Everybody needs good neighbours

Back on my very first day in town, all those many moons ago, I was left to do my own thing. From the get go, my supervisor took me to my empty apartment with my luggage and some daily supplies and left me to take care of myself in a new town, a new country and knowing no one and nothing about where everything was. Stranger in a strange land.

So on my first night, I went wandering around in search of a place to eat. Not far from my house, I found a big fugly building that just stood out from the normal everyday Japanese architecture surrounding it. I guess you could call it a building designed with modernist aesthetics but that would be generous. It looked like as someone had put some 2x4 Lego blocks to form a square, made it 2 stories high and placed a triangular block to make a sloped roof. That's how it looked like.

Right next to the monstrosity, I discovered a police officer. She was standing in front of a shop which from the outside, looked like an average office kitchen. It turns out that it was a police station. I use the label "police station" loosely because really, there was nothing to indicate it was a cop shop at all. Except for a green siren attached to a ladder placed outside the shop. Very professional looking. I stopped to ask her for directions of where to eat because she's a cop so she should know about things like that. Also she was the first local person that I randomly met. And she was cute and had a uniform on. But yeah, she was a cop so she would know about places to eat in town. Yes.

Anyway. As it was pointed out to me earlier in the day during my first visit to my school, a big police station is located near the school which is about 5 minutes away from where this smaller police station was. Since there are 2 police stations within a 5 minute walking distance from my house, I jokingly ask her if the area is dangerous.

"Oh no no no no, this town is safe", she replies. (Her English was rather good). "We are here because of that". And she points to the fugly building next door.

"Yakuza house", she says in a softer voice.


Cute cop not on shift at time of photograph. Doh!

It turns out that the sole purpose of that small police station and the police officers manning it was to keep an eye on the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) that were living in the fugly building next door. My supervisor later asked me if I knew about the Yakuza house that was near my house. According to him, it seems that it also served as a Yakuza of sorts, whereby Yakuza-esque business was conducted.

From what I've seen, a police officer stands outside the station and swaps with the other officer inside at certain intervals. When a car enters or exits the house, they make a record of it. And that's it. Maybe they are expecting brutal Yukaza violence and horrible crime activity to happen at any moment. Maybe. But it seems the most Yukaza-related action they will get is a big luxury car entering or leaving premises.

What's interesting about this setup is the conspicuous nature of the situation. It seems that EVERYONE knows about where the Yakuza house is: from my aforementioned supervisor, to Nonaka 先生 and other folks around town that I have bumped into.
Or, if you do happen to live a rather enclosed life and have missed the memo regarding where the local Yakuza lives, then the banners should give you a hint of things.

Except for the fact that:
1) the banners literally says "We do not want any Yakuzas" (or so I've been told); and
2) they're positioned RIGHT IN FRONT of the Yakuza house.


Said banners which also line the road on the other side of the Yakuza house

I've seen other similar banners and posters around town as well at a bank, the post office and for some reason a local ramen shop. I'm not too sure how I'd feel if there were banners placed outside my house which calls for me to leave town, along with a police station next door whose sole purpose is to monitor my activities. Maybe it's just me but I figure that if was a Yakuza (next year, perhaps?) I wouldn't want people knowing where my family and I lived and where I kept my beloved teddy bear collection. Less they come seeking revenge or to assassinate me. But then, it seems that that's how the Yakuza roll: to be seen and known. Apparently, many Yakuzas advertise the fact that they operate from a certain premises through the displaying of the logo or emblem of their gang. And in hindsight, it's easy to pinpoint whether someone's a Yakuza or a gangster through their flashy/tacky fashion and saloon-esque cars and the pile of bodies behind the house. And if I've ever learnt anything from a movie, it's that in the end the guy who wants to kill you and/or your criminal family of bad guys will end up finding where you live. Might as well get it over and done with I guess.

Just before Christmas, I'd noticed that the police station next to the Yakuza house closed shop at around 6PM on one night. It was open in the morning when I walked past it on the way to work. I'd thought maybe there was some big shootout in another part of town that required all units to be present and so the police station was closed for the night. However, it was closed again the next evening. I also noticed that the lights were out in the Yakuza house. Usually there would be some lights on outside but for nearly a week, the Yakuza house remained dark and the police station closed around 6PM. Well, it was holiday season so maybe the Yakuza was off on holidays. And seeing their target and sole reason for existence was not in, the police signed out early and joined the ongoing shootout in another part of town.

After my holidays though, the situation had not changed. The shootout had finished (the number casualties and level of destruction were astronomical) and yet the Yakuza house remained dark and the cop shop was closed. This time though, the police station was closed all day. At that moment, I remembered what Nonaka 先生 was telling me all those months ago about how the news was reporting that that particular Yakuza who lived in that fugly house was soon leaving town. I can't remember if he said the town was preparing to celebrate or not. But it seems that after all these months, the Yakuza has finally left town for greener pastures where protection fees are better and where women are more eager to be sold into prostitution. Though, whilst not as dramtic and extreme as Frankenstein being harassed by the town folk, one can say that the Yakuza was kinda chased out of town, with the banners and the constant monitoring and all. Or maybe they're still in town and continuing to do their thing. Who knows. All that's left is a big empty fugly building and an empty cop shop.




The sign outside the Yakuza house. Maybe it is telling the postman to forward mail to a new address. Maybe it's telling "the cleaners" to dump bodies elsewhere. Who knows?

I'm not sure if I feel safer now, considering that the Yakuza has left my part of town but at the same time I lose a police station that was nearby. But at least the cute looking cop is still in town.

I hope.

Music In My Head: The Subways - Girls and Boys