The Yakuza

This week we were blessed with the presence of the Japanese Mafia at our school every day. The Yakuza are especially strong, I've been told, in Shikoku, our little island. All this week we had large $100,000 cars parked (sometimes double-parked) in the school parking lot which also doubles as a playground. Unlike the mafia in other parts of the world, the Japanese Yakuza makes no effort to hide from law enforcement or the public, in fact they do the opposite; they advertise to everyone that they are mafia by their license plate numbers and their tattoos, their hairstyles and their gruff manner. In Japan it's not against the law or punishable to be openly affiliated with the Yakuza, they are only punished if they do something wrong.
The week started normal enough, but when we took the kids outside for their play time we noticed three large very expensive cars parked in the school's spaces, white and silver BMW's and Toyota Majestics, very new with leather interior, and big rims. The license plate on the nicest car was 4444; 4 in Japonese is pronounced "shi" which also means death. Another car had 4949; 9 also means "suffering". "The Yakuza love to use these numbers," my boss said to me in a hushed voice. I asked her if she would call the police to have them ticket the cars which we blocking our spaces, she paled and said no, she also said not to say "Yakuza" or "mafia" loudly, they might hear. She said if we called the oplice and the cars were ticketed, that the Yakuza would do something in retaliation to the school. They left before lunchtime but I noticed a large puddle on and at the base of a wall of the school.
The next day the cars were still there. Daron said he saw one of them come back to their car while he was there with all the kids. The man had a grumpy look on his face, Daron said. Two of the little girls went up to him and said hi, but he ignored them, and got in his car and drove away. Daron also said he saw one of them pee on the wall in plain sight without trying to face away or anything.
The next day there were about twice as many cars, this time double parked. Lori saw three mafia thugs this time, all in very nice black suits. One was a skinny man with bleached orange hair, the others had shaved heads. All had angry expressions on their faces.
I wondered when this would end, or if they had found in our little school a new place to park permanently. I also saw other Yakuza cars around town. Lori saw a bunch of Yakuza cars parked in the street around a brightly decorated shrine near the school; shrines are decorated with colorful flags for a funural. The cars were parked in the streetall along the road near the shrine.
At the school, there was a Yakuza car parked right in front of the door so we could barely get in. Fumi finally called the police, and the Yakuza came and moved their cars after only a few minutes. This is interesting, since no policeman came to give a ticket, and the cars weren't towed, the Yakuza were called by the police I guess from the license plate numbers. It's no secret who the Yakuza are, even where they live, etc. Soon after the cars were moved another Yakuza came and parked in the newly vacated spaces. Fumi called the police again, but this time there was a different officer who took her call. He said there was nothing they could do, that sometimes as a courtesy the officers take care of parking issues but that he was too busy. He said that if someone is parking illegally on your property, you have to deal with it, not them. She got his name and will talk to their supervisor about why there was a difference from the response she got in the morning.
Fumi said that she went to get Japanese noodles at an "udon" (noodle) restaurant in which many Yakuza were eating. They didn't use parking spaces but rather parked right in front of the entrance, all disorganized.
The funeral party must've ended Thrusday because yesterday there was no sign of the Yakuza in town.
Tonight I'm going to dress a Yakuza for our church haloween party. If you want to learn more about the Yakuza, read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza.