| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (27 min. 42 sec.) ; 167198508 bytes |
| Summary |
It's claimed Japan's ferocious and feared Yakuza murder, extort and intimidate according to an honour code. But where is the honour in the squalid new enterprise now adding to their billion dollar criminal turnover? Reporting on the Yakuza is a deadly dangerous endeavour. Japan's 80,000 strong criminal class don't take kindly to nosey reporters and uncomfortable questions. Nevertheless North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy has managed to pry open a window on this highly secretive society to examine the Yakuza's power and place in contemporary Japan.The result - featuring interviews with former and current insiders - offers revealing insights into the furtive and fetid world of Japan's version of the mafia.Most chilling and disturbing of all is the Yakuza burgeoning new business - child pornography. In Japan it's illegal to make or sell this appalling material but possession goes unpunished. It's a loophole the Yakuza have begun to exploit - adding to the traditional money spinners like prostitution, drugs and angering some of their old guard The Yakuza's origins stem back four hundred years with traditions drawn from the Samurai but the days of the Yakuza being regarded as chivalrous - as an outfit that protected the weak against the strong - are long gone. Today the Yakuza is a mighty and entrenched criminal network raking in as much as fifty billion dollars every year. No-one it seems is beyond the reach of the Yakuza, not reporters, celebrities nor powerful politicians. Yuko Yoko'o the daughter of Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito believes her father was executed for rejecting mob overtures. "I remember my father saying they are really like snakes." she recalls.Mark Willacy's report fixes in part on two former Yakuza mobsters-turned-monks. Both claim to have found enlightenment and embraced Buddhism. One, a tough brutal enforcer Gijin Kobayashi, the other, one of the most feared of all Yakuza bosses the notorious Tadamasa Goto.Another former Yakuza gangster and convicted killer Shinji Ishihara tells Willacy: "There are no rules when it comes to the Yakuza doing business. They'll do anything to make money." That child pornography is now a highly lucrative Yakuza enterprise will surprise few.Japan's lax approach to this squalid and sordid business is tainting the country's national image. Both Ann Veneman chief of UNICEF and Tom Schieffer former US Ambassador to Japan have been vehement in their criticism of Japan's failure to crackdown on child pornography |
| Event |
Broadcast 2009-10-20 at 20:00:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
Child pornography -- Law and legislation.
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Japanese -- Politics and government.
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Mafia.
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Organized crime investigation.
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Organized crime -- Economic aspects.
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Yakuza.
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Japan.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Adelstein, Jake, contributor
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Corcoran, Mark, host
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Fujiwara, Shihoko, contributor
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Ishihara, Shinji, contributor
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Kishi, Kohei, contributor
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Kobayashi, Gijin, contributor
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Willacy, Mark, reporter
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