Although they come in a vast variety of shapes and colors now, it was only a few months ago that the lion’s share of face masks in Japan were the plain old tighty-whities.
They certainly got the job done, but you’d have to imagine that anyone in the business of making and selling these things was well accustomed to the mundane. At least that was the case until about nine months ago, when demand for masks rose so sharply people were getting into fistfights in the street.
Almost overnight, face masks replaced bubble tea as the hottest commodity in Japan and with it came the resellers – and with them came the gangsters.
According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, in the months of April and May of this year a high-ranking member connected to the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza group placed an order for over 2.8 million masks from a trading company in Tokyo.
The government had already placed a ban on face mask resale which would clear out a lot of the yakuza’s law-abiding competition and give them a near monopoly on the face mask resale black market.
However, something far more powerful than government regulation thwarted their plan in the end: market forces. It wasn’t long until manufacturers caught up with demand and before anyone could say “my glasses are fogging up,” Japan was drowning in a sea of face masks. This stuck the yakuza group with millions of tiny cloths that were rapidly hemorrhaging value.
So, they did what any organized crime group would do in this situation and allegedly began threatening an executive of the trading company to take them all back. The exec, who is in his 20s, must have been a hard nut to crack, because when regular threats didn’t work they allegedly held him against his will inside a sex shop for 11 hours.
After the suspects relentlessly insisted that the 70 million yen in masks he sold them were defective for hours on end, the young exec somehow found a way to escape his sex dungeon and went straight to the police. The cops then swooped in and arrested the boss and two other yakuza members.
The suspects all deny the charges against them and the police are currently investigating all the details of the case. Meanwhile, many readers of the news were glad to have confirmation on something they’ve long suspected.
“Buying resold masks is supporting the yakuza…”
“So, this is what resellers are like? Scary…”
“This is like something out of the 1970s.”
“I wonder if these guys are really yakuza. It’s not a good look for them.”
“They were just trying to make money like anyone else. Nothing wrong with that.”
“The yakuza are probably sitting on a bunch of PS5s right now then.”
“That company is a little suspect too I think. How did they have so many masks at that time?”
“Haha! The yakuza tried to cash in on the face mask boom but got burnt.”
“I always knew the yakuza were involved in all this resale garbage.”
Source: NHK News Web, Hachima Kiko
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- Kobe hospital robbed of 6,000 surgical masks
-- Japanese tapioca bubble tea shops are suddenly becoming face mask shops
-- Hairs, insects and stains found in masks distributed by Japanese government
- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2020/11/18/face-mask-distributer-imprisoned-in-sex-shop-by-yakuza-for-11-hours/
30 Comments
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Cricky
Yakuza are run by criminal geniuses, and prisons are full of criminal geniuses. Guess they resort to hitting people who don’t respect their geniuses plan.
Sven Asai
Feel free to give all yakuza a steady and interesting job with high income and career chances. They are bad, right, but you are not an inch better.
moonbloom
Well they failed with the masks, but have been cleaning up on what they take from farmers in cahoots with foreign nationals.
commanteer
Not the brightest yakuza. Anyone who knows anything about business would have known that trying to get rich in masks was way too risky. Aside from the laws that came against reselling, everybody and their cousin was trying to get rich by getting hold of a container full of masks. They were competing against companies that had been selling masks for years. Those companies would not only have the jump on them (because they would have been first to see the demand rise), but they have distributors and customers in place. So these newcomers would be buying late, and they would still have to find customers when they got the masks.
On top of all that, it was inevitable that the price would crash almost overnight as fresh supplies came in. Then the losers (like these) would be stuck with a warehouse full of masks that they have to sell at a big loss.
Do the hustle
The headline is enough for me. That’s my entertainment for the day.
robert maes
Still, wat a prison !
Tokyo Ted
Dumb Yakuza, didn’t they realise the real scam was to buy in bulk and sell to the government via crooked politicians and public officials for vastly overinflated prices? Or was that restricted to the LDP only?
Random
SoraNews, the Jerry Springer of journalism.
Monozuki
It was a valuable learning experience for the young exec. Hang in there!
Paul
One got to be a moron to become a yakuza anyway...
shogun36
A sex shop? Like a place that sold porn or had peep shows? I don't get it. That's a punishment?
starpunk
The article says 'sex dungeon'. Do the math. Pretty disgusting stuff at hand here.
dagon
The poor yaks(lower level). Speaking of tiny cloths.
If you are well connected (for example a PM ) you can use the the money paid on taxes from your "electorate" to give a contract to produce masks of such impracticality you yourself would only wear them to your close friends and enjoy the kickbacks with zero consequences.
Sneezy
That's no way to use handcuffs. Come on, Yakuza. You need to establish a safe word.
Juanito3001
Hiding in a sex shop is a great way to disguise yourself. Maybe a little role playing as "The Mask Mommy" to amuse the Yakuza. They might need some maternal affection during trying times to help with criminal anxiety
foreignbrotherhoodarmy
Had to read that headline a few times. Seriously, do you think these yakuza soyboys would last a minute if overseas?
Peter14
What a horrible thing to do to an honest businessman. Threaten him with hours of sex in a sex dungeon. He held out and should be commended.
Slickdrifter
This is so funny. And the comments even funnier. I am dying here.
kurisupisu
Those yakuza just need to join EBay...
garymalmgren
the 70 million yen in masksthe 70 million yen in masks
That ain't chump change.
gary
Steve Martin
In a sex shop?.
Must have been Abe 'no-no' masks.
ClippetyClop
I bought a stack of masks, boxes of them in winter when my HK friend advised me to after he saw what was coming. I ended up giving most of them away to people I know because I couldn't bring myself to fleece them in those maskless weeks.
Fortunately, Japanese people rarely forget a favour and I now have about 150kg of daikon, persimmon, sweet potato and hakusai in storage. Anyone want some?
Brian Wheway
@sneezy, yep, how about "were guilty"
Gobshite
Can think of worse places to be locked up in.
Luddite
A rather horrible experience for the victim, but the item is written in an attempt to be humorous and rather denigrates the victim’s experience and makes light of the crime.
Desert Tortoise
It's a place that sells pornographic books and videos and probably sex toys. There is probably no actual sex occurring there though prostitutes may solicit outside or nearby. Being locked in a room in such a place is not a pleasant situation.