Boryokudan or Yakuza?

In this journal, I want to explain about Boryokudan in Japan.
Boryokudan are anti-social groups indigenous to Japan. They are commonly referred to as "Yakuza". Some might have a question that what is the difference between them. Certainly, we usually call a member of Boryokudan as a Yakuza. So, Yakuza is a person who belongs to Boryokudan. But, there is one difference in a certain sense.

The term “Yakuza” is a traditional and used from old ages, while the term “Boryokudan” was made by Japanese government. Boryokudan are defined by the law (Law Concerning Prevention of Unjust Acts by Boryokudan) as “any organization likely to facilitate its members to collectively or habitually commit illegal acts of violence.” In my opinion, although they did illegal acts of violent, the term “Yakuza” sometimes have positive meaning and was used as the title of a movie (I never have seen the movie of attached picture.) 　But, the police were taking the measure against them and it was not good for the police that “Yakuza” were well thought by citizens. So, the police wanted to add a bad image to “Yakuza” and created the term “Boryokudan”.

There are about several hundred Boryokudan of many sizes in Japan. The total number of Boryokudan members is about 86,300 in 2005. The three major Boryokudan groups are: Yamaguchi-gumi, Inagawa-kai and Sumiyoshi-kai. Members in these three groups numbered approximately 63,000, representing more than 73% of all Boryokudan members.
They have still big power in back business in Japan. In recent years there have been a variety of crimes carried out by Boryokudan members in collusion with foreign visitors to Japan and the forms of these crimes have been diversifying, too.

The fight against Boryokudan is continuing and seems to be endless. When I go back to Japan, my never-ending battle is kicking off again.

Like CSI....

As you know, Crime Scene Investigation (commonly referred to as CSI) is a popular, Emmy Award-winning CBS television series that trails the investigations of a team of forensic scientists as they veil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths and crimes committed. One classmate requested me to write like CSI, but it is almost impossible. It is certain that CSI is very interesting and well-organized show, but real investigation is more complicated, mysterious, and unexciting.

When I was a deputy chief of Criminal Investigation Section in a police station, three years ago, I regularly had to be the person responsible for public peace and order of the area at night. It was the chief of persons on watch and called as the night head of the police station. Of course, I had to take the whole responsibility for everything what happened in the area at night. It was the heavy duty for me, because I was not experienced and too young to be that position.

One night, I was the man after 6 o’clock p.m. I wished that nothing would happen at that night and we could welcome a calm dawn. But, troubles generally happen on such a day. One of my subordinate came and reported me that a man had watched something like a dead body of a girl at the seashore early in that morning. The man watched something like a dead body on the way to angling and he had been worried about that. After all, he reported us after his going back to his home at night. So, the members on watch were thrown into an uproar. That’s because there was one girl who disappeared two years before from the near area and the police were searching the girl with their full strength.

After reporting to the “chief” of the police station, we went to the seashore where is very far from the station and searched “something”. The sea was deep black, and the waves broke on shore and that sounds were like men’s screaming. Because of a lot of tetra pods, the foothold and the view were so bad that policemen couldn’t continue to search it. I decided the close of searching at that night. At that night, I couldn’t sleep at all.

Next morning, we began to search the dead body by 50 policemen. After 2 hours had passed, we found the dead body under a tetra pod. To our surprise, the dead body didn’t have its head and it was rotten. It looked like a man, not a girl. We tried to drag the dead body out of the clink of tetra pods. Some policemen dragged and some pushed from the bottom. I hold my arm to its armpit and dragged. The neck without head came close to my face and the stink was too harsh. After all, it took 2 hours to drag it.

We inspected the dead body at the police station. The dead body was a man. But, there was no document proving his identity. We were completely at a loss. Then, a veteran detective whose specialty is crime scene identification tried to skin its forefinger’s skin. Its fingers were also rotten. But, he did skillfully and he pulled on the tip of its skin to his forefinger like a fingerstall. After that, he succeeded to take its fingerprint. As you know, each person has his/her own unique pattern of fingerprints that remains unchanged throughout life. The National Police Agency in Japan developed an automated fingerprint identification system based on highly precise and computerized pattern recognition technologies. Japanese police has much database of fingerprints (we usually take suspects’ fingerprints and add to the database.). He inquired the fingerprint to the database and we could identify the man.

The truth was that the man was a member of Japanese mafia (the Japanese mafia is called as “Boryokudan”.). He was a suspect for an attempted murder, and the police were on his track. He was seemed to commit suicide jumping down from a bridge to the sea. He had drifted 30 miles and he plunged into the clink of tetra pods.

Even now, the head was not found and I can’t forget the shocking scene of the dead body without its head and the stink. It is impossible to forget it forever.

A Case of murder

I want to write about a case of murder which I experienced 5 years ago.

It was 5years ago when I was a detective in a police station of Metropolitan Police Department in Japan. The police station was right in the middle of a downtown area, Shibuya. That time, I lived in a dormitory where was on the 11th floor of the police station.

One winter day, I went to bed after the work as usual. I was sleeping well. Suddenly, my cell phone rang loudly. It was 2 o’clock a.m. I answered the phone. It was my subordinate and he shouted “Chief!! It is murder!!” It was the beginning of my long day.

I went to the room of the Criminal Investigation Section immediately. The room was thrown into an uproar. There were a lot of policemen and detectives in the room. I asked one of my subordinates the situation and he explained as the following.
* The victim was killed instantaneously.
* The victim was a woman whose age was 30 years old.
* Her job was a ballet dancer.
* The murderer was arrested after the criminal act immediately.
* The time of the crime was 9 o’clock p.m. a day before.
* The murderer was a man whose age was about 40 years old.
* His job was also a ballet dancer.
* The offensive weapon was a kitchen knife which the murderer had at the scene of the murder.
* The murderer was under interrogation and the victim was still at the scene.

I was so confused because that case was my first experience of dealing a case of murder. Then, my boss ordered me to go to the scene immediately. That’s because the detectives were not enough there.

The scene was on the second floor of a rental apartment building at a distance of a mile from the police station. The building was in an exclusive residential district, Daikanyama. The corridor of the apartment was covered with blood. It was a ghastly scene. The victim was a beautiful lady but she had never spoken. It became dawn while we were inspecting the scene. After that, I went back to the police station.

At the police station, much deskwork was waiting for us. We had to go to the court to seek some kinds of warrant. We had a lot of things to investigate. I asked one detective about the progress of the interrogation. He talked me that the suspect had spoken nothing and kept silence. It annoyed us and I trembled with rage.

After much deskwork, I went to the summary court to seek warrants. It took 4 hours and I was terribly tired. I also attended the postmortem of the victim. It made me so sad when I watched the dead body and the face looked like regretful. After all, the suspect spoke nothing.

Our investigation was going on 2 weeks. The suspect had begun to speak about the reason for killing, the method to kill and so on. The reason was the end of the one-sided love. The suspect loved her, but she always ignored him. Before he realized it, he wanted to kill her instead of love. His method to kill was very complicated. He researched her house and the time to go home beforehand. He clambered up to the veranda of her room from the backyard and broke the window with a shrewd trick. He trespassed to her room and lurked in the bathroom with gripping the prepared kitchen knife till her return. And then, she came back. He pushed her over and straddled. She was screaming and crying for forgiveness, but he mercilessly stabbed the kitchen knife in her chest over and over. This was the full account of the case.

I always think that why people murder. The murder is cruel and merciless. My task is to stop such a terrible case from this world and I have to make an effort for the purpose.

Jack Daniel's Whiskey

Have you drunken Jack Daniel's Whiskey which is one of the famous whiskeys in the world? In addition, do you know that the Jack Daniel's whiskey is made in Tennessee? Actually, I didn’t know that Jack Daniel’s whisky is Tennessee’s product, although I sometimes drank Jack Daniel’s whiskey in Japan. I got to know about Jack Daniel’s Whiskey when I just looked for the sightseeing places in Nashville. On a certain day, Dr. Auer who is the director of the center for US-Japan relationship and studies in VIPPS recommended me the visit to the distillery. So, I went to Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee last month.

Jack Daniel Distillery is located in Lynchburg where I can reach in one and a half hour by car. Lynchburg is leafy suburb and I could enjoy driving on the way to there. Jack Daniel Distillery gives tour for visitors and I attended the tour with my Japanese friends. On the tour, the tour guide explained about basic knowledge of whiskey, the history of Jack Daniel Distillery, the process of manufacture and so on. One of the most interesting explanations is that Jack Daniel Distillery is located in a dry county in spite of the distillery. Do you know the meaning of a dry county? In a dry county, people are prohibited to sell alcoholic. Jack Daniel Distillery is making in the county where people are prohibited to sell alcoholic. It was interesting to me.

If you want to know about Jack Daniel’s whiskey, you can learn a lot on their web site (http://www.jackdaniels.com/). In this journal, I want to introduce you about two kinds of Jack Daniel’s whiskeys. One is the whiskey named “Gentleman Jack” and another is the whiskey named “Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel”. These two are my recommendation. To tell the difference of these two whiskeys, there are two differences in the process of manufacture.

First difference is the number of times of charcoal-mellowing. Charcoal-mellowing is the process which involves slowly dripping the newly made whiskey through giant containers hard-packed with 10 feet of sugar maple charcoal. The process takes ten days, and during this time the whiskey absorbs the essence of the charcoal, refining the spirit and giving it a unique flavor and aroma. “Gentleman Jack” goes through this process twice, although other kinds of whiskeys including “Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel” go through this process once. It makes “Gentleman Jack” smoother than others.

Second difference is the bottling way. After charcoal mellowing, all whiskeys are placed into new, charred, white oak barrels for aging. The passing seasons cause temperatures to change, and the barrels to expand and contract, forcing the whiskey in and out of the wood. After this process the whiskey become ready to be bottled, ordinary whiskey including “Gentleman Jack” are put together from barrels and placed into bottles. Unlike ordinary whiskeys, “Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel” is not put together. “Single Barrel” is bottled from one barrel. That’s because they want drinkers to enjoy the unique aroma and taste of each barrels. In addition, “Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel” has 47% alcoholicity (“Gentleman Jack” has 40% alcoholicity.).

These two kinds of whiskeys are very nice and have worth to drink at least once. I recommend you to go to liquor store and buy these two. By the way, my best recommendation is “Gentleman Jack”, because I want to be a gentleman like Jack Daniel.

一期一会 ~ichi-go ichi-e~

　Do you know the meaning of the title, ”一期一会”, which is written in Japanese? I think, almost all foreigners may not know even how to pronounce this characteristics. Japanese pronounce this characteristics as "ichi-go ichi-e". The literal meaning of this term is "one time, one meeting", but this term is often translated as "for this time only," "never again," or "one encounter in a lifetime". This term is particularly associated with the Japanese tea ceremony. In the context of tea ceremony, ichi-go ichi-e reminds participants that each tea meeting is unique. We use this term when we want to show how important the encounter is.

　In my lifetime, I have met a lot of people and the relationship with them is a treasure for me. All encounters are important and special for me. And now, I have a lot of classmates in the ELC of the Vanderbilt University from many countries. Maybe, I can't see some of them forever when I come back to Japan next Augusut. So, this term, "一期一会", always reminds me about the importance of the encounter and the time with my friends.

　This is why I choose this term as my blog's title. I want to write about my experience or knowledge for readers and I want readers to know about me well.

　Next time, I want to write a journal of the experience and knowledge about the Jack Daniel, which is the famous whisky distillery in the world.