Child pornography pulling profits?
“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... Read More
Economics 101: The Yakuza Barometer
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... Read More
“Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation in Japan. The New Victims: Japanese Teenagers”
子ども性被害防止で相談ＨＰ Note: I’ve been working with the Polaris Project Japan, a non-profit organization that combats human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children, since 2005 and recently agreed to be their temporary public relations director. In the last year, a lot of the calls coming to Polaris Project Japan were concerning Japanese teenage women who appeared to have been forced into the sex industry–not... Read More
Newspapers Catch Up To Our Goto Coverage: 毎日新聞と朝日新聞は遅れて後藤組問題の結末を報道
October 20th, 2008. Japan’s top two newspapers covered the end of Goto Tadamasa’s reign as head of the Goto-gumi today. Probably, they didn’t feel this was the most pressing of stories. Maybe they didn’t have the resources to stay on top of the story. Who knows? The Mainichi Shinbun has done some good coverage. All of it in Japanese. Sankei Shinbun 産経新聞 probably did the best job of reporting on Goto’s... Read More
Yakuza bosses take legal classes to evade strict new law
by Justin McCurry (from THE GUARDIAN) (The Yamaguchi-gumi symbol. Often used in a badge to identify members and intimidate civilians. New laws make displaying the symbol very risky for the yakuza and their bosses) Japan’s most powerful gangsters are mugging up on legal terminology in an attempt to skirt strict new laws that make them liable for crimes committed by their henchmen. The country’s top three crime syndicates are believed... Read More