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Yakuza boss sues expressway owners for discrimination against criminals

Master Blaster a few minute ago
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You gotta fight for your right to be a party to a contract.

Ever since 2011, things have been getting rougher and rougher for members of organized crime groups in Japan. That was when a law was passed prohibiting companies from entering into contracts with any known member. That’s why any time you sign up for a phone or point card, you have to declare on it whether or not you belong to such a group.

And with just about everything shifting from cash-based purchases to cashless subscriptions, members of groups such as the yakuza are in an increasingly tight situation.

One example can be found on Japan’s many privately owned expressways that require a toll to drive on. It is expected that all toll boths will end cash toll payments in favor of the ETC card system by 2030. An ETC card is like an auxiliary credit card that hooks up directly to your car and is detected automatically as you enter and leave an expressway, billing you the appropriate amount. You need to sign up for one much like you do with a credit card, which means yakuza cannot.

Feeling his freedom of movement was hindered by this, a senior yakuza member filed a lawsuit against the operators of expressways, such as NEXCO East, for discrimination. According to the suit, in July 2023, the plaintiff attempted to apply for a special ETC Personal Card that doesn’t require a credit card to use, because he can’t get one of those either. On the application was a checkbox that should be marked if the applicant is a member of an organized crime group. The plaintiff just crossed that whole section out and filled in the rest of the application properly. He was notified a month later that his application was denied.

On 10 November, a ruling was handed down in Fukuoka District Court, wherein Judge Masakatsu Tange dismissed the lawsuit, saying that by not being able to use expressways, the restrictions on his rights and freedoms were very minor.

In Japan, these roads are completely optional, and it is possible to take similar routes to anywhere in the country. The only major benefits are a lack of traffic lights that will generally ensure a swifter arrival than regular city streets. So, the judge is right in that regard. The yakuza member’s ability to go places is more inconvenienced than it is obstructed.

▼ Though in his defense, the sheer number of red lights on regular streets in Japan is rather maddening.

There’s a strange kind of irony to see the yakuza trying to settle matters in a court of law. He also has a point that these restrictive laws against people like him are technically discriminatory, but the matter boils down to whether society deems it right to discriminate against criminals or not. Most online comments regarding this story seem to agree that it is right.

“Just walk then.”
“He’s not really a credible plaintiff, after all.”
“Maybe he should just stop doing illegal stuff?”
“That’s on him.”
“They’re free to leave that life behind, aren’t they?”
“What is this guy talking about? It’s not like he follows the law.”
“They shouldn’t even be allowed to have driver’s licenses.”
“Even with that kind of ETC card, he’d need a bank account, so how did he get that? Or a lawyer, for that matter?”

This law prohibiting doing business with organized crime groups was enacted in 2011, meaning before that it was possible for members to open bank accounts and do lots of other things. That’s why you might see a yakuza member using an old flip phone, because they’re contractually stuck in that era’s tech. Also, many people get bank accounts at a young age, likely before they enter a life of crime.

As for hiring a lawyer, that is a constitutional right that cannot be denied, so crime groups are allowed to enter into contracts with attorneys as an exception. That’s also why they can receive medical care, which is also a business transaction but guaranteed by law. Public utility providers also cannot refuse service to anyone by law, but yakuza members technically aren’t allowed to buy property, so I’m not sure where they’ll hook it up.

Still, it’s definitely a pain in the butt being a member of the yakuza these days, and by design. It just goes to show that all the goons in the world can’t save you from a passive-aggressive bureaucracy.

Source: Asahi Shimbun, Itai News
Images: Pakutaso (1, 2), ©SoraNews24
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