A senior National Police Agency officer, speaking on grounds of anonymity said, ‘TEPCO has a history of doing business with the yakuza that is far deeper than just using their labor’ (Op. cit. “The Yakuza and the Nuclear Mafia”).
[c]riminal trade associations legally recognized by the Japanese government ... They exist out in the open. The Japanese government regulates them and there are laws restricting their behavior but as criminal organizations themselves they are not banned. It is very difficult for the police to do an investigation that goes all the way up to the top. It’s problems within the Japanese law itself. There’s no plea bargaining, very limited wire tapping, no witness protection program ... no undercover work allowed. The Japanese police are never able to destroy the Yakuza (Op. cit. interviews).
[T]he nuclear business-industrial-political and media complex in Japan known as the ‘nuclear mafia’ ... [the nuclear industry] is a black hole of criminal malfeasance, incompetence, and corruption’ .... The government tacitly recognises their existence, and they are classified, designated and regulated. Yakuza make their money from extortion, blackmail, construction, real estate, collection services, financial market manipulation, protection rackets, fraud and a labyrinth of front companies including labour dispatch services and private detective agencies. They do the work that no one else will do or find the workers for jobs no one wants .... The Fukushima plant is located in the turf of the Sumiyoshi-kai, which is the second largest yakuza group in Japan with roughly 12,000 members (Op. cit. “How the Yakuza went Nuclear”; “The Yakuza”).
Yakuza may be a plague on society ... but they don’t ruin the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and irradiate the planet out of sheer greed and incompetence.
As the scale of the catastrophe at Fukushima became apparent, many workers fled the scene. To contain the nuclear meltdown, a handful of workers stayed behind, being exposed to large amounts of radiation: the so-called ‘Fukushima Fifty.’ Among this heroic group, according to Suzuki, were several members of the yakuza .... ‘Almost all nuclear power plants that are built in Japan are built taking the risk that the workers may well be exposed to large amounts of radiation .... That they will get sick, they will die early, or they will die on the job. And the people bringing the workers to the plants and also doing the construction are often yakuza (Op. cit. “How the Yakuza”).
Regrettably I do not expect much of an outcome. After 17 months, the situation is worsening and unless Japan requests the independent assessment team and guarantees a huge budget to carry out the team’s technical advice, the US government will not step in to help (8).
They may be ‘rebuilding’ at the FNPP, but I don’t think that solves the fundamental problem. You know how the Japanese love to do something cosmetic to make things look good because they don't know how to really do it properly, but have to do ‘something’ ? Well, I think that's largely what is going on at the site.
[M]any workers crucial to the effort are reaching the limit for radiation exposure .... University of Tokyo Professor Kazumitsu Nawata warns of the consequences of losing nuclear plant workers with necessary expertise. He says young workers must be trained due to the need for massive manpower to fully bring the Daiichi plant under control.
Japan's Labor Standards Office has thus far recognized only 10 cases of radiation sickness caused by working conditions due to the inherent difficulty in proving causation in individual cases .... Management faces quite serious, possibly criminal, liability if while understanding the risk radiation exposure poses, they endanger those working on-site through a complicated web of outsourcing. Article 87 of the Labor Standards Law holds firms that outsource responsible for workplace safety and sanitation for workers employed by their subcontractor .... Illnesses caused by radiation exposure from nuclear power plants are covered by Japan's Act on Compensation for Nuclear Damage.
Worker accidents are usually covered up inside the nuclear plant. Even if workers suddenly fall ill, they are not allowed to call an ambulance. In my case, after having been left unattended for three hours, I was taken to hospital in a colleague’s car. I therefore suffered aftereffects later and became physically handicapped. Of all accidents occurring in the nuclear power station, 90% were concealed.
The big companies treat workers like objects or tools to be thrown away when no longer needed. Japan is considered a rich advanced and democratic country but its just an illusion I think.