Five days ago, Nagasaki mayor Iccho Ito was shot twice in the back at a local train station by an angry mobster seeking vengeance for an unpaid claim made to the municipal government for a pothole that damaged his car. Everyone's freaked out, because we don't usually see guns in Japan, nor do we see that many lashouts by the yakuza to the general public. One of the basic tenets of the yakuza that they don't mess with commoners. Of course, being gangsters and all, they don't always stick to it. And if they need to exert their might using ordinarily unseen violence, then they will. And that's why, in many ways, they're more powerful than the police and the prime minister combined.
Poor mayor man. He really didn't deserve to die. May he rest in peace.
Tangential story: When my brother and I were little kids, we used to live a few blocks away from some low-end yakuzas. As my mom was pulling into our driveway one day, one of the punch-permed yakuza boys started screaming at her that she'd run over his foot. Even though he was, like, on the other end of the street. So my mother apologized, but the guy was like, that's not enough. You need to take me to the yakuza secretariat and give me money right now. So my mom tells my brother and me to stay in the backseat and be quiet, and brings Mr. Yakuza Man into the car, takes him to his preferred destination, hands him 10,000 yen, apologizes profusely. Scared as hell, I'm sure. Even though the guy probably just wanted a ride to the secretariat, making the wrong move could have yielded horrible results, like me being kidnapped, or our house being set on fire. Just imagining being kidnapped by the yakuza sends chills down my spine. Thanks mom for doing exactly as he said and barring that possibility!
Footnote: I think the only people that can possibly take the yakuza down someday are the 2-channelers.
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