Old-school yakuza may be on the decline, but a recent trial shows how similar today¡¯s ¡°scouts¡± ¡ª who recruit women into Japan¡¯s sex industry ¡ª can be to their predecessors: organized, violent and ruthless even toward their own.
Japan¡¯s scout networks are part of a broader category of underground groups classified by police as ³Ù´Ç°ì³Ü°ù²â¨± ¡ª fluid, anonymous criminal organizations. While they may appear disorganized from the outside, court documents and investigations reveal a rigid, brutal hierarchy beneath the surface, marked by beatings, punishments and internal purges.
Now, major scout groups like Natural and Access are under scrutiny, as authorities uncover a far more systematized and sinister network than previously imagined.
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