Nice Yakuza?

Know somebody studying Japanese in college and I asked if they touched upon Japan's Yakuza. They said briefly, the professor giving the same relatively benign image you reference, nice to see the falsehood continue to be perpetuated in academia. Will look for the book Tokyo Vice, thanks.

I once asked my Japanese girlfriend if Yakuza would give me problems if I somehow crossed paths with them.  I had heard that Yakuza are lenient with gaijin because we are perceived as ignorant to their culture, but she ominously shook her head and warned me to cross the street should I see them coming my way.  She may have been exaggerating but I heeded the advice.

There is a long tradition of Yakuza fiction in Japan (prose, manga, film, drama, etc..) that perpetuate the stereotype of the Yakuza as protectors of the underclasses, in a samurai-like tradition. Like many things, there may be an element of truth at the ehart; but, the reality is far different. just as the samurai were often not quite so noble and the code of bushido was more of an ideal than a reality, the roguish protectors wasn't the true nature of often vicious people. It's much like the gangster films and novels of America (and elsewhere) where we see codes of honor and the like. These are predators, pure and simple, though even predators have complexities.

The Yakuza not only have been involved in right-wing politics; they also were/are silent partners in major Japanese corporations. In the Occupation and rebuilding era, they were the ones with money (through various source; mostly vice) and they have used that to influence many elements of Japanese society.

Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!

Yes, it's similar to the false image of the benign politician as "public servant" here in America.

It serves several large forces to perpetuate it.