Yakuza

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century, criminal organizations have begun to develop within various nations throughout the world. Some of these criminal organizations consist of various national and ethnic groups who centralized themselves as a single enterprise and various illegal activity which results in monetary gains, such as drug trafficking, racketeering, human trafficking, setting up illegal gambling establishments, and corrupting the local government with members of their own. For example, the Mexican drug cartels control one of the vast drug routes in Latin America while the Sicilian Mafia have set up a large protection racketing system throughout Italy. The Yakuza have established themselves in Japan and are considered to be more sophisticated than the various criminal organizations in the world because of their colorful history. The Yakuza’s origins can be traced back to the seventeenth century; however, many Yakuza members have their own version of their origin. They are notoriously known for their strict codes of conduct, which emphasizes honor, and their sophisticated criminal structure. Their criminal activities involved various criminal activities such as illegal human trafficking activities, protection racket, while some of the other Yakuza’s activities are considered somewhat legitimate, like relief efforts during natural disaster and various activities involving realty markets and the banks. The Yakuza has also had various conflicts with the Japanese government, which has sought to take down the criminal organization. According to Christopher Altman, the Yakuza have roots during the Tokugawa era in Japanese history. Japan had just come out of a period of civil war and the shogunate Tokugawa unified the island of Japan. This led to a period of peace, leaving hundreds of thousands of samurai warriors without duties to fulfill since there were no more wars to be fought. A portion of the samurai warriors found a living by joining the

Cited: Adelstein, Jake, and Sarah Noorbakhsh. “The Last Yakuza.” World Policy Journal 27.2 (2010): 63-71 University of California Press, 2003. Print Kyle Solis