Yakuza "Wannabees"

     Just about every society in the world has had and still has street gangs.  In America, street gangs used to be teenage gangs.  These gangs were involved in mostly petty crimes and by the time the gang members reached adulthood, they either outgrew their juvenile delinquency and became law abiding citizens or continued with their criminal life and ended up in prison.  Some became members of established mobs such as the Italian mob in New York, Chicago, etc., or the Irish mob in Boston.  However, the street gang scene began to change with the appearance of Crips and other black street gangs and Hispanic street gangs.  These "ethnic" gangs would start their membership with kids as young as pre-teens, and extended to adulthood, their entire life!  In short, the new street gangs of post early 1960s became a way of life for some blacks and Hispanics.  This is basically what we are faced with today, the violent street gangs that include kids as well as middle aged men and women, and on the other side, we have the established mobs run by the "families," the Italian, and Irish mobs and the newly arrived Russian and other ethnic mobs, including the yakuza of Japan!  Ethnic street gangs were always around, but they were never quite as extensive as they are today, nor were they involved as heavily in drug trafficking!
     In Japan the street gangs were always in existence and some of them were always yakuza "wannabees."  Fortunately, Japan does not have ethnic street gangs that enroll their members for life!  In the 1950s the typical Japanese street gang member dressed in "pegged" pants and sported ducktail type hairstyle and were called gurentai, which literally means "tough guy group."  The gurentai came from lower socio economic level, kids who were school drop outs, etc.  Some of these kids aspired to become yakuza and indeed later joined one of the groups in the area.  Others, like street gang members in America, outgrew their need to be tough guys and became law abiding citizens.  Becoming a gurentai did not require a lifetime commitment!  In the late 1950s and early 1960s, some of these gurentai gangs in Tokyo were called "mambo boys."   Mambo boys, aside from their flashy clothing, liked to wear distinctive ankle high shoes, sort of fancy chukka boots!  They hung around bars and mostly were involved in petty crime.
     As Japanese economy improved, many young men began to ride around on motorcycles and motorcycle clubs began to pop up all over Japan.  Most were simply a group of young men who liked to ride motorcycles, but there were some that were gangs, violent criminal gangs.  In the 1980s, a new type of motorcycle gang appeared.  These were mostly very young, middle class teenagers, who rode around on noisy motorcycles making a nuisance of themselves.  They were called bosozoku, which literally means "roaring kids."  The bosozoku kept growing in popularity among teenagers, and today, they are a major problem.  Some of the bosozoku gangs are very violent and attack motorists as well as others in their path.  It is unlikely that many bosozoku become yakuza.  Most are simply teenagers that are out of control, lack of parental control!
     All these street gang members are not to be confused with the yakuza.  They may be yakuza wannabees, but they are not yakuza, they are just street gangs, gurentai or bosozoku.  Today there are even Crips in Japan!  However, it is highly unlikely that they are operating as freely as they are here in America!  More than likely they are simply former service members who were Crips back home who decided to live in Japan.  No doubt they are involved in criminal activities, but they are not a major problem as they are here.  The same thing can be said of Hell's Angels, there is a Japanese chapter! But like the Crips, their activities are somewhat curtailed compared to what they do here in America.
     Okinawa never had a history of organized criminal enterprises.  Even street gangs really did not come about until much later, like after reversion to Japan!  Prior to that, there may have been small gangs of teenagers that Americans called "stealie boys" who specialized in break-ins into houses outside of military housing areas.  Some Americans who lived in private rentals may have experienced "stealie boys" activities, but generally speaking, street gangs on Okinawa were very tame compared to Japanese gangs.  The bosozoku made its appearance on Okinawa about a decade after mainland Japan.  The Okinawan kids mostly ride around on small motorbikes, scooters, and even mopeds.  It is interesting to note the difference, which clearly is an indication of economic difference of Okinawans vs the people on the mainland.  Whereas the bosozoku in Tokyo area are even known to cruise around in hot rod cars, the Okinawan kids are riding mopeds and scooters!
     The gurentai and mambo boys really never existed on Okinawa.  The so called criminal gangs that operated in Naha and Koza were composed of adults, not teenagers.  Some of them tried to emulate the gurentai and mambo boys in Tokyo and Osaka area, but mostly they were just homegrown thugs.  These very same criminal gangs began to evolve and in time became Okinawan yakuza.  But this didn't happen until much later, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Prior to that time, they were simply gangsters who dealt in black market, prostitution, drugs, protection racket, gambling, and whatever else that they could to earn money.  The Japanese yakuza had some ties to Okinawa through business interests.  They had acquired some perfectly legal businesses on Okinawa, using fronts or straw owners.  Such was apparently the case with the Pizza House as well as several other businesses.  However, today, the Japanese yakuza has been replaced by the Okinawan yakuza.
     In the next blog I will discuss the emergence of the Okinawan yakuza and the Yakuza Wars that took place on Okinawa.