Former Yakuza VTuber “Jailbird Taro” explains… The staggering reason why there were so many “fights” and “shootings” of the yakuza in August.
With the end of the Obon vacation, the summer vacation for students is coming to an end. Many of them may have lost the rhythm of their lives after the long vacation.
The yakuza live in a world different from that of the katagi people. A former yakuza himself, “Taro Jongjang,” a virtual youtuber (VTuber) who has been in prison several times, talks about the yakuza’s vacation situation.
Basically, yakuza have no vacations at all. The yakuza clan offices are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and it is impossible for a yakuza to be unreachable, so they are always on the job. During the time I was a yakuza, I never had a day off. When I was in prison, I was supposed to have weekends off, but that is not a day off (laughs).
As he gets higher up the ladder, he is able to have younger members of his gang work on his behalf, and he is able to travel and go home, but even during these times, he has to be in constant contact with them.
So even if they rise in the ranks and can afford it, there are no yakuza who travel abroad, he said.
It depends on the gang, but basically, yakuza receive phone calls every day in the name of regular contact,” he said. It is impossible for them to be abroad and not be able to answer the phone, so even if they do travel, most of the yakuza are in neighboring prefectures.
Because of these circumstances, yakuza work even when the rest of the world is on vacation. In the past, the reason why there were many yakuza fights and shootings during the hot summer months is related to the situation in the yakuza industry.
In the Showa period (1926-1989), however, there used to be a lot of yakuza fights in August. It was really common for them to get frustrated because of the heat and end up punching or shooting each other when they were out in the open. Even though it was hot, the yakuza wore long sleeves to hide their tattoos, so they couldn’t protect themselves from the heat.”
As a result of wearing long sleeves in order not to scare the katagis, it was commonplace for them to get frustrated and cause incidents, which in turn scared them.
Considering the past when fights and shootings occurred for such joking reasons, it is perhaps not surprising that the Riot Law (Law Concerning Prevention of Unjust Acts by Members of Organized Crime Groups) has tightened the screws on the yakuza.
