FEATURE "Blue-eyed" debt collector fights shady image in Japan
Forbes - Aug 21
TOKYO, Aug 21 (Reuters) - "Are you with the yakuza?"
The question is so commonplace for Steven Gan that he effortlessly uses it to launch into his vision for changing the image of one of Japan's most feared and reviled industries -- debt collecting.
<last part> ...There are some cases that Gan would probably rather have lawyers deal with anyway. In one, a client assured him the "debtor" was willing to pay promptly and persuaded Gan to reduce his fees because the job would be simple and payments would always be on time.
And so it proved, until the police dropped by to tell Gan he had unwittingly been a conduit for a money-laundering operation.
Payments stopped a short while later. Gan heard nothing more.