YAKUZA!

At the Sanja Matsuri festival we went to this weekend, I had read that it might be possible to see some members of Yakuza, or Japanese organized crime/mafia. I didn't know for sure though because everyone I asked about it was very quiet and hush-hush (Shi-Shi), how appropriate! Some people even told me not to believe everything I read in America even though I read that in a local magazine!

Anyway, check out the pictures of the Yakuza at the festival below. Yakuza are identified by their full body tattoos. Normally on any other day in Japan showing your tattoos in public could get you arrested because your basically saying "I'm in the Mafia" by having them. Notice how the tattos are done so that normal business clothing could cover them up. They stop before they get too close to the hands and wrists and before they get too close to the feet and ankles. The older Yakuza sometimes cover their whole bodies after they "retire" from daily life. At that point they kind of become a "badge of honor" :)




I have a ton of pictures but these will give you an idea until I can figure out how to put the rest in an online photo album. Stix? Help Mate! :)

Here is a photo of the shrine where all of this was happening.

This picture was taken the weekend before the festival. During the festival one could not move in this courtyard!

More later. It's time to go to lunch!