The yakuza are basically the Japanese mafia. However, traditional yakuza are very different to the mafia in other countries due to how the organisations themselves are not actually illegal. They are regulated and monitored. The biggest yakuza syndicates have huge office headquarters, the addresses of which are listed on the National Police Agency website. The top bosses even have business cards with corporate logos.
Yakuza are very different to ordinary mafia in the way they interact with police. Organized crime detectives would often visit the offices of yakuza groups to drink tea, chat and keep up to date. The exchanges would be warm and friendly. If there was gang violence, the yakuza would offer up someone for arrest. If police wanted to …show more content…
One of the most common and most famous ones is Yubitsume.
Yubitsume is a ritual used to atone for offense to another, usually a way to be punished or apologise to another. It is the act of cutting off portions of one’s little finger.
The ritual first originated with the bakuto (gamblers). If someone was unable to pay off their gambling debt, some groups would accept yubitsume as an alternative payment.
The reason it is the little finger that is amputated is because in Japanese swordsmanship the little fingers grip is tightest on the hilt. The amputee would be unable to grip his sword properly, making him more dependant on the protection of his boss in battle.
Another common ritual among yakuza syndicates is the full body tattoos. In Japan, tattoos are almost exclusive to yakuza. They are applied in an old fashioned way so that they cause more pain to the new initiate. The tattoos declare that a yakuza member has gone through a painful process, proving his perseverance and manliness, has performed an irreversible act for his yakuza order, and that he is going to bear on his body the trademark of his order forever, and with