Assumtion at 0: Yakuza 

By: Patrick Polintan

Growing up in a ghetto community that was highly active on gang violence, made me pursue learning more about them in various countries. Intrigued in the Japanese culture, I wanted to explore the culture and history of the Yakuza. The gang lived in a similar environment as most gangs, impoverished, wrought with problems and under developed. At the root of it structure, the impoverished group of youngsters had intentions of fighting for the weak and the poor.  The Robin-hood idea was intriguing but yet it was compelling towards me in a sense that some gangs may have good intentions of forming their organizations. The entire format and policies of the Yakuzas where inventive. The way they ran their organization was entirely different. I want to go more depth about the structure, rituals, policies and how they obtained their power.

I remember attending a “ghetto school” that was poorly constructed with the most wretched Soviet-inspired designs and contained the shoddiest accommodations. The bathrooms suffered from horrific plumbing that turned each stall into a literal cesspool. The hallways were overcrowded with loitering students trying to skip class. Students were presumptuous, uncouth and lacked moral mannerism. Students in the ghetto carried the dreams and ideals of gangsters. Those dreams sadly derived from most of the garbage they have been accustomed to like from the television, the internet, videogames, peers and families around them. And it seemed at the time I was gradually falling into this clique.

Although I went to a school with an atrocious curriculum and lived in a deplorable physical environment, I never had an intentions or ambitions to participate in any gang related activity. Although, the majority of my peers and friends did. I had the most obscure childhood companions when I was in elementary school. They struck fear towards their community, retracting everyone. However, it just made me more polarized. My close friends carried the dream and ideals of gangsters. Thinking about the “dream”  life, women, money, muscle and power.I was fascinated by the topic. I would always read autobiographies, play games, and watch shows based on gangs in America. At the time, I thought gangs were only exclusive in the U.S. I never thought about gangs in Asian countries existed; like the Yakuzas.

However as I progressed towards High School, I was able to broaden my horizons and affiliate myself with gangs around the world. As I went to high school I was free to read and watch whatever I pleased. Being a “Vice” fanatic, I skimmed through their content. I was binging on these videos. One of these videos mentioned a  gang in Japan called the Yakuza and their significance and meaning in their tattoos. I briefly researched the organization. What I found was men fully coated with intricate designs of Irezumi, a traditional Japanese tattoo ink. I speculated the amount of detail. Growing up in an asian influenced community, I was immediately hooked. The corruption, manipulation,gambling and the brutality the gang brings in the Japanese community, has caught the attention of news outlets all over the world.