After reading the article I spent the last half hour looking deeper into the Yakuza. It's quite amazing just how integrated they are into Japanese society, that they have a strong, highly respected morale code and the way they are semi-legal entities that the government/police (mostly) ignore.
> It's quite amazing just how integrated they are into Japanese society
Only, they're not. I don't know why people keep repeating this. The Yakuza has been on the decline since the early 90s. The only place they're still integrated are in the shady areas of society (mainly, industries for vices. Porn, Pachinko Parlors, Soaplands, etc...) You're not going to find the Yakuza operating a franchise Burger King, clothing store or find them shaking down a mom & pop aquarium store.
Again, the Yakuza has been dying. All of the "real" powerful bosses went completely legit, only dabbling in white collar crimes (if at all). What's left are the scraps. Scraps without much power, pull or sway. They're basically just thugs who couldn't, wouldn't or didn't want to go legit. They're no longer the Yakuza we once knew.
