Peenie Wallie: Yakuza - The Japanese Mafia

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May 12, 2008

Yakuza - The Japanese Mafia

The Washington Post has an interesting article on how entrenched the Japanese mafia is. I first became aware of the Yakuza when I was working in Honolulu. I was shocked to see all of the prostitutes working, right out in the open on the main drag in Waikiki, right in front of the police sub-station. The police would just walk by the whores and nod at them and smile. Like, it was obvious that they were professionals(the women, not the police), and it was equally obvious that the police weren't interested in interfering with their racket.

That was when I learned that the Yakuza controlled all of the prostitution in Hawaii and I was like, "What's the Yakuza?" Turns out, it's the Japanese mob. Who knew? In any event, you can go down there and see for yourself. At sunset, walk down Kalakaua, the main drag in Waikiki and you'll see the working girls come out as thick as Formosan termites.

Now, every city has drugs and prostitutes. It's supply and demand. As Adam Smith said, if the demand is there, the invisible hand will rise up to satisfy the demand. In my experience, however, rarely though does this all occur in front of the police station. The police in Waikiki are not interested in enforcing the law. There's a term for failure to enforce the law. It's called malfeasance. I wonder what their agreement is with the Yakuza?

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