Foreign Student (hereinafter FS): Even though Japan is a peaceful country, sometimes wars break out between rival criminal gangs. What are some of the peculiarities unique to Japanese gangsters? Teacher (hereinafter, T): Japanese gangsters are generally called “yakuza,” but people often call them “ya-san” or “yacchan.” Just like the mafia they make money from anti-social activities, such as drugs or gambling, but there are also many cases in which they conduct business through finance, real estate deals, and the like. Unless they get mixed up in a war between gangsters, citizens are rarely harmed. FS: However, “bottakuri bars” (clip joints) that charge exorbitant fees, do exist. T: That’s right, in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo Japan’s largest entertainment district, these days the organization of shopkeepers is working in cooperation with the police to get these shady shops removed. These nefarious shops tout for customers on the streets. As touting on streets is illegal, warnings against following touts have been put up in Japanese and in foreign languages. Conversely, some shops pay yakuza protection money under the pretext that they will handle undesirable customers who behave violently inside the store. FS: This means there are some reasons for coexisting with the yakuza, doesn’t it? T: Yakuza live in the criminal world, but they used to have ninkyou. Ninkyou means a sense of chivalry based on a duty towards to their comrades or towards those they owe a debt to, as well as a basic human empathy which has sometimes led them to stand up to the powers that be when they are oppressing the common man. Take KUNISADA Chuuji from the Edo period (17th - 19 centuries), for instance. He was a thug who ran gambling rackets and had killed a man. Although he was respected by his subordinates, as a wanted man, he continued to run away from the police. When the police came to search for him in his native village of Kunisada, the villagers warned him so that he could escape. His mere presence had prevented robberies and thefts in the village. It is said that he saved the village during a severe famine by selling his property and giving away a huge amount of rice. Ninkyou yakuza became the topic of many songs and kabuki plays and were a kind of hero. FS: I’ve heard that many yakuza movies produced were immensely popular. T: Many of them took the theme of the yakuza’s moral code. A contrasting work was the highly regarded “Jingi Naki Tatakai” (Battles without Honor or Humanity) series that realistically represented wars between the yakuza. In addition, director KITANO Takeshi’s yakuza movies have attracted attention overseas. In the comedy “Otoko wa Tsurai yo” (It’s Tough Being a Man) – the world’s longest running movie series starring the same actor – the protagonist Tora-san like some yakuza, is a peddler. The Japanese police force is putting all its efforts into controlling these organized crime groups. However, on the flip side, stories about ninkyou make them (the yakuza) sympathetic to Japanese people.