The Japanese have a completely different attitude to organized crime. They realize that prostitution, drug use and, to a certain extent, extortion are all inevitable expressions of certain sides of human nature. In the US we have a war on crime. In Japan they manage, channel, reduce the harm of crime. We try to eliminate prostitution. The Japanese manage it by keeping it in certain districts, making sure both prostitutes and Johns are protected and treating a lot of it as a public health issue.

The other side of this is that organized crime relates differently to the public. The organized crime groups have offices open to the public and the police often have liaison officers in those offices. In the US extortion cripples business and the extorted get nothing in return. In Japan the rates are much more reasonable and the Yakuza can be quite tough on street crime. Extortion of shop owners usually confers protection. Typically Yakuza protected shops don't get robbed and their owners can make large deposits alone at night without fear of street thugs. A person being harmed while under Yakuza protection would be an embarrassment.

In one case I was familiar with in the 70s a small gang of thieves took to holding up tourists. There were, by all accounts, very polite but fleeing from police a thief injured a tourist. The general consensus was that they had crossed a line. Both police and organized crime put out word that if the gang knew what was good for it they would turn themselves in ... and they did. Word went out that violent crime would not be tolerated and that robbing tourists was bad for business. Overnight a district where tourist were occasionally robbed became safe.

The Japanese are not keen on crime, but neither the law nor organized crime like disorder. It isn't good for business. People who are displaced and injured by a tsunami are not going to pay extortion. The sooner things get back to normal the faster organized crime can get back to making money. So organized crime helps control looting and street crime, buys and distributes food and water, and generally does what it can to help. Harmonization of interests is very Japanese.