Yakuza : Japan's Criminal Underworld

by Kaplan, David E.; Dubro, Alec

• ISBN13: 9780520274907
• ISBN10: 0520274903
• Edition: 25th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-10-22
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

Known for their striking full-body tattoos and severed fingertips, Japan's gangsters comprise a criminal class eighty thousand strong--more than four times the size of the American mafia. Despite their criminal nature, the yakuza are accepted by fellow Japanese to a degree guaranteed to shock most Westerners. Yakuzais the first book to reveal the extraordinary reach of Japan's Mafia. Originally published in 1986, it was so controversial in Japan that it could not be published there for five years. But in the west it has long served as the standard reference on Japanese organized crime and has inspired novels, screenplays, and criminal investigations. This twenty-fifth anniversary edition tells the full story or Japan's remarkable crime syndicates, from their feudal start as bands of medieval outlaws to their emergence as billion-dollar investors in real estate, big business, art, and more.

Author Biography

David E. Kaplan is former director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and served as chief investigative correspondent for U.S. News World Report. He is the author of Fires of the Dragon and coauthor of The Cult at the End of the World, which focuses on the doomsday sect that released nerve gas in the Tokyo subway. Alec Dubro lives and works in Washington, DC, where he writes, edits, and blogs for the labor movement. He is the creator of the satirical website, The Washington Pox (www.dcpox.com) and is past president of the National Writers Union.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
About the Authors	p. xi
Preface to the 2012 Edition	p. xiii
Prologue: Enter the Yakuza	p. xvii
Early History
The Honorable Outlaws	p. 3
The Kodama Years
Occupied Japan	p. 31
Nexus on the Right	p. 56
The Black Mist	p. 83
The Modern Yakuza
The Syndicates	p. 111
Corruption, Japanese-Style	p. 144
The Keizai Yakuza	p. 175
The Collapsing Bubble	p. 196
The Move Abroad
Meth, Money, and the Sex Trade	p. 223
Old Markets and New	p. 251
Across the Pacific	p. 277
To America	p. 293
Epilogue: A New Yakuza	p. 325
A Note on Research	p. 335
Notes	p. 339
Glossary	p. 373
Bibliography	p. 377
Index	p. 387
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