From manga to film to newspaper headlines, Japan’s yakuza are in turn idolised and demonised. What are the yakuza? How are they organised? How is it that they thrive despite their illegal status?
Investigative journalist Jake Adelstein was embedded with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police for years, breaking stories on people trafficking and the city’s dark underbelly.
Listen in as Adelstein talks about how the yakuza works and why it’s so hard for law enforcement to make any dent to yakuza dominance in Japanese civil society.