Tag - yamaguchi-gumi

 
 

YAMAGUCHI GUMI

Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
May 2, 2020
Japan's gangs find themselves in a losing battle to mark territory
Carrying a business card bearing a gang crest is 'effectively a license to collect cash,” a former gang member says. “Without the crest, it's just a sheet of paper.”
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Feb 1, 2020
What's in a name? For the yakuza, quite a lot
The Yamaguchi-gumi is one of the most feared crime syndicates in Japan and yet its name may become a relic of the past in 2020 if recent reports are to be believed.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Dec 2, 2017
Life as a gangster in Japan just isn't as fun as it used to be
A number of theories have been put forward on the reasons behind the 2015 split of the country's largest crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Nov 4, 2017
Japan's crime syndicates are shooting themselves in the foot
Japan's organized crime syndicates appear to be embroiled in something of a power struggle.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Sep 30, 2017
Gangsters prefer to do things by the book
Japan's gangsters esteem tradition and prefer to do things by the book. As a result, they appear to love manuals — they have manuals for committing certain crimes as well as guides on how to avoid punishment for carrying out those crimes. Lately, however, gangsters don't appear to be paying as much...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jul 1, 2017
Are crime syndicates in Japan sitting on a gold mine?
The Japanese underworld loves gold — it has been the analog bitcoin of crime syndicates in recent years. The origins of gold are difficult to trace, and the material is easy to convert into cash and store. Crime syndicates are increasingly smuggling it, stealing it or robbing it from other smugglers...
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
May 6, 2017
Brazen heists suggest that crime syndicates may be back in business
Last month, three masked robbers grabbed a suitcase stuffed with cash from a businessman who had just withdrawn the money from a bank in Fukuoka. The businessman is believed to have been planning to use the ¥380 million ($3.5 million) to buy gold.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2016
Yamaguchi-gumi henchmen make Kobe kids an offer they can't refuse: Halloween candy
The Yamaguchi-gumi underworld group distributed candy and other snacks to children as Halloween gifts near its headquarters in Nada Ward, Kobe, according to the Kobe Shimbun.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Sep 3, 2016
One year on, gang splinter is tough to explain
More than a year has passed since the country's largest crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, split into two. More than a dozen gangs defected from the Yamaguchi-gumi on Aug. 27, 2015, to form the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, headed by Kunio Inoue, as a rival syndicate and, even now, the reasons for the breakup...

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’