[skylanh]

(Speaking totally out of turn and without any sort of knowledge of the situation)

The rapid response of the Yakuza may simply be opportunistic and predatory.

Food, clothes, shelter, help to save precious heirlooms, those are all inflexible needs.

Borrowing on "social credit" on inflexible needs can be exploitatively steep later.

In the Yakuza-as-"helpers" model, they're taking advantage of chaos and economics theories.

I think you can see what is really happening if we switch out "Yakuza" with any outlaw criminal organization in the States like as in "During the floods of '22, I got help to save my photos of my great grandparents from the Gambino's...", or "During the hurricane and disasters of '22, I needed antibiotics for my daughter, the Hell's Angel's helped me..."

[tetsusaiga]

My knowledge of the Yakuza is limited to a single ~1-hour interview with a former member...

But that said, hearing it from the source has made me inclined to believe the more charitable interpretation.

I found the interview for anyone who is especially interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVmt80EXNGI

Obviously this is not some sort of definitive source, but he goes into "What is the real Yakuza vs. that which we see in pop culture" very quickly, which is sort of the heart of this idea.

Note: The guys runs an anime channel, but it's a very serious interview all the same.

[Teever]

I'm not too versed in the subject but I have a feeling that in disaster scenarios it's better to take the Ronald McDonald House charity model than the payday loans model for organized crime.

People don't forget when you take advantage of them when down and they'll be loathe to do business with you in the future when they're not.

It's a PR move.

[homonculus1]

And you think the government is doing it out of transcendant charity?