I think that's about as much space as the same magazine gave to Carlos Ghosn), and an in-depth look at the decline of horse racing bookies (dafuya). It's as if organized crime were tolerated (nay, deeply entrenched) in Japan!

This sort of "they can't win" double bind directed at a whole race or nation is, alas, exactly the way racial hatred operates.

You have finally exposed me as a racist. Good work.

I would argue though that the "double-bind" is coming from the hypocrisy of Japanese right-wing thought itself: yes, we like the victorious glories and mystical strength of Imperial Japan, but we are also victims of the Chinese, the Nazis, Americans, etc. They want to go back to the past so they can compete against the "bad guys" - not necessarily are they calling out the bad guys for being "bad."

It's as if organized crime were tolerated (nay, deeply entrenched) in Japan!

I find it hard not to see the yakuza as a state organ. They force support of the (Imperial) political system through extra-legal intimidation. They run all the businesses that the government only outlawed because of American Puritan influence (prostitution, amphetamines, gambling). They cause social problems, but they are not working "outside" of the system as much as they are smack in the middle of it. The Japanese government will never move to get rid of them - they will just be made obsolete by global capital.

You have finally exposed me as a racist.

either that or trying to cash in blending 2 best-selling formulas. what hapened to saiya irie part 2: the nazis. well tough luck; especially with me and dzima on hunger-srtike.

What's amazing to me is that the 2nd largest economy in the world can remain so fundamentally and universally misunderstood by the rest of the world. I mean it's scary how much everyone understands the United States (as I've mentioned before in comments here), but a basic understanding of the role the mob plays in Japanese society - absolutely crucial to knowing how Japan works - is nowhere to be found in mainstream discussion. I don't mean that policymakers in Washington or other countries don't get it - the US at least has plenty of smart people in government and private lobbying who get it and also get how not to talk about it - but why is it that we can have something like the Sopranos here but Japanese yakuza movies seem like complete misdirection?

the US at least has plenty of smart people in government and private lobbying who get it and also get how not to talk about it - but why is it that we can have something like the Sopranos here but Japanese yakuza movies seem like complete misdirection?

I think the Sopranos seems somewhat more "real" in that they run a "waste management business" or at least admit that the mob has front companies. But the mob in America has always been on the outside - immigrant communities protecting themselves from mainstream society. The CIA/politicans use them once and a while but they were never beholden to them. Once the mob got Kennedy elected, he sent his brother after them. (My guess is that the Japanese mob more resembles what goes on in Sicily.)

In Japan, you cannot openly talk about the fact that the mob basically runs the entire artist management side of the entertainment business, the art galleries, and a good chunk of the street fashion business. It's a 100% taboo topic, and when you see references in magazines, it's usually winky jokes. The "scary old men" of the music business or "the dark shadows" of the entertainment world.

So while the mob is essentially condoned by official society in Japan, it is also one of the greatest "secrets" of Japanese society, or at least, not open for public discussion. And that is what bothers me: if gangsters were just pimps and pushers, that would be one thing. Instead, they are right-wing thugs, entertainment moguls, gallery curators, and political advisors.

A lot of people are vegetarians because they don't like the "process" of making meat, but I am not sure why so many are willing to overlook the "process" of making culture when it is actively run by people profiting on human misery and misfortune. If you hate the amoralism of capitalism or globalization, you should certainly protest the antimoralism of the mafia.

especially with me and dzima on hunger-srtike.

The Alin and Dzima Hunger-Strike for Nazis and Pedophiles! Sponsored by Suntory's Hakushu mineral water!

adamu: I got a ton of pics I need to sift thru and upload to the server, hopefully I'll be doing that soon.

marxy sez They run all the businesses that the government only outlawed because of American Puritan influence (prostitution, amphetamines, gambling).

Pass the buck, pass the blame but who runs those businesses hasnt changed in hundreds of years. Read your history books.

Instead, they are right-wing thugs, entertainment moguls, gallery curators, and political advisors.

To play the devil's advocate for a moment here, as you say, they are a part of society and thus effectivly they have a voice in society. I think I'd not be wrong to say that they are just as representative of a certain viewpoint as any group in any democracy tho the methods employed may differ.

In any case, I certainly dont throw you in the racist box, but I do call shenannigans on the point of the post in that racist violence at the world cup seems to be a genuine concern. Have I misunderstood your original point?

alin especially with me and dzima on hunger-srtike.

The problem with hunger strikes is that they are rarely completed. Gambare!

All: If you are interested in the history of the Yakuza and how they actually function, check

ISBN 0520215621 "Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld, Expanded Edition" by Kaplan & Dubro. ISBN 0375724893 "Tokyo Underworld : The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan" by Robert Whiting
ISBN 4770019483 "Confessions of a Yakuza: A Life in Japan's Underworld" by Junichi Saga, translated by John Bester, is a fun read.
As usual I'll also reccomend ISBN 0393320278 "Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II" by John W. Dower since it contains material which re-inforces points made in the other books as well as providing further social context.

As marxy says, its a topic that cant be openly discussed and very little is published in Japanese. The translated edition of "Yakuza" was delayed for years because no local publisher would touch it.

Funny though that "Tokyo Underworld" was a huge hit in Japan. But that book is smart to play it out all like "ancient history" and not try to say that any of these things still happen.

Well as someone who's read half the books Chris recommended, perhaps I'm qualified to comment.

If the yakuza were simply a part of what the world considers a democracy then there'd be no reason for serious discussion of their role to remain "100% taboo" (though I'd call it something like 99% taboo - marxy is in Japan after all). The idea of a liberal democracy is based on power groups competing in the realm of ideas, not government-backed violence, and that's what makes the Japanese underworld so unacceptable and offensive, especially considering the idealism often placed in Japan's system. Few would deny that the yakuza are part of the system in Japan - it's just that even the casual observer can see that Japan's organized crime elements run the show (or enough of the shows) to the extent that the ideals of liberal democracy - Japan's version of which MOFA insists is "the oldest in Asia" implying a sort of legitimacy dating back to the Meiji Constitution - have been subverted.

One way in which Japan gets a pass in the world is in the absence of basic elements of a policy that would ensure people's rights to engage in business and publicly comment in a broad range without fear of violent reprisal. If those in charge in Japan were serious about eliminating boryokudan, they would need robust wiretapping capabilities and, yes, even the ability to prosecute people for conspiracy, as well as the basic legal infrastructure to make illegal specific forms of yakuza shakedown activity. And it's not as if there hasn't been progress - the sokaiya no longer exists as it was known 25 years ago, for example - but the ruling party is committed to making sure that these reforms leave the police and prosecutors in Japan essentially powerless to comprehensively eliminate organized crime elements no matter what people believe.

Adamu: I'm in japan too but this whole discussion is in english so it is "outside".

Actually I think the western ideal of a lack of state sponsored violence is the abheration rather than the norm compared to most countries if we just count by numbers. So I still stand to my point for the moment.

As far as your second paragraph you seem to be outlining one of my favorite gripes in that Japan is not a nation of law though it maintains the illusion of being one. I dont want to go on my normal rampage on this topic right now though.

BTW anyone catch the news that the champion of shareholder activism im japan today admitted to insider trading? So much for both of the lauded champions of free market capitalism. With Murakami and Horie out of the way, maybe things can get back to normal around here.

nd it's not as if there hasn't been progress - the sokaiya no longer exists as it was known 25 years ago, for example

Wasn't the sokaiya kind of visibly breaking their social contract? They were attacking and blackmailing huge companies instead of doing big corporations' dirtywork (like beating up chemical-plant protestors in Minamata.)

marxy: Underworld wasnt written as anything more than biotainment, Nick Zapetti might serve the same function as Bobby Ologun in a certain way. Also I wonder what might have been left out of the translation...

Wow, so we veer from Nazism to the yakuza! Two of Neomarxisme's favourite topics!

While I don't say that the yakuza don't exist, I think paying attention them is a form of something I'm tempted to call "logistical sensationalism". People who are invested in managerial things, logistical things, the mechanics of the everyday, are often interested in tales of policemen, gangsters and war because they provide an entrance into logistical-managerial problems and competences (the favourite subject of a certain kind of male brain) through the door marked "too exciting" rather than the door marked "too boring".

The door marked "too exciting" is also marked "Top Secret!" And of course the ultimate way to make logistical-managerial stuff seem exciting is to frame it all in a conspiracy theory. In other words, to say "Look, this managerial stuff may seem dull, but you've got to realize that it's all run by [invisible giant lizards etc] and that we're the only ones who dare to talk about this."

And suddenly those boyish pulses race. Loan companies and entertainment management never seemed so exciting, so dangerous, so taboo!

Glad you came up with a theoretical catch-phrase to belittle our discussion.

Your argument presupposes that a yakuza manager and a "normal" (katagi?) manager somehow operate in the same way - BUT we sensationalize the first because of some "boyish" impulse. Our whole point is that the yakuza has a severely negative effect on they way they manage their non-criminal enterprises and get involved in politics, public matters, and the economy.

Framing the debate in your language does not take away from the real implications of the yakuza in Japan - as much as your goal is to do just that. While you have created some neat pop anthropology to describe us (and maybe you are even right), it looks suspiciously like you are trying to derail the conversation rather than add to it. Not that you do those types of things, of course.

While your contributions are very interesting and well researched, I can't help but to wonder whether any of you actually have any first hand experience of mafia activity. I heard that laws on marijuana possession in Japan dictated that foreigners be thrown out of the country but not serve prison terms. It seems logical that certain foreigners would be tempted to complement their monthly income with some illegal activities on the side. So...have any of you ever been approached by members of the Yakuza asking for favors ? Are any of you part of a family ? Is there a Japanese equivalent of the Omerta or do people blog openly about such things ?

I think momus just gave us a sneak peak at the lyrics for his next song. I cant think of any other way that post makes sense...

Despite being in hunger-strike here I am, weak and frail, to send Marxy a link to an article in The Guardian from a couple of days ago:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1789514,00.html

I understand you are attached to the media industry, so how much of your obsession with Nazis and Yakuzas has to do with work you have to do day to day and people with interact with?

I wonder if are you one of those ganbariya-san that becomes their day job...

Yes, the yakuza are certainly a lot more fun to talk about than METI or the Council for Economic and Fiscal Policy. But by jove this is the internet and my life is boring enough as it is, so I'll thank you to forgive me for commenting on something that sparks some synapses.

Quick anecdote: My third day or so in Japan as a high school exchange student in 1999, I was walking through Osaka's America-Mura when a black cadillac hit the ankle of a man crossing the street at a crosswalk with no light. The man grimaced, looked at his ankle, saw who had hit him, and then simply limped away silently. The group of exchange students I was with was shocked. But most other passersby went on with their business after gawking a bit, and after a few seconds we realized that's probably what we should do too. One of the exchangers explained to me that polished black Cadillacs are the standard form of transportation for the yakuza, and at 17 that was my first encounter with them.

Oh Momus, you're totally right that there's no reason to get all upset about a little extra-legal violence used to support the status quo in ostensible democracies. I mean, who cares about Gitmo, Black Sites, extraordinary rendition, yadda yadda yadda as long America keeps making cool movies and stuff?

Thank you, Dzima. Very interesting article, and very true.
The most hostility i ever experienced against me as a German was in the UK (not in Israel where it might be expected for example) - still, it apparently was meant in a loving way..i found out later. After some months into the school year i spent there i found out that the boys had nicknamed me "CRK" meaning "Carola Robo Kraut". My somewhat strong reaction was met by surprise. "But no, Carola, dont misunderstand, we meant this nicely. It's a sign of affection that we use this name for you." Interesting.

Also, later in the year a boy told me "Thank you, Carola, so far i always thought all Germans were Nazis. But you start crying so easily when we make Nazi jokes in your present, it showed me that maybe not all Germans are pro Nazi..."
Interesting again.

I believe the BBC once made a comic effort to try and clarify that Germany was not reigned by the Nazis anymore in 1983 and show how it developed since after the war. It was called "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet", but - well, Germany then seemed to consist of wooden huts, a curry house and beer...so, no, not successful.

Lets hope all hostility from the British side now is also meant affectionately. They are strange those Brits, but not a bad people...so much for some cliché judgements here from my side.

But the Brits can't help it, they're a monolingual island country...

I used to work for a german bank that was an organ of the state, specifically it was a Landesbank. They were socialists but not of the nationalist variety. Everyone I met on my few trips there was really good to me. This isnt to say that racially motivated violence doesnt exist there any more than any place else, just that there have been a number of reports on the matter of late.

Oh - dont get me wrong (and dont worry, i dont cry about Nazi jokes anymore). Of course the media likes to jump on this kind of thing, but still - there really has been a slight increase in racially motivated violence lately in my country. Sad, but true. World Cup or no World Cup, that just shouldnt be.

I understand you are attached to the media industry, so how much of your obsession with Nazis and Yakuzas has to do with work you have to do day to day and people with interact with?

At least when I was leading the scholarly life, I couldn't study anything - music, art, fashion - without all my interview subjects either telling me about the fact that the yakuza run the racket or someone telling me not to talk about the fact that the yakuza run the racket.

Now, I can't go outside to get some milk and cookies for my afternoon snack without literally having to weave between heavies on the corners, waiting outside of their cars.

Japanese underworld so unacceptable and offensive

which countries has an acceptable and inoffensive underworld? バカ言うな

While I don't say that the yakuza don't exist, I think paying attention them is a form of something I'm tempted to call "logistical sensationalism". People who are invested in managerial things, logistical things, the mechanics of the everyday, are often interested in tales of policemen, gangsters and war because they provide an entrance into logistical-managerial problems and competences (the favourite subject of a certain kind of male brain) through the door marked "too exciting" rather than the door marked "too boring".

The door marked "too exciting" is also marked "Top Secret!" And of course the ultimate way to make logistical-managerial stuff seem exciting is to frame it all in a conspiracy theory. In other words, to say "Look, this managerial stuff may seem dull, but you've got to realize that it's all run by [invisible giant lizards etc] and that we're the only ones who dare to talk about this."

And suddenly those boyish pulses race. Loan companies and entertainment management never seemed so exciting, so dangerous, so taboo!

haha! this is really true! gaijin japan bloggers think they know so much!"I saw a yakuza today" "Yakuza came to my company". 99.99999%, gaijin (not korean or chinese) are just inivisble little shit pieces in Japan.

Now, I can't go outside to get some milk and cookies for my afternoon snack without literally having to weave between heavies on the corners, waiting outside of their cars.

looks like instant karma might be getting you or something. geez.

Yes, I am getting karmic retribution for standing up to thugs and thieves on paper. Very good.

Japanese underworld so unacceptable and offensive

Ah, but they were quite helpful after the Kobe earthquake. The yakuza was much more efficient at getting food together and distributing it in the neighborhoods than the government, that's for sure. Sometimes controlling certain industries (e.g. trucking) comes in handy.

The Yamaguchi-gumi got so much mileage out of that charity action. As if the CIA passed out candy to tsunami victims and we all immediately forgot about Guatemala, etc.

"In Japan, you cannot openly talk about the fact that the mob basically runs the entire artist management side of the entertainment business, the art galleries, and a good chunk of the street fashion business"

Artist management side I would imagine so, it's pretty much the same in other places, for example, Hong Kong. But street street fashion business - I had no idea. so even Nigo and Hiroshi Fujiwara pay up?

Not "pay up," my friend. "Are paid and financed by."

I did a few weeks worth of Eikaiwa teaching to some yaks when I was studying here. It was awesome, one day they showed me their tatoos.

They couldn't even read romaji, so it didn't last and I was allowed to leave the fold--with both pinkies intact.