The response of the Sumiyoshi-kai in Tokyo was fast and furious. They opened their offices to those stranded in Tokyo, as all major forms of transportation shut down. In a surprising gesture of civility, they even reached out to the foreign community, offering shelter to Chinese and Americans who were unable to make it home that day, providing futons to sleep on and food. I was surprised to have one yakuza member write to me directly and ask me to get the word out to other foreigners in the area.
In Saitama, the Sumiyoshi-kai immediately began piling trucks with supplies and foods and sent them to Ibaraki prefecture. Within a week, the Sumiyoshi-kai had mobilized 60 cars and trucks and over 100 drivers to carry supplies into the devastated areas. In heavily stricken Sendai, they had 100 of their toughest thugs patrol the streets and stay at the shelters keeping the peace.
The Matsuba-kai, which has a strong presence in the devastated areas including Fukushima, rounded up 100 trucks and 121 drivers to carry water, blankets and other essentials to the stricken areas.
The Inagawa-kai was enormously effective. Within one week, they had sent 100 trucks with over 280 tons of supplies to Hitachinaka City and other devastated areas in Japan. It helped that they have at least one trucking company affiliated with the organization. They went under the cover of night — all clad in long sleeve shirts as not to reveal their telltale tattoos. They dropped off the supplies directly at shelters and in front of city halls.
The response of the Kyokutokai was what you would expect from a historically tekiya group, traveling merchants and food vendors. They sent food supplies and went themselves to the areas and provided hot meals. By April 14, they had sent two tons of sugar, 15,000 bottles of water, 700 boxes of cooking oil, 80 portable generators, 600 light bulbs, 1,000 flashlights, 400 boxes of batteries, 250 boxes of miso for soup and seasoning, 30 tons of food supplies and 80 portable food stands. To do this they mobilized a total of 110 trucks, microbuses and cars. They travelled on roads where they existed, and made their own where they couldn’t find them and had their members carry the supplies into areas where vehicles could not reach. The members cooked meals at some shelters, left supplies at city halls, and then came back to the Kanto area.
Of course, the most efficient and fast-moving group in the relief effort was the Yamaguchi-gumi, who have a history of post disaster humanitarian work. After the great Kobe earthquake in 1995, the Yamaguchi-gumi (which has their fortress-like headquarters in Kobe) gathered supplies from all around the country and brought them into the devastated city, dispensing hot food from their offices and patrolling the streets to keep down looting. They were lauded for being faster and more efficient than the government in getting supplies to those who needed them. They’ve been capitalizing on the goodwill generated by those events for over a decade now.
During the Tohoku disaster, the Yamaguchi-gumi, under heavy police scrutiny, did most of their work via civilian allies, called kyoseisha (cooperative entities)in police lingo. The acting leader at the time, Tadashi Irie, of the Takumi-gumi faction, organized most of the support. The Yamaguchi-gumi Okuura-Gumi leader (based in Osaka) chartered several trucks and sent all 200 of his subordinates into disaster-stricken areas with supplies, allegedly even setting up temporary bathing facilities in Miyagi Prefecture and making sure victims got hot meals. The boss himself cooked up food and served it to the victims.
