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.
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.
posted by keisuke at Tuesday, October 10, 2006
1 Comments:
Thanks for the useful and clear explanation about Boryokudan and Yakuza.
As we know, Mafia is a dangerous criminal organization. However, some teenagers admire Mafia watching the movie, "Godfather", which is quite a masterpiece.
I watched many movies in which Yakuza really looks much fancier than streetgangsters. (But at the same time they are cruel.)
~SJ
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