Yakuza gangsters are being further removed from their lives in the fast lane.

Laws and ordinances have prevented organized crime members from carrying out even daily lifestyle activities.

And now, six expressway operators are tightening anti-gangster regulations on applying for cards to use the electronic toll collection (ETC) system.

The companies plan to abolish all cash-based toll booths, which will make the ETC Personal Cards, or Pasoca, essential for access to expressways.

Yakuza members are preparing to put up a legal fight against the move to keep them off the motorways.

“I have nothing to feel guilty about while driving on an expressway. I haven’t made any ill-advised attempts, like faking my identity,” a senior member of a yakuza gang affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi, the nation’s largest crime syndicate, said in an interview in Nagoya in October last year.

“And if they still prevent us from using the ETC system just because we are gangsters, then we’ll put up a fight until the end,” he added.

The gangsters had already won a victory of sorts in the battle for expressway access.

The senior mobster was among nine yakuza members arrested by Aichi prefectural police in September last year on suspicion of fraud. They were accused of concealing their identities to receive the Pasoca cards between 2015 and 2021.

But prosecutors dropped the cases.

Pasoca’s terms of service stipulate that membership can be canceled if the user is found to be associated with organized crime syndicates.

However, the terms of service did not clearly state that gang-related individuals were banned from applying for the cards, and no background checks were conducted at the time of the gangsters’ applications.

One of the gang members read the terms of service with a lawyer and called the call center to ensure yakuza members could obtain the card.

The Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office learned about the circumstances behind the applications and decided not to indict the individuals.

Nonetheless, the expressway operators revoked the Pasoca memberships of the gangsters in November.

On Feb. 16, the companies announced they would revise the terms of service to clearly state that gang-related individuals cannot apply for Pasoca cards, and that identity checks at the time of application will start in March.

“The gang-related rules were incorporated in 2011 in light of the enforcement of organized crime exclusion ordinances,” said a public relations official at East Nippon Expressway Co. (NEXCO East). “We had decided from the very start that they wouldn’t be allowed to use the service.”

In the campaign to stamp out organized crime, all 47 prefectures had adopted yakuza exclusionary ordinances by 2011.

The ordinances ban private companies from “providing benefits” to organized crime syndicates.

Gangsters have found themselves banned from golf courses and hotels. They also cannot obtain new credit cards or open bank accounts.

The ordinances, however, do not prohibit companies from providing their legally required services.

SKEPTICISM RAISED

Lawyer Koji Ninomiya, who represents the nine gang members, said they intend to fight for the continuation of their membership.

“It is unpardonable to shut out people with specific attributes without a rational reason because expressways are public properties built with taxpayers’ money,” Ninomiya said. “They didn’t use the ETC system illegally. No one is ‘providing benefits’ to organized crime groups.

“I think the Pasoca terms of service, under which only yakuza members are excluded, violate the Civil Law that bans acts that go against public order and morality.”

The government is promoting the ETC system because of its advantages, including reducing traffic congestion and cutting costs.

Management costs for motorists who pay their tolls in cash are an estimated six times higher than costs for ETC users.

The ratio of ETC users was 94.2 percent as of November 2022.

The government plans to make expressways ETC-only in urban areas by fiscal 2025 and nationwide by around fiscal 2030.

“It is only natural to expel organized crime groups, and it would be putting the cart before the horse if they are allowed to use the ETC system to ease traffic congestion or reduce costs,” said Toshinori Nemoto, a professor at Keiai University who is familiar with road administration. “If it costs extra (to collect cash tolls), then it should be balanced out with a toll hike for cash users.”

Lawyer Takashi Ozaki, who is well-versed in civil cases involving gangsters, said a lawsuit that goes in favor of the gangsters could lead to problems in enforcing the yakuza exclusion ordinances.

“If it goes to court, the legitimacy of the purpose of the regulations and the reasonableness of the methods will be brought into question,” he said. “The companies must make it clear what they will regulate, for what purpose and to what extent, instead of conforming to the social ambience or feelings.”