Tag Archives: interview

On the Record, Yakuza

Child pornography pulling profits?

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“How can you crack down on child pornography in this country when it is not a crime to be posses it?”

“When you are looking at child pornography, you are not looking at something sexually titillating. You are looking at a crime scene. I mean it is crime scene. It is evidence that crime has been committed and that people can derive sexual pleasure from that or profit on that is horrifying.”

— Jake Adelstein

The Australian Broadcasting Corperation’s Radio Australia reports on how old time Yakuza are concerned about the rising number of younger blood who are looking to make their fortune with child pornography. Jake Adelstein weighs in.

Listen here:

Veteran Yakuza express concern over porn push [via Radio Australia’s Connect Asia]

On the Record, Organized Crime, Yakuza

Economics 101: The Yakuza Barometer

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A look at why the yakuza hitting the books is a sure-fire sign that the economy is hitting rock bottom, by Bloomberg’s William Pesek, with added flavor from Jake Adelstein.

Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) — Japan’s underworld can tell you a lot about what’s happening in the legitimate economy.

Gangsters are on the run as growth wanes and deflation worsens. Yet the oddest development by far involves yakuza members sitting for exams covering key aspects of their work.

If you think this is just a law-enforcement issue, think again. It’s a sign Japan’s funk will be longer than economists predict. That may surprise those betting Japan is recovering. Oddly, though, the plight of gangsters tells the story.

Huddled over legal texts and documents isn’t the popular image of Japan’s storied mobsters. When they aren’t collecting debts, shaking down shop owners, overseeing prostitution rings or rigging stocks, members of Japan’s biggest organized crime group, Yamaguchi-gumi, are studying for 12-page tests.

Yakuza’s Series 7 Exam Is Harbinger for Economy [via Bloomberg]