The secret life of the Japanese Mafia

Belgian photographer Anton Custers specializes in long-term projects. In 2011, his first photo album about the Yakuza — Japanese organized crime groups, which he photographed for two years, was released.

There are about 50 thousand Yakuza in Japan, which makes them one of the largest criminal syndicates in the world.

Only after 10 months of incessant attempts, the Belgian photographer managed to meet the "godfather" of the Yakuza family. And Anton Custers spent the next two years in the gloomy and atmospheric environment of Japanese criminal gangs, documenting life "according to concepts."

Photographer Anton Custers on whether it was easy to persuade the Yakuza to act: "At first they thought that I would do an article about them, write notes and publish in the media, but I convinced them that I was not a journalist, but I wanted to create an art project that would lead to the publication of a book and an exhibition. They really liked the idea of an art project. We agreed that this would be a photo story about them as a subculture, we would show the principles of their life, culture, and their values. They were pleased with the attention and sincere interest, so everything worked out.

I was very worried. I understood that they were bandits and I had to be very careful not to take pictures of things that could not even be seen. This upset the Yakuza very much, they perceived my nervousness as disrespect. One day one of the guys took me aside and said, "You're here to take pictures. Behave like a professional, please." It turned out that they respect me and I seemed very ambitious and brave to them, since I decided to contact them, and the fact that I did not shoot was a sign of weakness."

Anton Custers on how he understands the Yakuza subculture: "In fact, the meaning of "yakuza" is almost comparable to the meaning of "work". Most of the gang members have their own offices with plaques on the doors. They are no strangers to the core values of Japanese business culture, such as respect for higher authorities, cleanliness and order in the office, etc.

At an early stage of our communication, I noticed one thing that was very alarming to me. They had too much understatement, group pressure was felt. Constant pressure. Communication within the yakuza is built in such a way that if someone does something wrong, no one will tell him anything, everyone will just wait for him to apologize. If he doesn't, the gang society will simply crush him with its silence and disregard, and in fact it always works.

If someone in the family has seriously committed a crime, then there is a ritual of yubitsume (a ritual of atonement when the perpetrator has to cut off part of his finger), but this is an extremely rare case, this happens every few years.

The gang really tries to minimize violence. One of the interesting features that I noticed in the Yakuza is that they consider themselves a part of society, just a criminal part of society that has its own rights and responsibilities in the life and culture of Japan. As I said, they are very famous in Japan, and they are not hiding at all. All big businessmen are connected with the gang in one way or another and try to behave cautiously.

If someone committed a crime or was guilty, the most common and significant was demotion. And it's very serious for them. If someone is demoted, it is a great shame and a great shame, since the yakuza has a hierarchical management system.

Now the gang exists at the expense of interest from loans that they gave earlier. Once they paid off all the debts on loans of a large number of people, now these people are stuck in a debt pit to the Yakuza. In addition, after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the gang helped restore many homes, not for charitable purposes, of course. Today, these people are still beholden to the gang.

The places that are under the rule or control of the Yakuza are the safest in all of Japan. I am not saying that the gang does not use violence at all, it exists, but it does not catch the public eye and is not used for any reason. Violence is only for maintaining image and authority. People are both afraid and respect the Yakuza, so the mafia does not lose its power.

It feels like the mafia is one big family, a kind of anthill. Many young people who have nothing go to the gang to feel needed and important, to feel part of one whole.

The Yakuza have their own training camps in fishing villages, where they teach recruits basic techniques of attack and defense — for example, how to dodge a knife. At the same time, these same guys get up at four in the morning to meditate. They help fishermen with their catch and learn the art of wielding a samurai sword. There is something unusual about this."

Photographer about famous Yakuza tattoos: "Initially, tattoos were used to recognize gang members in a bathhouse, a traditional place for Yakuza meetings. But these tattoos are of great importance to the Yakuza themselves, and now they are paying a lot of attention to them.

A tattoo is a symbol of belonging to something, a sign of courage and strength. Every yakuza is proud of who they are, and the tattoo reminds them of that.

The mafia, as a rule, has its own artist who gives gang members tattoos, but there is nothing wrong if some other artist does the tattoo. An artist working for the Yakuza is a true master of his craft. Kaichou himself (the "godfather" of the group in which the photographer spent 2 years) calls him "sensei". The tattoo artist's skill has reached the point that he can do about 120 strokes with a needle per minute.

I was with Kaichou when he got his second tattoo. He made it in honor of reuniting with another gang. His old tattoo was completely renewed and more drawings were applied to him, so the tattoo took up the whole body. The procedure lasted about 100 hours, after which Kaichou was nicknamed the "Master of Pain".

When I first started my job, I thought I was dealing with thugs without a soul and conscience. I was shielded from violence, and to me they looked more like a group of professional economists than bandits. Yakuza life is not a plot from the movie "Kill Bill", they work more subtly."