halloween is the one time of year that
brings together all the children of
japan to celebrate their friendly
neighborhood yakuza
who throw yearly halloween parties
complete with costumes decorations and
lavish bags of candy
unfortunately however things take a
violent turn and as of this year
the kobe police have put a permanent end
to this spooky tradition
[Music]
every kuza and kobe liked halloween a
lot but the police who lived in their
co-bands did not
the cops hated halloween the whole
spooky season now please don't ask nani
no one quite knows the reason
recently i've been seeing a ton of
headlines that seem like clickbait and
nonsense
until i remember that this is japan
we're talking about so it's just another
tuesday to them
but i found this to be absolutely
fascinating so today
i want to share the story of how japan's
largest yakuza gang the yamaguchi gumi
have been banned from handing out candy
to little kids it all started back in
2010
when some foreign exchange students
living in kobe went out
trick-or-treating and unknowingly
knocked on the door of the
yamaguchi-gumi headquarters
a yakuza organization home to 50 of the
gang members in
all of japan which at its peak was worth
an estimated 6.6
billion dollars a confused middle-aged
gangster answered the door
and was met with the ultimatum trick or
treat
caught off guard he chased away the
exchange students with a couple 1 000
yen bills
thus starting the tradition fast forward
a couple halloweens and the parking lot
is now decorated to the nines with blow
up ghosts
cotton candy machines and decorative
lights drawing in
and this is not an exaggeration around 1
000 children throughout the night
who were all greeted by a yakuza member
dressed as a giant jack-o-lantern
if this sounds a little bit unsafe to
you don't you worry one mother was
quoted as saying
security was top notch and the gangsters
were super nice
never changed japan but what's in it for
the kids now i don't know about you
but when i was a kid we would always go
out of our way to trick-or-treat in
wealthier neighborhoods like this one
in the hopes of snagging a full-size
candy bar the same principle applies
here
thanks to the yamaguchi gumi's virtually
infinite funds
each child received a massive goody bag
containing
all sorts of candy and pastries worth
almost eight dollars each
and i was just happy to get a little box
of chiclets the best part is that the
violent yakuza
chose to buy glitter force anime themed
goody bags
so right about now you might be
wondering why a gang worth 6.6 billion
dollars
is spending their time and money handing
out candy to little kids
two very exciting words public relations
what makes the yakuza different from
i guess any other gang in the world is
their dedication to their code of honor
that they call ninkyo which values
justice above all
else so members are forbidden from
engaging in blue-collar crime
and instead make their living through
several industries some legal
like construction or real estate and
some not so legal
like gambling but have you tried
pachinko machines
they're a lot of fun so in order to
operate such a vast and structured
organization
they can't be constantly worried about
police and residents chasing them out of
town which is why they're known for
and i quote throwing a pretty killer
mochi making festival
and although these pr stunts could and
probably rightfully so be interpreted
cynically they have
done some good in the past like in 2011
during the great east japan earthquake
the yakuza were among the first to
provide the victims with supplies
spending an estimated 500 thousand
dollars because of acts like this
the gang has managed to blend into the
kobe community
so much so that they're actually
welcomed into local onsens
despite their generally forbidden
tattoos i read
several quotes that refer to them as
neighbors who keep the city
safe and clean kinda like batman
naturally this created a lot of tension
with the local police
who up until this point had pretty much
been turning a blind eye to the
halloween events
that is until things got violent in fall
of 2015
the city of kobe was buzzing with
excitement as the yearly gathering was a
mere
days away but that's when disaster
struck a tweet was sent out containing a
photo of the headquarters with a sign
stating
due to a number of various circumstances
we will be cancelling this year's event
we understand that we are making the
children who are looking forward to this
very sad but next year we will
absolutely hold the event
so please look forward to it thank you
and rather than the appropriate
responses
like what the [ __ ] since when does the
yakuza hold halloween parties
everyone seemed more concerned with the
formatting of the sign why did they use
such a formal font for the sign
it's so professional it was a shocking
sticker it's not a sticker it's amazing
that it was made properly how is japan a
real place
for the first time in years the event
was cancelled leaving
everyone wondering why well i did some
digging and it turns out
2015 was the year that the yamaguchi
gumi split into two competing factions
so it's theorized the event was called
off as a safety precaution for the
potential upcoming turf war but i came
across another theory that i like much
better one yakuza member was nominated
the halloween team leader
who was in charge of planning the event
but unfortunately the htl
was among those who split off into the
rival ninkyos
so the kobe yamaguchi gumi were left
unprepared
and struggled to procure the necessary
supplies like the also important glitter
force goodie bags
and i'm actually not kidding companies
aren't supposed to do business with
anyone yakuza affiliated
so even simple trips
can be a hassle and thus the event was
cancelled and the whos
i mean kids of kobe were left with tears
in their eyes
one such kid named hina is quoted as
saying i want to have halloween at the
yamaguchi
house again i want to go there and fancy
dress and when i say trick or treat
they reply happy halloween
like i know this situation is probably
pretty serious if you live there but as
an outsider i find it completely
hilarious
2016 goes off without a hitchy man but
the spooks and goofs can only last so
long
because in fall of 2017 an assassination
attempt was made on the halloween team
leader
on the leader of the splinter group but
his bodyguard took the bullet in his
place in what i imagined to be a heroic
slow motion dive
naturally this escalation raised
tensions to an all-time high
an anti-yakuza parade was held with
around 100 civilians and cops
marching together with signs reading
gangsters shouldn't take part in
halloween i swear to god i'm not making
this up when the protest didn't work the
police began going school to school
warning the students not to attend this
year's halloween event for their own
safety
but some of the kids at these schools
were the children of the yakuza
so in a show of solidarity their friends
chose to stand by them and ride their
bikes to the event all the same
but in one of history's most tragic days
another sign was placed outside the
headquarters
cancelling the 2017 halloween event
nobody knew if this was due to police
pressure
or just the gang being totally
reasonable and not wanting kids to get
caught up in the crossfire but either
way
it was a sad day in kobe and what
happens then
well in kobe they say that the kuza's
candy hearts grew three sizes that day
on october 31st 2017 at 4 pm
the yamaguchi gumi flung open their
garage doors
and proceeded to host one of the most
legendary surprise halloween parties
that kobe had ever seen
truly putting the trick in trick or
treat but the kobe cops had been
embarrassed one too many times
they returned to their co-bands and
started plotting their revenge
they knew what they had to do but in
order to win the favor of the public
something big had to happen so they sat
and wait a year goes by without incident
and another halloween party comes to
pass the police were about to give up
hope but on october 10th
2019 a mere weeks before the next party
two members of the splinter group were
shot and killed by the yamaguchi gumi on
the streets of kobe
seeing their chance the very next day an
order was issued by the police
restricting the use of both
organizations headquarters
cancelling the event for the first time
in four years the kobe cops had won the
battle
but not yet the war they immediately
went to work plotting ways to take out
the halloween team leader for good
and today marks the first ever yakuza
halloween
to be permanently banned under the kobe
cops new orders
it is now illegal for any crime
organization to hand out money
or gifts glitter force or otherwise to
the town's children and the punishment
for breaking these rules
includes up to 6 months in prison and a
fine of up to 500
000 yen let me know in the comments
whose side you're on whether it be the
halloween loving yamaguchi gumi or the
safety toting kobe cops
and while you're down there make sure to
subscribe so you don't miss out on next
year's kind of spooky videos
happy halloween