In December, Mike visits Fukushima's salon to get his pinkie checked up. Image: Emiko Jozuka
The yakuza often self-amputate their digits, but sometimes they ask for assistance. Image: Emiko Jozuka
Yukako Fukushima gives Mike's prosthetic pinkie a check up. Image: Emiko Jozuka
In the early 1990s, when Fukushima first started making fake fingers for the ex-yakuza, social support for former yakuza members wishing to reform did not exist. Society showed little compassion toward the predicament of recent yakuza drop outs, and Fukushima was initially investigated by local police forces who thought she was colluding with criminal organizations. Things improved for her when the Anti-Bouryokudan Law took affect in March 1992, and the Osaka police established an ex-yakuza support council (ridatsu shien) in December 1992.There is a difference, said Fukushima, between the public's response toward people who have purposely inflicted harm on themselves, and those who have suffered an injury owing to circumstances beyond their control."If you lost a finger in an accident, society would feel sympathetic toward you. But if you cut off your own finger, as it's your own decision, nobody pities you. In the end, the ex-yakuza who come to my clinic wear pinkies for others, whereas people who lost their fingers due to accidents wear prosthetics for themselves," explained Fukushima. "That's the real difference between the feelings between people and society, between the concepts of fear and compassion.""The ex-yakuza who come to my clinic wear pinkies for others, whereas people who lost their fingers due to accidents wear prosthetics for themselves."
The prosthetic fingers allow ex-yakuza members to feel at ease when out in public. to Image: Emiko Jozuka
Mike has one prosthetic finger for winter and another tanned one for the summer. Image: Emiko Jozuka
