Big Tech is Like the Yakuza

In the days immediately after the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, investigators from the Asahi Shimbun documented how organized crime groups supplied food, water, and emergency goods to affected communities faster than official relief channels could mobilize. This was not unusual. The yakuza—Japan’s organized crime syndicates—have a long history of disaster relief, partly because it generates goodwill, partly because they maintain logistics networks and community ties that allow them to operate quickly when formal institutions cannot, and partly because disaster zones are also business opportunities. The Japanese government’s official designation for organized crime groups is *boryokudan, meaning “violence group.” The yakuza prefer not to use this term. At various points in their history they have maintained public offices with plaques on the door, issued membership cards, and published internal newsletters. They are not exactly secret. They occupy a recognized social…