I'm going through a copy of McMafia by Misha Glenny and he said in 1949, the Japanese passed a law limiting the number of lawyers who could graduate from the Legal Research and Training Institute in Tokyo to 5,000 per year. This was done to discourage litigation and encourage social harmony.
What ended up happening is the court system was clogged with civil cases that never got resolved (most lawyers would rather work for the zaibatsu) and people started turning to the Yakuza (the Japanese mob) to resolve their problems. The Yakuza emerged from their traditional rackets of prostitution and gambling into all sorts of other concerns, like debt collection, as a result.
What if this law had never passed, leading to a more functional Japanese court system?
Glenny said the Yakuza were heavily involved in the property bubble in Japan in the 1980s, typically forcing people out of their homes and businesses so they could be sold or demolished. Given how (I think) the bursting of this bubble caused Japan's "lost decade," there could be major macro-economic and political consequences.
What ended up happening is the court system was clogged with civil cases that never got resolved (most lawyers would rather work for the zaibatsu) and people started turning to the Yakuza (the Japanese mob) to resolve their problems. The Yakuza emerged from their traditional rackets of prostitution and gambling into all sorts of other concerns, like debt collection, as a result.
What if this law had never passed, leading to a more functional Japanese court system?
Glenny said the Yakuza were heavily involved in the property bubble in Japan in the 1980s, typically forcing people out of their homes and businesses so they could be sold or demolished. Given how (I think) the bursting of this bubble caused Japan's "lost decade," there could be major macro-economic and political consequences.