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This thesis is an investigation into the effects of the 1992 böryokudan countermeasures law (böryokudan taisaku ha or, more simply, bötaihö) on Japan's organised crime syndicates (böryokudan or yakuza). Underlying this examination is a functionalist perspective of organised crime which rests on the premise that, far from being unambiguously socially dysfunctional, organised crime groups exist because they satisfy needs held by various sections of society (both in the upper and underworlds). This approach demystifies many of the supposedly unique aspects of the böryokudan/yakuza (such as yakuza-authority symbiosis) and places Japan within the compass of modem organised-crime studies. An empirical overview of the böryokudan's development from 1945 to 1992 shows that the prime dynamic behind this evolution has been the legal and law-enforcement environment within which these groups exist and that frequently the impact of these changes has been socially undesirable. Attempts to examine whether or not the bötaihö has similarly exacerbated organised criminality in Japan are hampered by the collapse of Japan's bubble economy in 1990. This event had profound consequences for boryokudan groups rendering many activities unviable, whilst simultaneously creating new opportunities. Despite these extraneous considerations, the bötaihö has had an observable impact on many aspects of the böryokudan's activities and some of these consequences have been socially undesirable. The legal analysis of the bötaihö is placed in the wider context of international organised-crime control measures, in particular America's RICO statutes and European laws, both of which were highly influential in the debate within Japan concerning the framing of new anti-böryokudan laws. The thesis concludes by arguing that the radically different structure of the bötaihö, vis-ä-vis these alternative models, is part of a wider reversion to pre-war legal and policing norms in which, in addition to enforcement of the criminal law, the police also exercise considerable administrative powers.

Rat bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs), cultured in the presence of a T lymphocyte conditioned medium, are analogous to MMCs as defined by the granule content of the soluble chymase, rat mast cell protease-II (RMCP-II); by the granule proteoglycan chondroitin sulphate; and by their secretory characteristics. To investigate the secretory response of BMMCs to IgE-dependent stimulation, a sensitive, specific and repeatable enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay was developed to detect the release of RMCP-II from individual cells. Within populations of BMMCs, only 6-24% of the cells responded to challenge with either anti-IgE or specific antigen, leaving a large residual refractory population. Pre-incubation of mature BMMCs with the multi-functional cytokine, stem cell factor (SCF), significantly increased (≈ 2-fold) the proportion of cells responding to IgE-dependent stimulation without directly causing mediator release. Furthermore, SCF enhanced the total percentage release of RMCP-II and β-hexosaminidase from populations of mature BMMCs in association with an increased proportion of cells secreting RMCP-II as detected by ELISPOT. These results suggest that SCF augments IgE-dependent secretion from rat BMMCs primarily by activating previously unresponsive cells. To further characterise the functional phenotype of rat BMMCs, the electrophysiological properties of the cells were investigated using the whole-cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique. Rat BMMCs had a mean membrane potential of -25.9 mV and a mean whole-cell capacitance of 4.8pF. With the amphotericin B perforated-patch technique, both inwardly rectifying (IR) and outwardly rectifying (OR) currents were observed in rat BMMCs. The reversal potential and conductance of the IR current depended on the extracellular K⁺ concentration, indicating that the channel was K⁺ selective. The OR current was reversibly decreased both by lowering the extracellular Cl^- concentration and by the Cl^- channel blocker DIDS, indicating a Cl^- conductance.