So where do Yakuza fit into Japan's car culture?
By Peter Lyon Email
Date posted: 03-20-2006
When you write about cars and drive as much as I do in Japan, you're bound to come across some dubious sorts every now and then. It's part of the job. Oh, and I don't mean someone who tailgates you at 80 mph. I'm talking about a seedier side of Japan, a side where you can disappear into Tokyo Bay wearing cement shoes. Yep, I'm referring to the Yakuza, Japan's infamous Mafia. Okay, so the cornball "cement shoes" reference might be more closely associated with the Sicilian mafia, but you get my drift.
When you do cross paths with this underworld society, the trick is to know when you can ask questions and when you should just stay out of their way.
Luckily, my first encounter with the lads was in a specially prepared interview session to inquire why they employ left-hand-drive Mercedes-Benz S-Class limos (usually black or white) in Japan's right-hand-drive car culture. Questions like that, a Japanese scribe wouldn't dare ask in a million years. That's just not done. But interestingly, one Yakuza boss agreed because, as I read it, he was intrigued with the foreign media. As expected, the replies centered on Mercedes' strong build quality and high status levels.
Why left-hand drive? "They don't come in right-hand drive," was the reply. A decade ago in Japan, they didn't. Now you can get right-hand-drive S-Classes, but I somehow feel the boys will stay with left-hand drive. It commands more status in Japan.
Status here has a funny way of clearing a congested road ahead of you, a phenomenon I've seen twice on double-lane highways in the last six months. Crawling along at 15 mph in heavy traffic, I spotted three white S-Class limos in my rearview mirror threading their way through the congestion in tight formation. Their precision at maintaining single-file formation and their ability to block both lanes by straddling the white lines was as eye-opening as it was educational. And no one got upset. Nobody honked. Try such antics on roads in Europe or the U.S. and people are bound to take offense, call the cops or take matters into their own hands. But in Japan, there's an unwritten law: When you see big black or white limos, normally Mercedes S-Class or Lexus LS models, pushing their way through the traffic, just let them pass. Mr. Average doesn't want to cross paths with who might be inside. I let them pass, too. I like life too much.
Then, last summer, as if to further highlight this romanticism the West has with Japan's underworld (remember Robert Mitchum's Yakuza, Michael Douglas' Black Rain or even Kill Bill?), the crew for The Fast and The Furious 3: Tokyo Drift were in town shooting action scenes with a mean mix of high-powered American and Japanese metal. In this flick, the main character Shaun challenges a real-life hero, the Drift King, who supposedly has ties to the Yakuza. Shaun loses. The only way he can pay off his debt is to venture into the deadly world of the Yakuza. Fast cars, the Drift King and the Yakuza all intertwined? Now that's fantasy, but it certainly makes for good cinema.
Japan is a country of extremes. On the surface, people seem very polite and courteous. And most are. Even road rage is far less of an issue here than it is in many Western countries. But Japan is a land that's steeped in traditional and unwritten rules, and you have to know your place. I've been here 20 years and I'm still learning. So, if you're going to drive in Japan's mega-cities, you need to be aware of an underworld organization that lives a parallel existence to the mainstream society. Because one day it might confront you, and knowing how to respond, or not, is one way of remaining, ah, healthy.
