Former yakuza VTuber Taro Joken explains… Why many “beautiful singers of the Showa era” were dating “yakuza bosses
Although this is not possible in today’s entertainment industry, where compliance has become stricter, the entertainment industry and the yakuza were closely connected in the Showa period (1926-1989).
A virtual youtuber (VTuber) by the name of “Jail Taro,” which refers to a person who has been in prison many times, and a former yakuza himself, talks about the relationship between the yakuza and the entertainment industry.
In the Showa period, the yakuza were in charge of almost all the venue setup and ticket sales for concerts and events,” he said. It was commonplace to invite a singer to sing at a dinner show.
For the yakuza, respectability was more important than anything else. To ensure that they would never be asked to sell tickets but left unsold, they sold tickets in two ways: by buying them with their own money and by the regular method, often selling more tickets than the capacity of the venue.
There were often times when we sold more than twice as many tickets as there were seats,” he said. “There were young people standing by to prevent complaints on the day of the show, and they would cheat by giving fake autographs to angry customers or letting them attend the launch.
Because of this relationship, the entertainment agency was not above the yakuza’s heads and had the female talent entertain the yakuza to keep them in a good mood.
The yakuza’s office had a price list that said, “It costs XX yen to meet with talent A.” The talent didn’t want to do that, so the yakuza would have to pay the talent XX yen to meet with them. The talent didn’t want to do that, so some of them went out with higher-ranking members, like the bosses of the yakuza. Even now, if you look it up, a lot of the celebrities come up right away.”
Yakuza and entertainment agencies had such a relationship. As the entertainment industry has become more strict about compliance, the yakuza connection is said to have disappeared, but Hiroyuki Miyasako’s black market business is still fresh in many people’s minds. Perhaps the glittering world of entertainment and the underworld in which the yakuza live are not so far apart.
