I thought this was a very interesting article that depicts a very peculiar balance of societal norms in Japan and to a large extent, places like Hong Kong, Korean and Taiwan.
In these regions, "syndicates" are not always viewed in terms of black and white, good and evil. They sometimes operate just like any other businesses without little harrassment.
KURUME, Japan: Just like any other business, the Dojinkai was always attentive to the needs of the residents surrounding its headquarters here. Its members adhered to the sacred rules of living in a Japanese neighborhood by handing out small moving-in gifts, exchanging greetings with the neighbors and, needless to say, properly sorting out their trash.
Never mind that the Dojinkai has long been one of Japan's top organized crime syndicates, or yakuza. When it came to the all-important social rules governing Japanese neighborhoods, the Dojinkai was neighborly enough that a young hairstylist did not hesitate to open a fashionable salon, complete with music by Enya, a stone's throw away from the headquarters.
But residents began worrying two years ago after factional fighting spilled out onto the streets, one time with machine-gun fire and explosions.
More than 600 residents recently went to court to oust the Dojinkai from its six-story headquarters, located in a prominent commercial area near the main train station in this medium-size city in western Japan.
The lawsuit was the first of its kind in Japan, where the yakuza's offices tend to be out in the open. It shined a spotlight on how the yakuza - long considered a necessary evil, tolerated by, and sometimes politically allied with, the authorities - occupy a place much closer to society's mainstream than its American counterparts do. But it has also challenged that seemingly secure position...
Full Article at: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/16/asia/yakuza.php
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