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Thread: The most dreaded word...(not ninja)...YAKUZA!!!

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    Default The most dreaded word...(not ninja)...YAKUZA!!!

    Hi guys.

    I was just thinking about the recent shock assassination of the mayor of Nagasaki by those tatooed terrors, those little-finger-less losers, the yakuza.

    http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/0...led-by-mobster

    Basically, I was just wondering if any of you who have been to/lived in Japan ever had any kind of encounter/experience with them.

    Of course, this is completely improbable so what I'm really thinking of is just a 'sighting' or even a hunch that the old guy you used to occasionally share a drink with in your seedy little local den may not have been a company exec after all...

    It's a crap-but-fun topic but, unlike the yakuza, it's harmless and I'm curious...

    Me? Nothing. Just only a brief sighting once during some roadtrip near Nagoya.
    Lots of black limos, think I even saw a couple of suits and a matter of fact ''that's yakuza'' remark by my Japanese friend.

    Please, for the love of God, tell me you've got a better story than mine...
    Omar Rashid

    "Eat jellied eels and think distant thoughts" - Jack Arthur Johnson

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    Default Interesting tidbit

    Howdy,

    Well here is my only Yakuza story.

    I was in Osaka in 2004 fighting in a full contact competition, and was introduced to a 'sponsor' of the event. I was told by my fellow fighters (some who have lived in Japan or travelled extensively) that this gentleman was Yakuza. I also learned that it is widely considered common knowledge that the Yakuza 'fund' a large number of full contact events, even contributing to such things as the K1 etc.

    Well apparently this gent was the real deal...what gave it away was the 2 giant and ferocious (but very well dressed) men who were his escorts everywhere he went. They carried his bags etc and said nothing to anyone.

    They only seemed to be alive at all when someone approached the older gent, at which time they would shift their weight a bit....not step closer, just ready themselves.

    Kinda freaky actually. I have seen organized crime (bikers) in action, and this subtle action by the japanese was far more intimidating than punches getting chucked by HA's.

    Thats it. He was very polite to me, and I was (of course) very polite back.

    Other than that, the only Japanese crime I saw was the young gents in suits in the subway trying to talk girls into working at their 'massage' houses or offering said services to other guys.
    Sincerely,
    Greg Carson

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    During the 1960s, the fellow reputed to be the Godfather of Japan was a major funding source for WUKO (World Union of Karate Associations).

    The head of the Korean CIA was head of the taekwondo association for years, too, but he got in trouble a few years back due to skimming too much from the Olympics stash.

    Search "yakuza" here at E-budo, and you'll find additional details.

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    Well, our local ninja grandmaster told us a story many many years ago about being chased around Tokyo from pachinko parlour to pachinko parlour by gun-waving Yakuza.

    And I know a fellow who came back from his last Japan trip with big knowledge of "Yakuza sword techniques"

    Does that count?

    Kim.

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    Back in 1990, I was staying with a Japanese family in Inuyama while I was doing my junior year abroad at a university in Nagoya. There was this great little sushiya in Inuyama where I'd go hang out every now and then, when I was studying or writing papers and needed an excuse to get out of the house (read: procrastinate).

    I walk in one time and sit down at the sushi bar next to this old guy who was on his way to becoming really, really drunk. Actually, he probably wasn't that old - he had a serious 50-going-on-70 look to him. He was really nice, if a bit gruff, and was kind enough to lecture me about what it's like in America compared to Japan. But I had a hard time understanding him because of his accent, which I thought at first was Osaka-ben. It turns out that he was from Shikoku somewhere, but the accent was very Kansai-esque.

    We talked for a while, and at one point he was insisting to me that everyone in America lived on several hectares of land, and I was obviously wrong to contradict him. He started gesticulating at me, and that was when I noticed that he was missing the pinky and ring fingers of his left hand, and the pinky finger of his right hand. So I stopped arguing with him. He obviously hadn't been a particularly good yakuza, but he had been one.

    There were a few other minor run-ins, but that was the most fun.
    Josh Lerner

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    Default Gangsters up here in the sticks.

    Man, I've met more than a few yakuza since I arrived here three years ago. From the newbies with spiked, multi-colored hair and rodeo clown outfits to the older, much more conservative suit and tie types. Can't really help it I guess when the per capita yakuza to average citizen ratio is far higher than in a place like Kansai.

    In my humble and limited experience, it appears that guys missing fingers are screw ups and tend to be a bit looked down upon. Or at the very least laughed at a lot. The younger the finger-missing Joe, the more laughter, it seems.

    I've met some of the older gentlemen at various enkai or meetings or public appearances. It's pretty well-known in my little town that I have a pretty deep interest in Japanese history and culture--specifically either of those in the martial variety. Which seems to throw some of the older *Americans go home* types for a complete loop.

    My Nihongo is really nothing what it should be, but I can ramble on all damn day about bujutsu history or Shingon-shu or why Maeda Toshiie was such a good leader or why Japan probably should change its constitution, etc., etc.--all in Japanese. Very suspect Japanese, but Japanese nonetheless.

    I tend to have a much better tolerance for the liquor than the majority of oldies I have drank with over here, which keeps things nice a level when the social pressure's on. Anyway, most of these old guys have cronies that do the old black bus political drive around town, blaring like a broken record that overplayed "Expel the foreigners!" line. Which I only really understand because I got dirty looks from the clowns driving one day and my friend explained what they were doing.

    Hilarity, really. If you think about it. But that comedy is neither here nor there.

    I've been stepped up to by younger yakuza punks--some of which used to be my students--at the local shopping center, cause everybody knows that's where criminal masterminds hang out these days. And I've dropped sake and talked about the good old days of Japanese warriors with the older ones. One of which got all teary-eyed and told me I was more Japanese than his grandchildren. Which should mean a lot to me maybe, but it doesn't.

    As for the initial post in this thread, I got a nice little gem of a story. And it has nothing to do with the yakuza.

    The night of the shooting, I had a little party with some of the people I work with. We went to this little sushi place after work that is apparently the best in town. Apparently the sushi in my neck of the woods is pretty good, so that might be saying something. I don't know.

    So, first I'd like to say that I had so much sushi (against both my better judgment and my innate dislike for sushi/sashimi), that I had some sort of a sushi hangover the next day...I was still burping up tuna belly, sea urchin and bad beer 24 hours later.

    The real kicker at that night's get together was that we all started discussing--then debating, then arguing--the *gun issue*. They were all sayin' that the US had too many guns and too much violent crime and all that stuff, and--despite my assertions to the contrary--that Japan had none of that. Which, of course, is complete b.s. As we talked, the whole VTech thing gets blasted on the news and the convo goes haywire. Proof, they say. It's all right there, in all its subtitled, over-colored, marker-boarded beauty.

    As if the *Gods of Vindication* got together with the *Gods of Blind Japanese Who Don't Wanna Know How Screwed Up Their Own Country Can Be* to give me a break in the crap, a very special report interrupts the jacked up American gun news to interject that the Mayor of Nagasaki has just been gunned down in the street by unknown shooters.

    Classic. Motherscratching classic. Utter silence as the sushi guy behind the bar refills my beer. And everyone buries their noses in their own drinks. Too bad someone had to die to prove my point at a dinner party, but it happens.

    Yeah, so my perpetual inadvertent skill at putting me in some awkward situations the world over has guaranteed that I have had some really shiny times since I've been here. Hell, I've even been offered a job--I think--with some of the local questionable businesses. Like teaching English at a vocational school is not action enough for my daily schedule, right?

    The cats up where I live do not refer to them as yakuza, though.

    Damn. That is long. Sorry about that.
    Last edited by shieldcaster; 14th June 2007 at 07:11. Reason: ...
    Matthew Snowden
    -The only way to learn is be aware and hold on tight.

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    My great-uncle Ken was missing half his finger. My brother and I used to joke that he was yakuza but he really lost it due to a machine accident. Supposedly, he was in line to become a kamikaze pilot but the war ended. Although there was a language barrier throughout my childhood, he was one of the most pleasant people I have ever known -- for a yakuza.

    While I was over there last year, some guys I knew were drinking at some izakaya and were being rather loud. Allegedly the fellows at the table next to them started yelling at them, drunkenly, to shut up and that they were yakuza, showed them their tattooed arms, and said they had guns.

    Here's a question. What do they do with fingers after they've been cut off? Omakase?
    Adam Westphal
    http://adamjiro.net/

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    Default Not yakuza, but...

    I was sitting in a small cafe in Sicily with my boss once, when two serious looking men in suits came in and sat down at one of the tables.

    They both scope the room, see us and call the waiter over to ask him "who are those guys?". The waiter replies "it's OK, they're English, they don't speak Italian" - which allowed the two gentlemen to discuss their "legit business" in peace.

    My boss does speak fluent Italian, but we were both desperately trying not to look like we were eavesdropping, and we made double-sure to only ask for the bill in English. It was a cool little cultural encounter.
    Cheers,

    Mike
    No-Kan-Do

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    Quote Originally Posted by gcarson
    I was in Osaka in 2004 fighting in a full contact competition, and was introduced to a 'sponsor' of the event...
    Nice one, mate.

    About the two heavies, yeah I know what you mean. It's the same with a really good bouncer, I mean a proper doorman. Nothing to prove, no need to get in a flap. Just a cough, or a simple hand gesture to remind any difficult customer not to make the worst mistake of their life. Like you said, subtleties in behaviour...

    Btw, just being a nosey bugger but what kind of competition were you in? MMA or Muay-Thai by any chance?
    And how did you do, arse-kicker or arse-kicked?

    Omar Rashid

    "Eat jellied eels and think distant thoughts" - Jack Arthur Johnson

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    Quote Originally Posted by shieldcaster
    And I've dropped sake and talked about the good old days of Japanese warriors with the older ones. One of which got all teary-eyed and told me I was more Japanese than his grandchildren.Which should mean a lot to me maybe, but it doesn't.
    Heh, I know what you mean - it's good that his remark doesn't mean the world to you. In the sense that you are not the worst kind of raving, over-assimilating Japanophile. But to tell the truth, it's still a pretty cool comment. I'd be happy with it...

    As if the *Gods of Vindication* got together with the *Gods of Blind Japanese Who Don't Wanna Know How Screwed Up Their Own Country Can Be* to give me a break in the crap, a very special report interrupts the jacked up American gun news to interject that the Mayor of Nagasaki has just been gunned down in the street by unknown shooters.
    Classic!
    Lol! You know, more often than not the gods don't give a toss. But yeah, in those rare moments where they do decide to intervene - and, on your behalf - it's a thing of beauty!
    Omar Rashid

    "Eat jellied eels and think distant thoughts" - Jack Arthur Johnson

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    I practiced Ashihara karate for a little while in Japan when I was in Iwakuni. The dojo in Hiroshima was in a building near the train station with the dojo being on the top floor. The other floors, however, were a bit...shady. I remember the time I went there to watch a grading, I was walking up the stairs to the dojo and saw some shady looking characters on the way up. On the floor right below the dojo I saw a woman looking quite distraught and depressed, dried make-up was run down on her face. She was being guarded by some guy in a suit with sunglasses on. I was curious and sort of let my gaze linger a little longer, getting me a sharp reprimand by my sempai. I was sharply told not to look around in the building and that the other floors of the building were strictly off limits.

    I was never actually told that they were yakuza, but I'm pretty sure that 2+2 equals 4...
    Alex Guillermo

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    Actually,
    I've just realised that I do have another yakuza non-story, besides my visual verification one...

    Last November I went to the Philippines with my girlfriend. Two weeks in Davao and two weeks in Manila. And basically, Manila - or the place where we stayed at any rate (Ermita/Manila Bay) was freaking crawling with them. I mean, coming out of the woodwork.

    This wasn't my imagination. My gf, and other people I quizzed on the matter, all basically said 'yep, them be the yakuza'. You could tell them a mile off from any salaryman/travelling exec. The fact that they were 'on holiday' did nothing to make them look less dodgy.

    It was funny because I swear I saw an emerging pattern too! It always seemed to be one really tough looking SOB accompanied with his weasly, spiv-type friend. Like the brains and the brawn kind of thing. And I never saw them in groups of more than three...

    A lot of them were also wearing their shirt-sleeves all the way down and their shirt buttons almost all the way up. The weather was hot, or humid. Definately not the usual attire for the casual tourist or travelling businessman.

    Nearly all the groups I saw had a couple of local girls with them, who also appeared to speak Japanese. I was always curious if these girls were picked up locally, or were actually working in some clubs back in Japan.

    Manila was freaking wierd. I have never seen so many Japanese restaurants/clubs/bars outside of Japan...
    Omar Rashid

    "Eat jellied eels and think distant thoughts" - Jack Arthur Johnson

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    Default At the onsen...

    A couple of years back, I went to Toyama-ken to this popular onsen hotel for the afternoon. It was great. It was snowing heavily and the outside bath was incredible.

    I did the usual: pay, stumble through the lingo, get some directions and other pertinent information that I promptly nodded to but completely misunderstood and headed off in the wrong direction.

    Eventually, I found the men's changing room. Went in got my locker, dealt with the usual *Wow, look! Hairy gaijin.* comments, and went about my business. As I head towards the bath--through all the steam--I notice that there are several signs along the way establishing that without exception, no one with tattoos is allowed in the onsen. No one. Don't ask, you will be turned away. Turn back! Beware!

    Interesting.

    So, that means nothing to me since I have no distinguishing features save for my distinct non-Japaneseness. However, once I got inside and settled into my corner of the bath I noticed that among the 40-odd patrons there, three of us did, in fact, not have tattoos covering the majority of our bodies. And I was, very obviously, the only one of those un-inked bathers that was over say...four years old.

    So yeah, interesting.
    Matthew Snowden
    -The only way to learn is be aware and hold on tight.

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    Near brushes with 893 -

    Walking in Ikebukuro one night with a buddy. A rather drunk fellow with a high pompadour nearly runs into a taxi as it's turning the corner, and then goes on a foul-mouthed tirade at the driver. My buddy said, "That's a chinpira (punk). The real guys don't have to say a damn thing."

    Went to the Senshuraku (last day of a sumo tournament) party for the Azumazeki stable, the one Akebono belonged to. I found myself at the buffet next to a guy in a purple sports jacket and sunglasses. Indoors. At 9 pm at night. Most Japanese people don't wear sunglasses in the brightest sun in the daytime.

    While leaving in Toyota City, I was at the 24-hour supermarket at around 11 pm. Saw a seemingly normal looking old dude buying some groceries. As I passed him, though, his shirt opened slightly and I noticed the "sleeves" (tattoo) around his shoulder.

    This past winter, an Australian buddy and I were in a supermarket buying some stuff for a nabe party. As we were going over various fish names in Japanese, we were noticed by an older fellow...in a purple sports jacket and tinted glasses. At night. He found two white guys speaking Japanese fascinating.
    Josh Reyer

    Swa sceal man don, žonne he ęt guše gengan ženceš longsumne lof, na ymb his lif cearaš. - The Beowulf Poet

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    Yeah, man. The purple sports coats are a dead giveaway. Or even the gaudy shades. It's like they need to call some national meeting and reiterate that 1986 needs all of its jackets, jeans and sunglasses back. Pronto.

    To drive this point home even more, three Mays ago some of us local non-locals threw an 80s party for a dual birthday. We got all dressed up and dolled up and on the way to the club, I saw one of my fellow teachers at the station. She said I looked like yakuza.

    But really I was trying to capture Ducky from Pretty In Pink...
    Matthew Snowden
    -The only way to learn is be aware and hold on tight.

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