Gangster daughter sheds light on Japan underworld

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THE WORLD

The Epoch Times September 6 - 12, 2007

Gangster daughter sheds light on Japan underworld TOKYO (Reuters)—With her dyed-brown long hair and tight designer jeans, Shoko Tendo looks like any other stylish young Japanese woman—until she removes her shirt to reveal the vivid tattoos covering her back and most of her body. The elaborate dragons, phoenixes, and a medieval courtesan with a knife between her teeth are a symbol of Tendo’s childhood as the daughter of a “yakuza” gangster, and her youth as a drug-using gang member. The author of “Yakuza Moon,” a best-selling memoir just out in English, the 39-year-old Tendo says that police efforts to eradicate the gangsters have merely made them harder to track. “The more the police push, the more the yakuza are simply going underground, making their activities harder to follow than they ever were before,” she said. Police say full-fledged membership in yakuza groups fell to 41,500 last year, down from 43,000 in 2005, a decline they attribute to tighter laws against organized crime. The number of yakuza hangerson, including thugs and members of motorcycle gangs, who are willing to do their dirty work, though, rose marginally to 43,200. More shocking for many in Japan, where gun-related crime is rare, were a handful of fatal shootings by yakuza earlier this year, including the killing of the mayor of Nagasaki. Tendo said the shootings were a result of the legal crackdown on yakuza, which has made it harder for them to ply their traditional trades of prostitution, drugs, and bid-rigging. “They’re being forced into a cor-

ner, their humanity taken away,” she said. “All the things they used to do for a living have been made illegal, so life has become very hard.” Social disparity Experts say this is especially true for gangsters in less affluent parts of Japan, a reflection of the same sort of income gaps that increasingly plague the nation as a whole. “Yakuza need a lot of money, but depending on where they are, business isn’t going so well,” said Nobuo Komiya, a criminology professor at Tokyo’s Rissho University. “So they turn to guns.” Descended from medieval gamblers and outlaws, yakuza were long portrayed as latter-day samurai, bound by traditions of honor and duty and living extravagant lives. Tendo’s father, the leader of a gang linked to the Yamaguchigumi, the largest yakuza group, led a “classic” yakuza life replete with Italian suits, imported cars, and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Raised with strict ideas of honor, she was both spoiled and scolded by the tattooed men who frequented her family home. But she also faced prejudice and bullying because of her father. In response, she joined a gang, took drugs, and become the lover of several gangsters before near-fatal beatings and drug overdoses convinced her to change her life. Now a writer and mother, Tendo has distanced herself from the yakuza world, which she feels is rapidly losing its traditions. Being a gang member is not illegal in Japan, and until recently, the gangs were known for openness. Their offices even posted signs with their names and membership lists inside.

Gangs cooperated with police, handing over suspects in return for police turning a blind eye to yakuza misdemeanors, but this broke down after organized crime laws were toughened in 1992. Aging Gangsters The largest part of yakuza income now comes from pursuits involving stocks, property, and finance. “What we’re going to see from here on is the yakuza becoming more structured, like the U.S. Mafia, and dividing itself between business experts and violence experts,” said Manabu Miyazaki, a writer whose father was also a yakuza. “As the world becomes more borderless, they’ll need experts who can deal with this too, speaking Chinese and English.” Like Japan as a whole, gangsters are also aging, and fewer young people look to organized crime as a career option. Police figures showed fewer than 20 percent of yakuza were in their 20s in 2005, a trend both Tendo and Miyazaki attributed to young people’s dislike for the tough life involved. “They think being a yakuza is like joining a company,” Miyazaki said. “There’s a joke about a young man going to a gang office and asking what the salary was, and would he get insurance.” But while today’s yakuza are eschewing tattoos and amputated fingers—cut off to atone for mistakes—in favor of more mainstream lifestyles, they are unlikely to disappear altogether. “Fewer people want to become yakuza,” Miyazaki said. “But those who do will be very logical, very scary—and much, much more dangerous.”

TOKYO STREETS: Lurking beneath the glitter of modern Tokyo, the yakuza (Japanese mafia) maintain a quiet stronghold, eluding police efforts to weaken their networks. TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Obesity weighing heavily on New Zealand health system Report suggests battling the bulge through education, tighter regulations By BARRY MILLS

Epoch Times New Zealand Staff

HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND—Rising costs of caring for patients suffering from obesity and diabetes are set to cripple New Zealand’s health system. Figures show that 125,000 people had diabetes in New Zealand in 2005. Of these, 90 percent of people were diagnosed with type 2, the one commonly linked to obesity. Ministry of Health projections suggest this figure will increase by a staggering 80 percent by 2011. The Health Committee delivered its report to the government on the Inquiry into Obesity and

Type 2 Diabetes last week. The committee received 312 submissions from health providers, overseas experts, and food industry groups. Taking 15 months to complete, the report highlights important health strategies needed to tackle the epidemic. Inquiry chairperson Sue Kedgley said she was optimistic the government will take the findings seriously. The food industry and health care providers agree that prevention is better than cure, but the two sectors differ on what needs to be done to reverse the current epidemic. The government has 90 days to

respond and two years to act on the recommendations in the report. Anti-obesity group Fight the Obesity Epidemic (FOE) has welcomed the recommendations, including a ban on advertising unhealthy food on television before 8.30 p.m., and a clear and effective labeling system such as “traffic lights” to help consumers make healthy choices. FOE spokesperson Dr. Robyn Toomath said that current government-led actions and voluntary efforts by industry are not enough: “The Committee also recognizes the importance of changing the environment to make healthy choices easier and cheaper. “We agree with the report’s observation that the food and beverage industry is not doing enough to prevent obesity, despite having an important role in causing it.” The Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) also wants regulation now and said the report did not go far enough. Director Leigh Sturgiss said it was too late for education. “We are bombarded by bad choic-

Comments submitted to New Zealand’s Inquiry Into Obesity ‘We live in a democracy, ‘Token efforts, ‘Simply asking people particularly by the fast to change their behavior not a dictatorship, and food sector, to produce thus we cannot tell is not sufficient, and and promote healthier people that they cannot as a strategy for options are typically eat some foods but eat health promotion, it undermined by more lots of others.’ has a long history of rigorous efforts to —The New Zealand failure, especially for increase consumption Food and Grocery disadvantaged groups.’ of less nutritious —Dr. Robert Beaglehole, Council items.’—The National World Health Heart Foundation Organization

BATTLING THE BULGE: The New Zealand government’s Inquiry into Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes last week received 312 submissions, including recommendations to ban junk food advertising on television after 8:30 p.m., and to educate people about the risks of an unhealthy diet. AFP/GETTY IMAGES

es, by bad messages from fastfood and beverage companies. They just want to make money and increase their market share,” she said. The OAC represents 70 organizations in New Zealand. The National Party’s associate health spokesman Jonathan Coleman said more regulation will not help— better education

is needed—and added that more bureaucracy in the form of a commissioner is not the answer: “If we’re going to tackle this problem successfully, people are going to need the education and skills to make healthy dietary and lifestyle choices.” The OAC is particularly disappointed with the National Party’s response. “Despite clear evidence that poor diet is a leading risk factor for death, the National Party is calling for promotion and education instead of using proven, effective strategies such as regulation,” Ms. Sturgiss said. Maori and Pacific Islanders feature prominently in the high-risk group. Many of the submissions believed the present initiative, the national HEHA strategy lacked leadership. National Maori health provider Te Hotu Manawa Maori held the view that with no government leadership and strategic proc-

ess, HEHA is not as effective as it could be. Tiatimu Maipi, Chairman of Raukura Hauroa O Tainui, said Maori have had these issues for some time, but the government had only become concerned when obesity started affecting the general population. Tainui is providing support for their local group. They opened a gym almost five years ago in Huntly to encourage locals to adopt a healthy lifestyle. “The trouble with government is they put everyone in the same box. We need to take a holistic approach to Maori issues, and we need more resources to address the problem,” Mr. Maipi said. A large proportion of the submissions proposed that the promotion of less healthy food to children across all media types should be banned or strongly regulated by government. All submissions from industry groups opposed this view.