WEBVTT - Yakuza: From Samurai to Slot Machines 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to you stuff you should know from house stuff 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:12.879 Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:17.960 Josh Clark with me as always as Charles W. Chuck Bryant, right, 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:22.000 and we have a guest producer, Matt here today in 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:27.040 the yes, in the leather wing back to the director's chair. Matt, 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:30.160 who has gotten family before. Oh yeah, that's right. Do 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:35.520 you know lines and scissors just back together? Yeah? Nice. 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.960 Don't look at him, he's right here. I didn't know that. 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:40.880 That's great news, Matty. It feels weird to talk to 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.080 you without looking at you, but I've been instructed to 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:45.880 do so. That's the whole point to just feel weird, 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.200 all right, that's the point of life. Well, that's great. Yeah, 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:52.600 you guys need to get a website together, Matt. He 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:55.920 shakes and said, yes, yes, it's like we've got a 0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:01.760 MySpace page. It's funny that that's still being financially supported 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:05.679 enough that it's up that you can still access MySpace. Yeah, 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:07.319 but have you seen some of the other stuff that's 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:09.760 still up, Like my Space has a long way to 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:14.280 go to fall off the radar. I'm interested to see 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.560 when that happens, and maybe there'll be some sort of event. Yeah, 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:21.840 can you tell him? Stalling? Yes? Okay, Well that means 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:24.080 everybody else can tell too, then, so we should probably 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:30.880 start chuck. Um. Have you ever seen the Simpsons episode, uh, 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:34.679 the Twisted Life of Marge Twisted World of Marge Simpsons, 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:37.720 The one where she starts selling pretzels? I think, so 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:40.840 it's hard to keep them all? You know? Straight? It is? 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:43.479 It is? Well? Um, in it, Marge decides to make 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:47.560 some extra scratch by selling pretzels. Right. She know she's 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.800 a part of an investment club, and um, the investment 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:52.840 club gets a little crazy and I think she's forced 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:59.960 out of their Peta Fleeta Peta franchise, Peter Peter food truck. Basically, 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:01.960 she gets forced out, so she goes off on her 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:05.400 own starts selling pretzels. Well, she gets in bed with 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:08.600 the mob inadvertently, and when the mob comes to calling 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:12.960 just in time and they're they're storming the front door. 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:16.320 Is it the mob guy that's always fat tony? Um? 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.360 The fleet of Peter ladies show up and they want 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:23.000 their cut of her turf. I believe, um. And it 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:27.040 turns out that they've gotten in bed with the yakuza. Yes, 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:32.120 the Japanese mafia and um as the mob as the 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:35.440 yakuza and the mafia are about to battle. The door 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:37.440 shuts and all you can hear some stuff, and then 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:40.040 the door opens and everybody's like laying debt and it's 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.919 pretty awesome. That's a troop. But after reading this article 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.440 how the Yakuza works, I would say that, um they 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:51.840 probably had they spoken before they fought, would have found 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:54.800 that they had a tremendous amountain common and possibly wouldn't 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:56.840 have even fought at all. Yeah, maybe they would have 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:02.280 had some wine and sukey or some sushi and pasta 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.760 and broke bread together or whatever. The Japanese version of 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:12.639 bread is bread. Okay. So that's the intro to how 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:16.160 yakuza works. Very nice, that's a good one, it is. 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:19.519 And reading this article, you're right, I was kind of like, 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:21.800 you know what, it's just like the American mafia. It 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.200 is so there's like a there's a model out there 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:28.080 for organizing crime, and somebody figured it out at some 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:30.520 point in time. Maybe it was the Japanese, maybe it 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:33.440 was the Sicilians, maybe it was all independent, but the 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:37.560 point is it's out there, it's established. Don't try to 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:41.840 mess with it. It's it's perfect, yes, as far as 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:46.000 organized crime goes. I guess you're right. Uh, the origins 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:50.360 of the Yakuza depending on which history you're following. Um, 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.400 if you listen to some of the clans and their clans, 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:58.200 I guess it just gave that away. Well, clans families say, Um, 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:01.640 they might say like, we have noble origins, and we 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:05.440 descended from the Ronin and we're more like your American 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:09.280 Robin Hood, although he was an American, your English Robin Hood. 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:13.880 We're like Kevin Costner, and um, our lineage is like 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:18.560 very proud and honorable. Um. Probably a little bit of 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:21.760 an inflated story. Um, because the other side of the 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:25.320 coin is that they descended from the kabuki mono the 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:29.360 crazy ones. Yeah, and these are basically we're like masterless 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:33.440 Ronan after the samurai. They were just crazy kids. Well 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:37.880 they were masterless samurai and they would go around doing 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:40.839 bad things with their swords because they didn't have a 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:44.760 what's it called again goal in life? Now the master 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:48.839 the Oh yeah, I was about to say that, but 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:51.240 I can't believe I did that. From memory, I had 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.480 it you was gonna be so proud, but I doubt 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.440 it myself. Oh you had damio. I had it my brain, 0:04:56.480 --> 0:05:01.280 but I doubted myself, which will make emily prod. So 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.360 you've got some some political upheaval. I think a time 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:08.360 of pieces what it was, and the samurai became basically 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:11.800 useless and lazy. Um yeah, I guess that made them 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:15.359 cranky because they started to do crime, or they just 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:17.640 kind of went into business, which is something the samurai 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.920 didn't need to do because they were the political elite 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.720 for a very very long time. Um, they did their 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:25.080 jobs too well. There was a lasting piece and then 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.320 political people and then all of a sudden there's kind 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:29.200 of out on the street. So yeah, they're either going 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.680 crazy cutting the heads off of peasants for no good reason. 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.000 They're wandering around not cutting the heads off of peasants, 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:36.800 but they're samurai and you don't want to look at 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:43.039 them wrong. Or there samurai who are selling apples on 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.400 the street now, which is new to them, or running 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:51.840 gambling casinos, gambling houses, brothels. Yeah, making money from like 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:55.480 ill repute or legitimate ways. But the point is you 0:05:55.520 --> 0:06:00.120 have these people who are coming into the mark it, 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:05.720 who are coming in from the outside, outsiders, exactly like c. 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:11.560 Thomas Howell or Ralph Macho. Let's stay gold yakuza. Um, 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.880 and that's the Yakusa still wears that today, kind of 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:18.799 as a badge of honor. They're outsiders in Japanese society. Yeah, 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:23.120 which we'll talk about the Korean yakuza later. Does that 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:26.240 always say Korean? Now Korean? Yeah, you're from Georgia. You 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:31.799 sound like Hank is Area doing Billy bod Thornton and Homegrown. Um. 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.880 So the name yakuza, I thought this is pretty interesting. 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:39.880 It actually reinforces that outsider status because it came from 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:44.920 a game called ocou. Sounds good to me. And uh, 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.760 it's similar to what we call back iraq. Uh. And 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:50.920 that the second digit of the hand is where you 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:54.360 get your point value. It's very numerological, Yes it is, 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:56.839 so you add up your cards. Yeah, and the second 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:59.120 digit is what counts like in back ireq. Right, so 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:02.039 if you have three is or something like that, you'd 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:04.960 have eighteen in your hand would be worth eight because 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:08.800 it's a second number. The last digit, yeah, sixteen would 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:11.160 probably be more appropriate because that's actually two digits. A 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:16.240 six is just one digit. You know what I'm saying. No, Well, 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:17.840 if it's a two digit number, it would be based 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:21.560 on the second digit, right, is it a two digit number, 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:23.640 I would think it'd be like zero six. No, I 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:27.120 think it's the last digit of your hand. So like, 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:30.440 for example, if you have a in this case, you 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.200 have um an eight and nine and a three that 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:37.240 equals twenty, that your hand is worth zero. So it's 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.280 the second digit or the last digit, right, But as 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:44.320 sixteen would be worth six, Yes, but I guess there's 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:49.200 no sixteen. There's if you headed three fours, Okay, I 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:50.920 see what you mean. So you take if you have 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:52.680 a hand of three cars, you add them up and 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:55.640 then whatever the last digit is. If it's a single digit, 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.320 it's that. If it's if it's a two digit number, 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.280 it's the second digit. Boy, there are gamblers out there 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.920 just like I hate you. No, they're probably just like guys. 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.840 Stay at the casino, yeah, stick to the shows. So anyway, 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:12.640 eight nine in three equals twenty. That is zero points. 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:14.720 That is a very bad hand. It's a worthless hand. 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.600 And the Japanese words for eight nine and three yeah 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:23.040 kua yakuza, meaning worthless or pointless and in the vernacular 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.440 very round about probably incorrect way of explaining that. So 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:28.800 you've got a group of people who know their way 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:35.719 around a sword who suddenly are selling um pachinko cards 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:40.920 or women yeah um or opium all bet um, and 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:45.640 they are they're very proud of this outsider worthless status. 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.839 You know, they're making themselves anti here us, against the 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:53.800 world exactly. Um. If you are a cop, though, you're 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:58.520 probably going to refer to the Yakuza as the boy yokudan, 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:02.480 which is basically is a degenerate gangster has no sense 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:05.400 of values or tradition. That's right, and that's a very 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:07.439 big insult. You wouldn't want to call a yukos a 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:11.719 member that, no, unless you you know we're arresting them, 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:14.079 and even then you may want to avoid it. Yeah. 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:16.599 I saw that name thrown thrown around a lot and 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:20.040 depressed though, So people aren't shy about it. I mean, 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:24.160 I'm sure it's like being called a mafia member hood 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:29.800 or yeah, a thug or in in the U S 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:33.720 a degenerate gangster who has no sense of tradition or values, 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:36.800 that's right. However, this article who wrote this was his 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:42.600 Ada figures Um. He points out that the most direct 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:46.559 ancestors come from the eighteenth century. He called them quasi 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:51.760 legal businessmen, and they are known as bakuto and techia 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:58.160 is a gambler, Yeah, gamblers, peddlers, Um, not like the 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:02.280 highest repute, I would imagine. Yeah, the is the peddler. Yeah, 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:04.040 and I don't think they were either, But they were 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:07.880 enterprising businessmen who knew how to make a buck however, Yes, 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:11.160 and eventually they decided, you know, if we organize ourselves 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:14.839 into these clans, it might be better for business. Yeah, 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.120 and they did, And a lot of the clans still 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:21.319 have the names of these bakudos and techias today. Can 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:26.880 you name one the Yamaguchi Gumi clan. There's the biggest one, right, yeah, 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:34.200 eight thousand members yeah. Um, and we should also say that, um, 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:38.320 the the that clan, if it has eighty thousand members, 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:42.760 it's probably assembled in well, usually Yakusa has assembled in 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:45.120 one of two ways. It's a straight up clan and 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:48.559 everybody's related, everybody knows one another, or it's a kind 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:51.800 of a confederation of clans. So if you have eighty 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:54.280 thousand members, it's probably the latter of the two. Yeah, 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.200 I would imagine. So the Yamaguchi Gumi clan would be 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:02.079 the nominal umbrella clan several other smaller clans that are 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:04.720 structured very much like a mafia family with a dawn 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:06.520 at the head, but in this case it's called a 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:10.400 kumicho yep. And it follows that UM a rough pyramid 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.960 structure working its way down to uh. I guess the 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.280 lowest or the highest man on the totem pole, which 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.480 would be uh, just the you know, the heavy, the 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:25.360 thug sure carrying out the tough. The tough assignments the 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.439 guy with the baseball bat. Yeah. I was about to say, 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.679 they might use something else but bare. So they might 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:36.160 use two baseball bats and make them like whirl And 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.000 the only reason you know that is because of Tom's ellick. 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:43.280 Uh no, no, no. There's a story about the KFC 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:46.360 colonel that they threw in the in the river and 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:50.920 I think osaka um Okay. So we've got the hierarchy. 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.000 And the key to this hierarchy is something called the 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:59.960 oyaban Coban relationship, and that is um much like I'm 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:01.679 about to say, much like the mafia, but much like 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:07.760 any structure where you have seniority, ideally you have a 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:12.960 relationship between the higher ups and the people directly beneath them. Um, 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.000 and that is the case here with the oyubon coban 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.720 is the higher up. It's like a father son relationship 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:28.000 or a den master cub scout relationship mentorte. Right. What's 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:32.679 what's significant about this is that everywhere within them, the 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:37.440 yakuza structure, this clan structure, everyone plays both roles except 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.160 to the very top and the very bottom. So you 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:44.199 are the ayubon, the father to the guy below you 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:47.319 or the guys below you, and you're the koban to 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.640 the guy immediately ahead of you. Yeah, like, let me 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:52.240 let me show you how to how to clean your 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:55.959 gun properly, right, or your sword? Do they still you swords? 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:58.800 I imagine there's a couple that still use swords, throw 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.000 back kind of thing. They don't these guns that much? 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:03.960 Oh no, No, I actually have a stat because I 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.280 just got a little curious about gun violence. Six guns 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.240 for every one thousand people in Japan, compared to eight 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:17.240 hundred nine for one thousand in the USA and UH 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:19.640 In two thousand and eight, there were only eleven gun 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:24.760 deaths in Japan completely and in the US that's twelve 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:29.920 thousand that same year. I'm surprised, it said Lowe. That's 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.679 pretty high. Um, I know, yeah, I'm saying I'm still 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.120 surprised that low The thing about Japan is like they 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:38.640 don't have a lot of crime, especially violent crime, but 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.959 when they do it is gruesome, like little elementary school 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:44.920 kids cutting the heads off other other ones and like 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:49.560 planning it on the gate outside of the school. People. Yeah, 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.880 people like I'm just killing spreez and like bathing in 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.280 the blood of their victim and all that. Just like 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.360 the craziest stuff. It's like this very like straight lice 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:04.080 culture that like has very strict rules. Every once while 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.680 somebody just pops and like really bad things happen, but 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.679 it's very infrequent. Yeah. Um. And I did find out though, 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.560 about two thirds of the gun deaths, which I guess 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.520 would only be about four people, Oh no, two thirds 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:26.000 would be what like uh uh yeah about that they 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:29.680 come from the from the Yukuza, which really yeah, like 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:32.280 most of the gun violence is attributed to them. But um, 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.040 there was a pretty good point in this article later 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:40.200 on that, um, they don't really have to use violence 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:42.400 or even the threat of violence because a lot of 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:47.880 the um extortion schemes that they carry out are based 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.440 on Japanese politeness. Yeah, I think the implied threat of 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:54.440 violence is there though, Oh it definitely is. But they'll 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.600 be like, we want you to or we strongly feel 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.640 that you should contribute to this chairit that's not a 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.520 real charity. Um, so maybe you should write a check. 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:05.440 And people are like, well, of course, I want to 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.040 help these throwing this golf tournament this weekend. It'd be 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:10.000 really great if you were there at about nine am 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:15.880 off the green piece a million dollars. Alright, So back 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:19.160 to the oyaban Koban. When they submit their relationship, it 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:23.080 has done in a ceremony where a third person I 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:28.400 guess named Spider pours up some drinks um, pours sake um, 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.160 and I believe they drink from their own glass. Then 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.920 they switch and drink from each other's glass. And then 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:36.960 the oyabun is allowed to get hammered, and I guess 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:40.840 the koban isn't. No, he just sits there and SIPs yeah, 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:44.320 and I guess cleans up after whatever happens with That's 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:48.120 exactly how they do the um. That's how you get 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:50.840 a sponsor in a but they use coffee instead of sake. 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:56.680 Really yeah, very nice. Uh. Oh I mentioned the Koreans. 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:00.640 They are they only make up point five percent of 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:04.000 the population, but I could I was trying to find 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.680 a good number. I found ten percent of the yakuza. 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.160 That's a pretty big disparity, huge disparity. And apparently it's 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:16.160 because in Japan, UM Koreans are are looked down upon 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.440 in many circles and disrespected and and you know it's 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:24.640 it's racial uh bigotry, Yeah, pretty much. And so they're 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.240 outsiders and so they identify I think, with the Yukuza 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.600 well definitely, and then that that that further strengthens the 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:35.280 yakuza's um sense of being outsiders as well. Uh. It's 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.920 also um, very good for business to have Koreans in 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.960 your gang because a lot of smuggling between Korea and 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:48.400 Japan goes on. Yeah, so it's practical as well as prideful. Um. 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:52.440 And if you're a woman, UM, don't count on playing 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:56.720 ball very much in the yukuza because you are marginalized 0:16:57.440 --> 0:16:59.560 and you're not going to be doing a lot of 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:06.400 work unless it's um it's a prostitute or the servant. Sadly, yes, 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:09.360 with one exception. Should we go to that exception? Yeah, 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:14.879 might as well. Uh, Fukio Taka, um Fukio Taka, Fumiko 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:20.680 sorry Taka was the wife of Kazuo Taka. Man, I've 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:22.720 been screwing their names up left and right now. You 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:26.240 were good up until this point. Fu Fumiko Taka, I 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.359 had it totally wrong. Um she was the wife of 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:34.320 Kazuo Tatoka. And um he basically he ran the Yamaguchi Gumi, 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:37.200 which it's like such an adorable name, but they'll kill you. 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:39.600 I know. It sounds like a little Teddy Bears of right, 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.760 or like a whole line of teddy bears that are 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:44.800 like slightly different from one another, but you have to 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.879 collect all eight hundred and there's trading cards to um 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:52.199 So he ran that clan from World War Two to 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:57.639 the eighties and then he died. Uh and actually, in 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:02.200 translated from the Japanese that was like perfectly spoken turned 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:05.840 into tarsan um not bad run. So he died of 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.480 a heart attack in the early eighties, and Fumiko took 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:14.679 over and became the first woman oyobon ever and she 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.639 she held power for a few months is not very long, no, 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.919 but like she was it the only one. No one 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:25.040 had ever done it since like the eighteenth century, eighteenth 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.680 or nineteenth century to the eighties, no woman had ever 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:32.800 taken over despite kill Billy, there was no woman in 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.720 power at any point except for Fumiko, and even for 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:39.200 a few months. It's pretty significant, as I understand. Yeah, 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.720 I wonder I have to look into that why she was, 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:44.040 if she was removed or if she was just like 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.720 this eight for me, right, I have no idea why 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:52.120 she didn't maintained power, but she didn't, but she held 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:56.679 the claim together, as I understand, for several months. That's right. Um. 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:58.920 One thing you do not want to do if you 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:01.800 are in this oh ya bon koban relationship is the 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:06.520 koban is disappointed oh yabun because you could um take 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:09.680 part in the you be zoom you be zoomi, I 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:12.640 would say, you be zoomi. And that is when um, 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:16.600 you basically screw up. They give you a knife and 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:20.040 a bandage and say you know what to do, just 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:23.560 go do it, and you do it. You cut above 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:28.760 or at the first joint of your pinky finger, and 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:32.080 um you take it after you've bandaged it up and 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:35.000 stopped screaming um. And you take the finger and you 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:38.920 present it to the Ayubon say I'm really sorry, let's 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:41.679 just forget this ever happened. Can you please take me 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:45.760 to the hospital. And he's like, yeah, right, it looks good. 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:47.800 And I'll bet if you really wanted to mess with 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:54.200 your oban is it oban? Um? Yeah, oban. It is 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.840 like old lady, I believe like grandma, Um, don't hand 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.800 her your pinky. Uh, we'll be to just like pop 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:03.960 it in your mouth and eat the guy. Wouldn't that 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:07.320 just kind of like consolidate like any fear that the 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:11.879 person had for me, it would um. And apparently it 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.359 is a symbolic weakening of your ability to hold a sword. 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:17.800 I say, it's not a very smart thing to do 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:23.120 to like physically, you know, give someone a physical disadvantage. 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:25.959 That's on your team, right, but I'm not making the rules. Well, 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:29.000 it makes sense it weakens your ability to hold the sword. 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.000 But in that sense, it also it makes you more 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:34.399 dependent on the other CLAM members to help protect and 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:37.320 defend you. Like, I see your point, but I think 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:41.960 it's cool, Like symbolically it's very cool, I think. Yeah. 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:44.480 And apparently, if you keep messing up, then they will 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:47.959 um go down more sections of your finger. Then if 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:50.120 you lose all your pinky you're still screwing up, they'll 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:52.360 move to your other finger. At that point, I guess 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.720 you should probably rethink you're, you know, way of doing 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:59.760 things like, Um, do you remember the geeky guy from Greece? 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:05.520 Uh no, No, he was like just a peripheral character. 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:08.120 He wore glasses and he like, oh yeah, yeah. Can 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:11.879 you imagine that guy after like two months in the Yakuza, 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:15.560 you'd have like nothing left. He just runs into walls 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:18.480 all the time. Yeah. I wonder what he's doing now, 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:24.760 I have no after playing the nerd in like eight movies. Yeah, 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:27.800 all right, Josh, what does what do the Yakuza do? 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:31.159 And I'll go ahead and set you up by saying 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:33.200 they kind of do the same thing as the American 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:37.119 mafia and the Italian mafia and the Bulgarian mafia and 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:41.399 the Russian mafia, which I want to say, Um, do 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:46.240 you remember how like the post Soviet Russia just fell 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:50.199 into utter like lawlessness and the mobs stepped in. Apparently 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:55.600 the Yakuza went from like relative outsiders to like political 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.640 powerhouses at the end of World War Two for much 0:21:58.680 --> 0:22:01.280 the same reason. It was just there were there were 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:04.040 organized crimes and the kids in place that we're ready 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:07.840 to fill the power vacuum that happened after the Japanese 0:22:07.880 --> 0:22:12.920 government was um cleaning up the mess. Well yeah, um, 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:14.840 and and that's the same thing that happened when the 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:17.520 Soviet Union crumbled. But that's how the yakus I got 0:22:17.520 --> 0:22:21.360 where they are today. Opportunists. Yeah, interesting in the right place, 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:23.920 in the right time, as another way you put it. Uh, yeah, 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:28.320 that's true. Um, so apart from gambling, prostitution. Um, you 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:33.480 got your smuggling, you got your firearms, you got your porno. Uh, 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:37.160 you've got the age old m you've got the age 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:41.680 old protection fees, which means pay me and I won't 0:22:41.680 --> 0:22:44.480 beat you up. Yeah, it's put way better than that, 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:47.760 but that's what it amounts to. Yeah. Um. They also 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:54.200 uh recently have killed people, um, eleven of them. Well, no, killed. 0:22:54.800 --> 0:22:56.840 They don't get into politics that much, but they In 0:22:56.920 --> 0:22:59.760 two thousand seven, the mayor of Nagasaki was shot and 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:04.280 kill old senior member of the Yamaguchi Gumi clan and 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:08.119 U two thousand seven, Wow, like murdered in cold blood 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:13.680 on the street and um, but it wasn't exactly a 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:17.120 yakuza thing. Like he was a senior guy in the Yakuza, 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:19.560 so he ain't messing around. But apparently what happened is 0:23:19.600 --> 0:23:22.959 he was driving his car through a public works site 0:23:23.440 --> 0:23:26.359 and drove through a hole and like damaged his car 0:23:26.760 --> 0:23:29.720 and could never get any restitution from the government, and 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:33.679 he got mad and went and killed the mayor. And 0:23:33.720 --> 0:23:36.960 they think that's what it had stemmed from. How Pesci asked, 0:23:37.160 --> 0:23:40.320 I know, yeah, that's very Peci asked, although he petch 0:23:40.320 --> 0:23:42.080 she would have been smarter because this guy was you know, 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:44.240 I don't know. He wrestled to the ground and it's 0:23:44.240 --> 0:23:46.959 a big hothead and that's true, but he never got 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:50.880 napped like that. But this guy got nabbed, and they 0:23:50.880 --> 0:23:54.320 tried to make it a yakuza thing, and they were 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:56.520 kind of like, no, not really, he was in the Yakuza. 0:23:56.560 --> 0:23:59.240 He was just picked off about his car. We're in 0:23:59.240 --> 0:24:02.040 no affiliated with this act. So I'm sure that they 0:24:02.040 --> 0:24:03.680 wish they would have fixed his car at that point. 0:24:04.040 --> 0:24:06.399 I wonder what kind of car it was. It's just 0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:11.440 like an accord. Yeah, maybe it was probably not a 0:24:11.520 --> 0:24:16.840 Chevy or afford. That's my guess. Um. Sometimes these guys 0:24:17.119 --> 0:24:21.040 segue into real work, legal work, invest in the stock 0:24:21.080 --> 0:24:24.840 market in semi legitimate ways. Yeah you can. I mean 0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:28.400