crime

Japan's No. 2 mobster to be freed on Y1.5 bil bail

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i noticed a significant typo in one of my posts:

people couldn't agree on a definition of "conspiracy" that couldn't be construed in a manner that the neo-liberals could label as oppressive, curtailing freedom of expression and association, basically.

should be:

people couldn't agree on a definition of "conspiracy" that couldn't be construed in a manner that the neo-liberals couldn't label as oppressive, curtailing freedom of expression and association, basically.

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here is a link to a talk he gave on the book and related topics.

http://fora.tv/2012/02/16/Tokyo_Underworld_2012_An_Evening_with_Robert_Whiting

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I like Robert Whiting on Japanese baseball, so I will try and read his book on organized crime.

One can see them singing on Youtube.

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@timtak

you bring up some interesting points. the relationship between organized crime and the economy is complicated, to say the least. at any rate, you should take a look at the book by Robert Whiting I mentioned above in relation to historical context in Japan.

i always address the free-market economy in terms of the historical transition from feudalistic societal configurations to modernity. that can be boiled down to a distinction in which individuals are theoretically empowered to pursue their interests, as opposed to having to take up the hereditary profession of their forebears, for example.

however, the individual exists within the context of society, which provides a context that to a substantial extent influences the individuals interests at various points in various ways.

the neo-liberals that try to co-opt the freemarket as an ideological weapon place an excessive emphasis on the freedom of the individual, obfuscating the context of society. part of that strategy relates to the fictive person-hood under the law of corporations, which is a fundamental part of their anti-government anti-tax deregulatory ideology.

i consider people in japan like Hashimoto and the Ishin-no-kai to be a part of the neo-liberal faction here, and they are counterparts to the Tea Party in the USA, which is backed by people like the Koch brothers, and tries to play on revolutionary patriotism and populism in a similar manner.

labor laws and environmental laws are also hallmarks of modernity, and have been hard won through the democratic process. on the other hand, neo-liberals also use things like free-trade agreements--again co-opting the free-market economy--in order to enable corporations from advanced democratic countries where the populace has enacted such laws to circumvent those laws in less advanced countries, and at the same time hollow out the industrial base and deprive the lower and middle class laborers of the advanced country from a livelihood.

I see organized crime groups being used as a tool, almost, by wealthy people like the Koch brothers against the middle class in so-called advanced democratic countries.

The power of the criminal groups has become so strong as to overshadow governments in places like Mexico, and the Yamaguchi-gumi is one of the largest and most profitable crime syndicates on the planet. That is why the USA seized their assets after Japan enacted the statutes prohibiting economic ties with yakuza groups.

The weak laws have enabled the crime groups to become so strong, and I would almost go as far to assert that some of them basically think that they have some hereditary entitlement to be wealthy criminals at this point. And that is a feudalistic mentality that has been fostered through the economic success these criminals have been able to enjoy under the dysfunctional legal system that is being worked on at present.

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Dear ubikwit

I am not at all familiar with the realities of the yakuza. It sounds like you are.The extent of the CIA connection is unknown to me. I don't know how to respond.

However... You seem to laud the free market economy. I am keen on it too.

However again there are many that do not entirely approve of the free market economy, at the very least in Japan (e.g. Ronald Dore, I think) . Is the free market economy a good thing?

I have not read about organised crime for ages...er...

I gained the impression that gangs and the freemarket economy are very linked. I feel that the freemarket economy is a great thing, often. However, is the freemarket economy good always, everywhere?

When people have skills and are able to form unions then they are are able to ensure for themselves a wage that is commensurate with their effort. When however people use their body, when the are manual labourers then they can not form a union with effective power since others from outside that union (teachers on their day off, foreign nations) can compete and drive down the wage of manual labourers to a subsistence level according to the (purported) "Iron Law" of wages.

Perhaps a free market is very severe, or painful, in those, valuable, prolific, but niche-less, special technique-less, sectors of the economy. Manual labourers are valued members of society. But since everyone in society, and everyone in external societies are "manual," everyone has a body, everyone moves, plays sport, wields things, everyone can compete with manual labourers.

Hence these people without at specialisation are perhaps at risk, to falling in into the iron law of wages, trap. That means that those (many, valuable) members of society who use their body may in a free market, end up only ever receiving the very minimum subsistence wage.

Is this a good thing? Often it is these areas that cartels form, to protect(?) manual labourers from endless, wage-minimalising competition. And where there are cartels gangs are called in to police them. Is the free market always a good thing in all areas of society?

If society has need of people that are just people (not specialists) such as labourers, then how does it protect them? A minimum wage may be the answer. A minimum wage is also not free market. Is a minimum wage the answer to provide experienced labourers a wage concomitant with their contribution to society?

I am not sure. But I think that perhaps and the free market may not be ideal, in terms of human joy and suffering, and perhaps that is one of the reasons why there are gangs.

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@ Cho99 Well... that is what I mean to object to.

I take your point that if Yamaguchi Gumi is a crime syndicate then syllogistically, it is illegal.

[Before I go on it is significant to note that "Yamaguchi-gumi" is also as far as I am aware, a legal entity. Registered, with at least 102 registered members according to its English Wikipedia page. But the fact that the Yamaguchi-gumi is a legal organisation, likewise, is also, not a rule for how it is evaluated. I do NOT think "It is a legal institution therefore is okay"]

It is not syllogisms themselves that I object to but, [things like Anselm's argument for the existence of God, or Descarte's cogito] I do not believe that because certain words are used ("God", "I"), therefore we should believe in their existence.

Because an entity has a certain name, is called something, or has a certain linguistic definition, does not implicate any categorical imperative. The definition may be wrong. The entity would wisely be evaluated upon its merits and demerits, in terms of human suffering and joy. I feel that these things, joy and suffering, do not take place in words.

I agree with the line of argument of everyone (e.g. Coy, and ubikwit) above who talk above suffering.

At the same time, it seems to me that people, including me, as I used to be, are sometimes slaves to words. I.e. too many of us (myself in the past included) say, or think that logic dictates any rule of action.

Things that seem "contradictory" are not necessarily bad.

I could argue in the opposite direction. Rawls (I think) and other moral philosophers that argue for the importance of setting down rules and keeping them, and warn of the dangers of not keeping them. I don't think that their arguments are applicable to Japan. Japanese people do not, imho, aim to obey logic (language). But the Japanese do think about suffering and joy in other ways.

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@timtak

first of all, "violent groups" are not legal, per se, in japan.

their existence is tolerated due to a lack in the legal corpus of the country established after WWII in relation to guaranteeing the freedom of association, etc.

several years ago there was a move in the diet to make it illegal to conspire against anyone or to participate in a conspiracy, which was intended for use in making groups like the yakuza easier to shut down as groups. if you could prove that they were engaged in conspiratorial activity, then you could go after them, sieze their assets, etc. the problem was that people couldn't agree on a definition of "conspiracy" that couldn't be construed in a manner that the neo-liberals could label as oppressive, curtailing freedom of expression and association, basically.

the authorities have used the esignation "boryokudan" (groups engaged in violence) as a category that provides limited legal recourse to administrative bodies and private citizens against yakuza groups per se. in recent years, many neighborhood groups have rallied to prevent yakuza from setting up shop in their neighborhoods, and yakuza cannot reside near schools, etc.

as i mentioned in an earlier post, the groups known as yakuza are in fact more of a creation of the CIA--at the behest of Freemason president Harry Truman--than Japanese society. statistically the ranks consist mainly of ethnic koreans and former members of the burakumin outcaste, with a much smaller number of japanese members.

the freedom of association angle and the secret society connection to the Freemasons is also noteworthy, in my opinion. the identity of many yakuza are kept hidden, while there is an overall public image of them being an open part of Japanese society.

the term "feudalistic" relates to premodern societal configuration that is not based on a freemarket economy and a democratic political process. the yakuza are involved in activities aimed at subverting both of those core modern social institutions. i would argue that the Freemasons are, too.

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Defining anything as 'a crime syndicate' makes it pretty illegal in my books.

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@ ubikwit

I believe in the unconscious and don't claim to have sole access to my motives but as far as I am aware, I do not mean to portray organized crime in a good light.

First of all it is true that "violent groups" are legal in Japan.

As far as I am aware I am trying to present the decision of the Japanese people to legalize violent groups, in a better light, as one which is based upon understanding rather than stupidity, and being at least as advanced, and no more feudalistic (primitive/backward) than the situation elsewhere.

In an ideal world there would be no need for "violent groups," or even violence, no one would be extorting anything or forcing anyone to do anything. Is such a world even possible? It seems to me that Western dualism and idealism encourages Westerners to go for utopia.

Possibly, always aiming for an ideal world, may result in the best of all possible worlds. Conversely, aiming for compromise, or Realpolitik, may result in the best of all possible worlds. Which do you prefer?

Delusional or not, I am trying to claim that Japan is practising political realism, rather than being "feudalistic." The claim here that 'the sytem is feudalistic' sounds to my ears, "you should be more 'advanced,' like us idealists." It strikes me that there is something very primitive, pre-feudalistic, Platonic, about idealism.

In so far as claims that "violent groups" should be outlawed from realistic concerns -- having weighed up pleasure and suffering -- then I agree. However, it seems to me that I in my past and perhaps some of the people commenting here are not looking at the reality, so much as applying a [supposed] syllogism. "Gangs are bad, bad things should be banned, therefore gangs should be banned (and any country that does not ban them is feudalistic). " It is with this latter thinking that I disagree.

I am more of an occidentalist than an orientalist. I am not sure what the Japanese are up to. It seems to me and I am pretty sure of this, that a lot of Westerners have a narrative self, and believe in ideas, and ideals.

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lots of spare change hanging around

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@Cos

Nice post!

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@timtak,

Australia has legalised prositution to an extent. I think it's a very good idea even though I do not use the services on offer (and never will. Just not my cup of tea).

Although I don't like the yakuza, I wonder about the real effect they have had on selling Spring. Are there "rules" involved? I guess there must be something, maybe there is an understanding that they don't cross certain lines... assuming action will be taked if they do.

Personally I have no problem with it as long as it truly is victimless.

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@David Quintero Navarro

Geez! I wish the mafia back in the USA, Mexico etc...would be as civilized as our Japnese yakuza! Don't get me wrong I don't lie the Japanese yakuza but at least they don't send punks with machine guns to do drive by shootings like back in the USA nor do they decapitate the heads of dozens of victims and dump them in the middle of towns like in Mexico.

So true. I don't like the yakuza either but they could be far worse.

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@Paul Kangas

Japan needs the death penalty.

It already has it. How about a little research before you post?

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Too bad this Mobster had to pay, because most of the MOBSTERS (POLITICANS) pay nothing and continously break all normal rules and get away with it.

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@timtak

most of what you are saying is simply a gloss trying to portray organized crime in a good light, your sociological musings on japanese legal institutions (laws) are inaccurate fabrications in the mode of a dellusional form of orientalism.

the reason that japan has relatively low crime rates--aside from a generally higher level of social cohesion than societies in the west--is because they have very strong laws on the books against firearms and drugs.

as far as the recent financial laws targeting the yakuza, all you have to do is look at the way that those organized crime groups operating through front companies in the construction and disposal industries tried to move into Fukushima to get government contract after the disasters.

that represents blatant example of them using the huge amount of ill-gotten proceeds amassed through criminal activity to attack and undermine the free market economy. of course neighborhood extortion crimes have the same effect in a different context.

the acts in Fukushima also expose the corruption between government contracts for public works and organized crime.

those are all characteristics of a feudalistic system, plain and simple.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Takayama is in hospital due to poor health, local media reports said.

looking at the tabacco

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Theory that works perfectly is you considered that sexual exploitation and abuse of children and teens from dysfunctional backgrounds (including pimped by carers) and of illegal migrants (lured into the country then forced) is less violent that rape.

That is an interesting amplification of the theory I was proposing. I was suggesting that if gangs were more radically outlawed in Japan, then the grey market e.g. for sex in Japan might become more violent, with for instance individual women selling their bodies and then being beaten up by customers, or by the associates of other prostitutes.

You are taking this a step further to argue, I think, that if the grey market for sex (which as you point out leads to a lot of suffering and exploitation) were repressed it would result in rape. This is not something that I intended to argue. This bears more on the question as to whether prostitution can be successfully outlawed. Or perhaps you are referring to the claim that gangs attempt to reduce, and police rape, but that is another issue again. Or perhaps you mean that prostitutes might be raped (i.e. not paid for their services?). I think that would happen.

Your second point regarding suicide is one with which I agree. I do believe that part of the reason why there are so many suicides in Japan is due to debt, sometimes from gambling addiction, and both high interest loans and the most popular form of gambling is associated with gangs, as far as I am aware. So if the gangs were disbanded there might be more violence between loaners and individual gambling outlets, but there might also be less gambling, and high interest debt that leads to self-harm. I take your point and I think that you may be right.

In general I think both your points relate to the assertion that governance of acts that involve violence (by gangs) does not reduce suffering but changes its form, from exploitation to rape, from murder to suicide. If that is your assertion then I agree.

I am told (and I think that I have checked) that one is equally likely to die of unnatural death in both Japan and the US, except that in the US one is more likely to die by being killed by another whereas in Japan one is more likely to die by ones own hand. Perhaps again, these two facts are related. Perhaps one can have a society allows individuals to express their aggression with sometimes violent consequence, or one can have a more society in which aggression towards others is prevented resulting in repression and subsequent self-harm? That does not sound implausible. IF it were the case, which society would be preferable? I prefer to live in Japan. I prefer to watch out that I do not kill myself rather than to watch out that I am not killed by others. But this again is a choice.

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allow violent groups to police them so to reduce the concomitant violence (and number of fatalities)

Theory that works perfectly is you considered that sexual exploitation and abuse of children and teens from dysfunctional backgrounds (including pimped by carers) and of illegal migrants (lured into the country then forced) is less violent that rape. Or that the tens of thousands of suicides per year, following shark loans and subsequent blackmail issues are not fatalities.

Canada or the US is more dangerous for women,

I don't know Canada, but I think the situation is even worse in the US. That's not as if they had not their yakuzas. Oh, you will tell me "But in my little town in Middlenowhere, it's safe...", and I can believe it. I lived, in a totally quiet town... just near Atlantic City the place that makes Kabuki-cho look like a school playground. You can live safe, and never go to the bad places. That says nothing about the general level in the country.

Japan is a very safe place to life.

In the average of rich countries. There is no safe Eden on the planet.

But I would not want a daughter of mine growing up there.

I don't know where she should live. I'm a woman, in Osaka. That's not hell. But there should be less crime and we should get the gangs dismantle.

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timtak, it depends on where you live and whether you are female. Prostitution, pervs, pedophiles, and the general state of women's existence in Japan is pretty sad. As a guy who lived there for 4 years, I can agree with you. But I would not want a daughter of mine growing up there. If you point to statistics which say Canada or the US is more dangerous for women, we both know that in Japan and other Confucian-based societies, rape and molestation are extremely under-reported.

Gangs are a natural extension of any societal structure that allows and even promotes financial hierarchies.

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Oops, that should have read former Yakuza bosses have "HELD" many important posts in the Japanese government, and remain well-connected

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For all Japan's apparent corruption indexes we can't (or at least I can't) deny that Japan is a very safe place to life.

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For all Japans apparent visible safety we cant deny the fact that its corruption indexes are very bad for a civilised nation. Look at the Fukushima fiasco, most of those troubles are hardly from the reactor itself but the authorities messing everything up.

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lol thats one way for japan to get some money, set bail to a redicioulusly high amount for someone they know theyd pay to get out, whos is important to the yakuza

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Yubaru, why are you scratching your head? Please read my posts above.

In addition to the posts above, I should say I don't mean to be too Japanophillic, but rather suggest there is a choice.

It seems to me to be a choice between "evil" and violence, or rather between bad which you can say ("evil"), and bad which you can see (e.g. blood on your street). Corruption, white collar crime, and organised crime, fall into the former category and Japan does not fair too well in indices that measure them. The are clearly "crime," and palpably sayable. But if you tend to view the world, I mean that literally, visually, then you may care more about people killing and maiming each other, mugging each other, robbing each other, and Japan does very well in these areas. It is my opinion that the Japanese see, and try to avoid the occurrence of those things that they, no one, wants to see.

A lot of white collar crime and corruption, the legalisation of "violent groups," is all so sayably "evil", but are less visually perceivable. The visual perception of these crimes is diffuse. But people with machine guns shooting each other on streets is immediate and focal.

Westerners are very into the words (ask any post-modernist: logocentrism) , or rather the ideas that they believe lie behind those words. We, Westerners, are into the ideals. So the notion of legalising "violent groups" is an anathema. If you care instead more about the removal of violent acts from what you can see walking about town, then the legalisation of violent groups, can result, does in fact result (imho, in Japan) in a reduction of blood, and dead bodies on your street for the reasons mentioned in my previous two posts. To many Westerners the legalisation of violence, in the form of legal violent groups, can seem so contradictory, so "feudalistic," so backward, what have you. But if you look, Japan looks quite nice. For all those sayable evils, you can walk the streets and see nothing of them.

What portrays the world better? Ideas or images? What society is better to live in, (a) one in which words are slanted, obfuscated, subject to massive massaging, to "honne and tatemae", (b) one in which people carry guns and shoot people, rob people, vandalise things? This is a choice.

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The lawmakers here in Japan need to get their heads out of everyone-knows-where, and make the gangs illegal. Private businesses face prosecution from the police for associating with them, but if the gangs themselves are not illegal in the first place it makes no sense to me to prosecute people for said association.

Another head scratching thing about Japan.

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M5c23 Thank you. I take your point that legalization and regulation is an option, and the more these things are legalised the fewer gangs there would be. At the same time there are strong public opinion against their being legalised. More about legalisatin/illegalisation at the end of this post.

You could have 1000 individual racketeers who had no organization (went solo) or you could have an organization made up of 1000. The second is more profitable for those at the top of the organization --not so much for the soldiers and associates. The second is also the more dangerous evolution due to its nature (more resources, more corruption, more power).

The case can be made that the second is more "evil," but I wished to suggest that the former results in more violence and death. Surely these 1000 raketeers would be being very violent with each other.

The murder rate is so low, and has fallen so much in, Japan, partly due to the concentration of racketeers. There is thus, I still believe, a choice between "evil" and violence. You seem to be of the opinion that there is in fact violence too. That is not my impression. E.g. http://www.ceacb.ucl.ac.uk/cultureclub/files/2004-2005/CC2005-07-07-Hiraiwa-Hasegawa.pdf http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/japan/100304/murder-japan The illegalisation of prostitution and possibly hemp (at least as a fibre, if not as cannabis http://www.druglibrary.net/olsen/HEMP/IHA/jiha4114.html) often seems to have been associated with, or a direct result of Westernization. Certainly, the Japanese still care about their reputation and even to an extent forums like this where Japan is often negatively portrayed. So, perhaps one day the Japanese will indeed illegalise the violent groups too, and Japan may turn into a country like those nice law abiding places from which we, the discussants here, come from.

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"The gangs, which are not illegal, have historically been tolerated by the authorities", could that be because Yakuza members have been an integral part of politics since the beginning. "Former" Yakuza bosses have help many important posts in the Japanese government, and remain well-connected

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David Q N;

They will do all of these things and far, far worse, see Jake Adelstein's tireless work in reporting their activities.

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nor do they decapitate the heads of dozens of victims and dump them in the middle of towns like in Mexico.

you're right about that. they prefer the old barrels-at-the-bottom-of-the-bay treatment. helps keep up appearances.

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Geez! I wish the mafia back in the USA, Mexico etc...would be as civilized as our Japnese yakuza! Don't get me wrong I don't lie the Japanese yakuza but at least they don't send punks with machine guns to do drive by shootings like back in the USA nor do they decapitate the heads of dozens of victims and dump them in the middle of towns like in Mexico.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Since some illegal activities, such as the purchase of drugs, sex, involvement in gambling and the formation of cartels are difficult to eliminate entirely, states are faced with a decision whether to simply continually suppress these activities, and or to allow violent groups to police them so to reduce the concomitant violence (and number of fatalities) that occur when such activities continue without any form of governance.

I think that's a false choice. First, all these activities can be regulated (see Germany, see Netherlands, see Las Vegas for respective examples. Additionally, even if they remained illegal, there is no "need" for their governance -see low level grey/black markets. They only exist because they can extort/coerce/threaten/overtake others in the business for profit for its own reason. There is more profit in numbers --that's the reason. You could have 1000 individual racketeers who had no organization (went solo) or you could have an organization made up of 1000. The second is more profitable for those at the top of the organization --not so much for the soldiers and associates. The second is also the more dangerous evolution due to its nature (more resources, more corruption, more power).

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While some argue that violent gangs are nothing but the result of feudalism and corruption, others can see some sense to their existence. Some argue that violent gangs provide governance for illegal sectors of the economy. Since some illegal activities, such as the purchase of drugs, sex, involvement in gambling and the formation of cartels are difficult to eliminate entirely, states are faced with a decision whether to simply continually suppress these activities, and or to allow violent groups to police them so to reduce the concomitant violence (and number of fatalities) that occur when such activities continue without any form of governance. Japan seems to have chosen the latter, less idealistic, and less violent of the two options. See for example http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~sskaperd/SkaperdasEoG01.pdf

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the yakuza have nothing to do with culture.

they are neo-feudalistic cretins that have been tolerated because their activities served the interest of a corrupt political class with ties to the american military industrial complex, basically.

read the book:

Tokyo Underworld...by Robert Whiting

http://books.google.co.jp/books/about/Tokyo_Underworld.html?id=XZgm8E3cWR8C&redir_esc=y

for an account of how the fledgling CIA (formed under Truman from the OSS) funneled funds to an underworld figure named Kodama (who was involved in atrocities in WWII Manchuria, etc) to establish the LDP, which was composed of individuals from the industrialist class that should have been charged with war crimes but were recruited by the Truman administration so that the USA could cultivate a ruling class that was in its pocket and would do its bidding in the fight against communism, etc.

7 ( +6 / -0 )

Wow. It's not like he could engage in witness tampering or other cover-up activities while free, is it? Perhaps they should deport him to Nepal in the intern; he'd have at least one fellow Japanese-speaker to confide with in the meantime.

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LFRAgaian, check the caption under the photo. Nice balance?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I beat a area boss up one night.. then he put a contract out on me. I was in hiding for a while but he died of liver failure before he got me. Lucky me.. once he died no others followed up on the contract...

0 ( +3 / -3 )

The gangs, which are not illegal, have historically been tolerated by the authorities, although there are periodic clampdowns on some of their less savoury activities.

Such as producing and distributing child pornography. Kidnapping. Drug and gun running. People trafficking.

Scum. Sub human scum.

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Wow, who has 1500 crore yen lying around?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

With his release, just how safe are any of those due to give evidence? I hope that during his period of freedom, that he and his assosciates will be very closely monitored

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Poor old dude is unwell and bail has been set high. Seems like proper justice to me.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Japan needs the death penalty.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Does the prosecution have any live witnesses?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Another one of Japan's cultures that needs to go away.

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The gangs, which are not illegal, have historically been tolerated by the authorities

More like sanctioned by the authorities.

And he will get the bail money back if he appears in court, bail or bond money is just that.

Gaurantee that you'll appear on the set date. If he fails ot appear the bail money is not returned.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Does he get the money back?

No, he doesnt. The government is going to use the money to start a "hemp" farm. It will then sell the "hemp" to people with a tax of 300% on it. This way people dont have to smoke legal air freshener anymore and the government can start paying its debt back :-)

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

The gangs, which are not illegal, have historically been tolerated by the authorities, although there are periodic clampdowns on some of their less savory activities.

I like that last part: "less savory activities." A nice way of saying "illegal." We must not insult offend the yakuza, a national institution.

Letting this beneath pond scum out on bail is a disgrace.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Shouldn't:

The gangs, which are not illegal, have historically been tolerated by the authorities...

Read:

The gangs, which are not illegal, have historically been tolerated by the authorities due to their financial support...

Allegedly.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

$US19M is chump change to guys him, we'll never see him again.

Avenger --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bail (Have you never watched Law&Order?? LOL)

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Why give him bail at all? Do they expect him to refrain from gang activity once free? Really doubt that.

5 ( +4 / -0 )

Does he get the bail money back? Who keeps it? It's a payoff?

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

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