By David Amoruso
The Japanese Yakuza has always lent itself perfectly for visually stunning movies and anime comics. The broad-shouldered gangsters wearing expensive suits and sporting intimidating looks at any outsider who dares to cross an invisibl
By Clarence Walker, Investigative Crime Journalist
Intelligent gangsters wanted: Any guys out there ready to work in the underworld?
If so, Japan's organized crime syndicates need immediate assistance. They need extra muscle to run prostitution r
By Hollander (pseudonym)
Posted in 2005
Sources: The Japan times, Kyodo News, Mainichi Daily News and webpage THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN JAPAN.
The Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest underworld gang has been thrown into chaos and uncertainty following
By Hollander (pseudonym)
Posted in 2002
In 2001 there have been a series of incidents amongst Hatsuka-kai yakuza, most notably the shooting of two Sumiyoshi-kai executives by Inagawa-kai members at a funeral in Tokyo. The Hatsuka-kai is an association
By Hollander (a pseudonym)
Posted on August 10, 2008
Japanese gangster Kakuji 'Seijo' Inagawa was best known for founding a notorious yakuza syndicate based in the Tokyo-Yokohama region. The Inagawa-kai has around 9,500 members, divided into over 30
By Hollander (a pseudonym)
Posted on February 27, 2007
In July 2005 Watanabe was effectively dismissed from his position and replaced by Kenichi Shinoda as the sixth-generation boss (kumicho) of the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Kenichi Shinoda, in yakuza circ
By Hollander (pseudonym)
Posted on February 22, 2007
The Korean yakuza are a powerful presence in Japan, despite the fact that Koreans suffer discrimination in Japanese society. Although Japanese-born people of Korean ancestry are a significant seg
By David Amoruso
Posted in 2001
Updated in 2005
Yoshinori Watanabe was born in 1941 in the Tochigi prefecture north of Tokyo. Watanabe was born into a big farming family and had a pretty good life. After finishing middle school he moved to Tokyo an
By David Amoruso
Posted in 2001
Kazuo Taoka was boss of the most powerful Yakuza Family in Japan: The Yamaguchi Gumi. He was the toughest and most feared Yakuza boss Japan ever had and under his reign the Yamaguchi Gumi grew more powerful than ever
By David Amoruso
Posted in 2001
Yoshio Kodama was born in 1911 and grew up in a poor family and spent most of his childhood living with relatives in Korea. At an early age Kodama showed much interest in politics and at age 21 started his own right
