The key to the hierarchy is a father-son relationship, called oyabun-kobun. While in mafia families omerta goes without saying, yakuza membership is promoted openly ...

Think of Japan’s famed yakuza gangs and you might think of heavily tattooed men getting into bloody fights – the stuff of action films and video games. But last week four men were arrested in ...

The number of arrested yakuza members in 2023 declined to 9,610, compared to 22,495 in 2014, according to the police. Yakuza crackdowns have driven many members to quit and sent others underground.

As the yakuza weakens, many ex-members are looking to build new lives outside of organised crime and finding it difficult to reintegrate with a society which doesn’t trust them, writes Michelle ...

In Tokyo, yakuza offices cannot operate within 200 meters of schools, child welfare centers, community halls, museums, probation offices and family courts – as well as libraries.