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Change Agents with Andy Stumpf

Exposing the Real Yakuza (with ‘Tokyo Vice’ Author Jake Adelstein)

Change Agents with Andy Stumpf

IRONCLAD

Society & Culture

4.9648 Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2024

⏱️ 64 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jake Adelstein is an investigative journalist and the author of several books about Japanese organized crime including Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, which is currently being adaptation into a TV series by HBO Max. His latest book, The Last Yakuza: Life and Death in the Japanese Underworld, is out now. He is a board member for Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims and hosts the podcast The Evaporated, about the countless people who vanish in Japan every year.Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original. SPONSORS:  Change Agents is presented by Montana Knife Company.  Use CODE "CHANGEAGENTS10" for 10% off your first order at ⁠https://www.montanaknifecompany.com/⁠ MTNTOUGH  Go to ⁠https://mtntough.com⁠ and enter code CHANGE to receive 40% OFF - a savings of about $100 your MTNTOUGH+ annual subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

The Japanese mafia isn't hidden, right?

0:02.0

I mean, the fact that we have fan magazines, right?

0:05.0

You know, until 2018, when they forced one of the last ones out of business, when you,

0:11.0

you know, here's Gono Tata Masa on the cover of the magazine.

0:14.0

Here's the number two of the Amoguchi Gumi on it.

0:17.0

I mean, they've got comic books about their lives. You know, they're so...

0:22.4

For clarity, we're talking about organized crime, right?

0:25.1

Like, we're talking about people who are breaking the law, and they allow that, like,

0:27.5

consumer facing, like, right in your face?

0:29.8

They claim to be humanitarian organizations.

0:33.4

The term is, Ninkio Dantai.

0:35.4

They claim to be like the Boy Scouts of Japan,

0:37.5

preserving traditional values, keeping the peace,

0:41.8

giving wayward youth a place to be disciplined

0:45.8

and keeping them in line.

0:47.9

And they have a constitutional right to be together.

0:52.0

And so, you know, for many, many years in Japan, you know, yes, you

0:58.4

know, it was like, yes, there are a lot of criminals in our group and some bad people, but we

1:02.3

keep them in line. How can I help? How can I be useful in ending needless suffering? Do not

1:09.5

be afraid of work that has no end.

1:14.5

We have to organize a social movement.

1:19.2

We have an opportunity to lead, by example,

...

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