Three largest syndicates The Yakuza are still active in Japan. Although Yakuza membership has declined since the implementation of the Anti-Boryokudan Act in 1992, the Japanese National Police Agency estimated in 2022 that approximately 11,400 Yakuza members were engaged in illegal activity in Japan.
Their influence and activities remain local. Contrarily, the yakuza are a confederation of criminal syndicates active throughout Japan. According to Japanese law, their status is not illegal: they have offices and a yakuza presence is still noticeable in many cities.
Despite the dropping numbers, the yakuza's strong influence is a force to be reckoned with. The four largest yakuza syndicates in Japan, as of 2021, consist of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai, Inagawa-kai and the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi [source]. The yakuza is generally regarded as a semi-legitimate organization.
Kenichi Shinoda (篠田 建市, Shinoda Ken'ichi, born August 29, 1942), also known as Shinobu Tsukasa (司 忍, Tsukasa Shinobu), is a Japanese Yakuza, the sixth and current kumicho (supreme kingpin, or chairman) of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest yakuza organization.
Although yakuza membership has declined following an anti-gang law aimed specifically at yakuza and passed by the Japanese government in 1992, there are thought to be about 25,900 active yakuza members in Japan today. The Yamaguchi-gumi is the largest yakuza family, with about 8,200 members.
The yakuza still regularly engage in an array of criminal activities, and many Japanese citizens remain fearful of the threat these individuals pose to their safety.
One has to say no, because the Yakuza is an exclusive all-male organization. Within the organization many women can have business or managerial positions for different functions while working for the Yakuza but they cannot be members of the Yakuza.
Once you complete Togo Atatsuma's task, you may speak to the Yakuza in the alleyway of the town. The first time Ryoba speaks to him, he will give you a free gift. The second time you speak to him and onwards, Ryoba can pay him to do various favors for you.
The Japanese public recognizes them through their tattoos
For the Yakuza, tattoos are used to recognize members, demonstrate commitment, and boast about their wealth. They are designed using an extremely painful process called irezumi, in which the tattoos are hand-poked.
Approximately 5,200 yakuza gangs operating throughout Japan began to stake out their territories and violent gang wars occurred. These gangs controlled many businesses, engaged in sophisticated gambling and loan sharking activities, and invested heavily in sports and other entertainment.
At the height of their power, his Yakuza group, Yamaguchi-gumi, were responsible for extreme acts of violence including bulldozing businesses that refused to pay protection money and administering beatings to victims in front of their families, as reports The Guardian.
A gaijin in the organisation? Straight away, the strangest thing is that a foreigner – a gaijin – gets to become a member of a Yakuza family. Not only that, but Lowell quickly rises to become a member with key responsibilities – at one point he becomes the main boss's bodyguard.
Numbers are shrinking because fewer young people see yakuza as an enviable career path, existing members are aging and earnings are shrinking as a result of a number of legal changes that have given the police far greater powers to bring the gangs under control.
The Saio Triad (祭汪会; Saiō-kai) is a Chinese mafia organization prominently featured in Yakuza 6 .
Japan's yakuza are putting away their weapons after an unprecedented death sentence was passed on a crime boss. Gangs affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi, the country's biggest crime organisation, have been ordered not to use guns “in public” after the conviction of the head of a rival crime group.
Members of the Yakuza are strictly prohibited from hurting civilians. It's part of their core rules. The opposite is also a common Hollywood made misconception.
But yes, in most cases, it's been fairly acceptable to resign from a gang. Unlike some criminal organizations, they're surprisingly understanding. The issue, however, is what's going to happen once you leave.
In the northern part of Tokyo's Shinjuku district, if you come across a street lined with a deck of neon street lights past a red arched way, you know you have arrived at the infamous Kabukicho. The Kabukicho Street in Tokyo. In conversation with Jake Adelstein, we pass by the historic stomping grounds of the yakuza.
The yakuza worked with the Japanese government during World War II to provide Imperial soldiers with “comfort women.” From there, the yakuza expanded into sex tourism, human trafficking of women to Japan, pornographic enterprises, etc. in addition to gambling businesses and the trafficking of drugs and weapons.
You can jump into the Yakuza series at any point and enjoy the game for what it is, even if you have no prior knowledge. However, as alluded, there are returning characters, and events of past games often influence the events of others.
The game is set in 80s Japan during the bubble economy - which means that the backdrop is a time of sex, booze and gangsters. Which should be enough to keep kids away from the title.
While it may seem surprising, Yakuza: Like a Dragon has six different romance options that you can pursue. Most of these romance options have a reward, but there's also a big bonus that you'll get from dating them all.
The wives, daughters, and mistresses of the yakuza are not considered true members of the organisation, even though they play an important role within it. To function in this world, they must develop a unique strength and character.
Contrary to the Western mafia wives, Yakuza wives have remained outside the sphere of criminal activity in this organized crime structure, limited to the emotionally receptive and financially supportive role.
Shoko Tendo, the daughter of a Yakuza gangster boss who wrote a memoir about her experiences, said her father allowed her to be repeatedly raped by associates he was indebted to, leaving her “bloody and bruised” in downmarket hotel rooms.