Criminal Gangs on Okinawa

     For those who lived on Okinawa around the 1950s through early 1970s, the existence of criminal gangs on Okinawa was not something in the forefront.  Life was good and carefree for most young Americans of high school age.  Okinawa was a quaint little place where towns were referred to as "vills" and thought of as sort of a less developed, laid back version of rural Japan.....kind of.  However, like any place in the world, criminal gangs did exist, and later the Yakuza made its appearance.
     In Japan proper, the main islands (naichi), besides the already established Yakuza groups, there were street gangs called gurentai in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka.  The gurentai, sometimes called "mambo boys," were basically young street toughs who either out-grew their wild youth or went on to become Yakuza.  They could be identified by their dress, colorful shirts, pegged trouser legs, and distinctive shoes that were called "mambo boys shoes." In the 1950s and 60s, there were also various motorcycle clubs and gangs, made up of young people who had fairly decent jobs or were college students who's parents could afford to buy them motorcycles.  The annoying, high school aged bosozoku did not exist yet.  The bosozoku made its appearance on main islands later, in the 1970s when Japan was experiencing tremendous economic prosperity and parents could afford to buy mopeds and motorcycles for their high school aged kids!
     On Okinawa, it was a different story.  The Okinawans were not as prosperous as the Japanese on main islands.  Okinawan parents could not afford to buy motorized vehicles for their high school aged kids, they were doing well if they could afford to buy them bicycles!  The average family could barely afford a motorcycle for the family!  The Yakuza did not make its appearance until the early 1970s and did not establish itself until much later.  The bosozoku, Okinawan version, reared its ugly head first in the 1990s and really did not get going until the early new century.  But there were always street gangs, primarily in Naha and Koza.  These were essentially loosely organized thugs ranging in age anywhere from the 20s into 40s.  They specialized in making money off prostitution, black marketeering, and gambling.  They were not especially violent and rarely engaged in violence that led to death.  They seem to get their way by simply threatening to do harm.
     Okinawa had legalized prostitution during the USCAR/GRI era, before reversion took place in 1972.  It is kind of ironic, because prostitution was made illegal in Japan, but on Okinawa, under U.S. administration, it was legalized!  The gangs controlled the prostitution, both the legalized version with brothels that catered to Okinawan clients and especially the "illegal" prostitution which had G.I.s for clients.  They actually made more money off the "illegal" side because the legal houses all paid taxes to GRI, and had set rates. They couldn't afford to pay much "protection" to the gangs.  The "illegal" businesses paid no taxes to GRI and charged whatever they could.  These houses were owned by gangs so they paid more money.  The most popular form of gambling was the "Lucky Ball," sort of a simplified, "poor man's" version of roulette that was set up in shacks and houses in the back streets of Naha and Koza, all in "Okinawan" areas, not where Americans were found.  By American standards, the "Lucky Ball" houses made very little compared to the slot machines in the various U.S. military and civilian clubs on the island.  But for Okinawans, it was a lot, and the gangs prospered.
     In the 1960s, the leader of the Naha gang was a one-legged man in his thirties by the name of Shima.  No one knows for sure how Shima lost his leg, he told different stories to different people!  But, he did practice karate, even though he only had one leg!  His followers feared him, said he was ruthless when he became angry.  In the 1970s, a Japanese movie maker made a movie about the Yakuza War on Okinawa.  Naturally, he took "aristic" liberties with facts and exaggerated or simply made up some things.  Shima was very much around at the time and the movie maker created a one-armed character that he called Yonabaru, who was the leader of the Okinawan contingent of Yakuza.
     Okinawa did not have Yakuza at the time.  However, the Naha and Koza gangs united to fight the  Yakuza that came to take over the island, and Shima became one of the Okinawan leaders.  The united Okinawan gangs surprised the Japanese and essentially beat the hell out of them, killing a few in the process.  I guess the Yakuza terribly underestimated the Okinawans, thought that they were nothing but a bunch of country bumpkins.  At any rate, the Japanese Yakuza gave up their plans to take over Okinawa and left the island.
     The bloody Yakuza War on Okinawa was heavily reported by Japanese language press, but for some reason, it was either ignored or very lightly mentioned by English language media.  The military Stars & Stripes hardly had any coverage, and the local Morning Star may have had a few pieces, but nothing of significance.  It is strange why the English language media ignored a fairly important occurrence on Okinawa!
     It took a while for the Okinawan gangs to transition into Yakuza, but by the early 1990s, they were registered with the Japanese government as Kyokuryu-kai, a 300 member strong Okinawan Yakuza.  Compared to Yakuza groups on the main islands, the Okinawan group is very small, but it is entirely made up of Okinawans, no mainland Japanese!  There are 47 different Yakuza groups registered, with a total of 103,000 individuals.  The largest Yakuza group is the Yamaguchi-gumi with 55,000 members.  You can see that in comparison, the Okinawan group is small. Incidentally, all Yakuza organization must register with the Japanese government, declaring the number of membership, etc.  Most of them claim to be some sort of a construction company. Can you imagine asking the various mobs in the U.S. to register?  Only the Japanese could be so compliant, even the criminals!
     Today there are no doubt street gangs, Yakuza "wannabees" in Naha and Okinawa City (former Koza).  There is, of course, the recognized Yakuza organization, Kyokuryu-kai.  There are other suspected groups that have not yet officially declared, come out of the closet, so to speak.  But for now, there is only that one Yakuza group on Okinawa.  The bosozoku, the noisy, pesky teenage gangs have become a real plague in some neighborhoods on Okinawa.  Ironically, in some ways the bosozoku on Okinawa are more of a problem than they are on the main islands, probably because Okinawa is small and they are much more visible.  Whatever the case may be, criminal gangs on Okinawa are alive and well, whether they are Yakuza, street thugs, or teenaged bosozoku.