Well... the streets of Japan are quite safe for regular folks. Let's be clear. Japan is one of the safest country on Earth for regular native folks, singer women and children can stroll the streets without any worries. Yakuza is a stabilizing force for traditional community. Sure they run illegal gambling, loan sharks and brothels, but their victims generally can't say they don't have it coming. Look I am not endorsing any illegal activity or crime gangs, but the fact is for an honest straight and narrow hard working Japanese kid, man or woman, they can live a whole lifetime next door to the yakuza without ever being bothered by them. Yakuza and Authority (gov, police etc) have an implicit mutual understanding, Yakuza rules the lower society as long as they don't bother upstanding folks and embarrass the authority. Actually the gov is happy that Yakuza maintains a sustainable system to "deal with" ... what to call them... it's a bit harsh language sorry, but hard to explain it without sounding judgmental... the losers of society, those who don't do well in school, not able to earn enough money, addicted to alcohol, gambling etc, Yakuza exploits these people but Authority allows because it keeps the criminality and damage to the lower society, protecting regular folks and hold up the image of gov.
First time I visited Japan (wow 25 yrs ago) I was just absolutely amazed, seeing tiny kids, literally 6 years old, going to school using public transport bus without adult supervision. In most places, parents with kids crossing the street can't even let go of their little hands for 1 second. And not talking about small towns or rural village, you can see them in the busiest parts of Tokyo. I travel a lot, Japan is unique for modern, high tech countries. However bad or criminal Yakuza were, this was the Japan with safety and trust.
It goes out the windows when society "opens up", politicians, media, police, and Yakuza can't stay business as usual, no one can truly trust the others because everything is "open" and you have freedom of the press and they can bring down politicians. You now even have a Taiwanese woman heads a major political party (used to be about as nutty as a slave becoming US president). Actually in the old Yakuza days, you can't even imagine allowing a gaijin
@Inertia getting so involved in the AV sector. Superficially these are all positive, at least righteous, trends. But I think... to the native folks (meaning excluding gaijins) Japan in 2017 isn't better than 25 years ago. Overall crime rate may be down (Yakuza activity decreased) but regular folks may be less safe than before because un-organized crime is up.
Now I wonder... these recent multiple little (and public) incidents between AV industry and authority, could it be due to Yakuza becoming less involved? Like that orgy vid production that resulted in public indecency charge. If it were a Yakuza managed premise I doubt it would be so much trouble.
