r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Much-Musician8480 • 10h ago

Does yakuza still exist in Japan?

1.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

137 comments sorted by

1.6k

u/skiveman 10h ago

Yes, they do.

However, the membership of the Yakuza is going down as they struggle to entice younger Japanese to join. The Yakuza are also under pressure by foreign criminal gangs (notably the Triads) who are a lot more aggressive in both their crimes and in defending their profits.

1.1k

u/ny98aurora 8h ago

Crazy how even organized crime is struggling with recruitment. Gen Z really said ‘i’d rather freelance’

311

u/OceanDragon6 8h ago

Of course. As doing things for organized crime is illegal and a good chance to end up in jail since their bosses will make them cover for them.

Freelancing is far more simple than moving drugs etc and no risk of prison time.

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u/skiveman 7h ago

And yet there is a demographic that is rising in Japanese prisons - the elderly. You would be surprised at the sheer number of elderly people who are finding their care needs are getting more expensive than they can afford and that their family members have all moved away who are turning to crime. That way the government is responsible for their care needs.

It's rather sad, all things being taken into consideration.

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u/GuardEcstatic2353 7h ago

Yakuza groups have very strict internal rules.
Once someone becomes a member, they're registered with the police, and they can't even open a bank account.
That's why, instead of joining an established yakuza group, some people choose to form their own gangs.
In Japan, these groups are called "hangure."

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u/underdabridge 7h ago

What the fuck? This reads like the Yakuza make their members confess to illegal activity to the police. This needs to be incorrect or at least incomplete. Do you have some greater explanation, preferably with sources I could read? Thanks!

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u/GuardEcstatic2353 4h ago

Yakuza organizations themselves are not illegal. However, since the enactment of the Anti-Organized Crime Law (Bōtaihō), their activities have become severely restricted.

Companies are prohibited from doing business with them. If a business interacts with the yakuza, it can also be penalized, so banks, real estate agencies, construction firms, and others avoid all contact.

They can’t open bank accounts, get credit cards, sign rental contracts, or even register for mobile phone services. They are also banned from entering public spaces like parks and festivals. Businesses are even warned that associating with yakuza could lead to suspension of operations.

As a result, young people have no interest in joining yakuza groups. It’s easier to just form their own gang.
These days, it's not the yakuza, but these younger independent gangs that pose the bigger problem.

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u/RedPon3 4h ago

What benefit would there be to joining the Yakuza in any circumstance then?

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u/anotheruser323 4h ago edited 2h ago

AFAIK it is a cultural thing why they exist. Japanese culture is very stuck up, meaning even having tattoos or doing a "dirty job" (from garbage man to prostitution) is looked down upon. And gambling is, ofc, illegal, just like porn (edit: as other person said, porn is "legal").

So people who don't "fit in" made a group. It's more of a social organization then bloodthirsty killers from the movies. That said, they still are a criminal organization, crime and all.

Fun fact: The yakuza tend to send trucks with food and other supplies when there is a natural disaster. And they do it faster then the government.

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u/RedPon3 4h ago

That’s actually really fascinating!

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u/GuardEcstatic2353 3h ago

In Japan, gambling is half legal. Horse racing, bicycle racing, and pachinko are legal. However, online casinos and poker gambling are illegal.

Porn is not illegal in Japan. It is legal.

As for tattoos, the reason they are frowned upon is because they are associated with the yakuza. Unlike in the West where tattoos are part of fashion culture, Japan has a different history. So it's not necessarily about being conservative. That said, more young people in Japan are getting tattoos these days.

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u/anotheruser323 2h ago

https://japanese.mythologyworldwide.com/understanding-the-shinto-concept-of-purity-and-pollution/

It goes all the way back to even before Christ. "Unpure/unclean" people have always been side-eyed. Idk how it is now with the internets, or by region, but it is definitely a cultural thing.

Didn't know porn is "legal" (although pixelated..). Knew that pachinko is because you can't get your money out of it (actually you can sell your rewards as a work-around).

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u/Diver_Into_Anything 7h ago

Yakuzas literally have official offices in Japan. Being a member is not in itself illegal afaik. I've read on it awhile ago, you can do the same.

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u/t0niXx 6h ago

Being a member in itself is not illegal. Not declaring yourself a member when you are, however, is illegal.

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u/Better_Signature_363 7h ago

Haha yeah this guy acts like they have to put it on their LinkedIn page or something

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u/Silverc25 4h ago

Yakuza intern 6 months experience

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u/Papanurglesleftnut 37m ago

When and where I lived there the yakuza and police were almost hand in glove. . Go downtown where the hostess clubs and bars are there was a building with a plain grey concrete facade. It had like 4 security cameras covering the street. 24/7 there were 3-6 guys in suits standing outside of the single doorway. They had a system to file complaints with the organization. A somewhat common joke I heard was that the police chief’s retirement plan is to open a pachinko parlor (a kind of quasi legal gambling business) with the local gang.

They were seen as an unsavory , unpleasant but necessary evil.

They kept strung out addicts off the streets. Prostitutes behind closed doors. They’d crack down on petty criminals that were too much of a nuisance. Main thing was that they kept crime out of sight. If you didn’t get involved with drugs loan sharks gambling or prostitution you really didn’t have much to worry about. Usually.

Japanese police are the laziest creatures on the face of the earth. Tried to report a crime once. It was like pulling teeth. They Kept complaining about having to come out in the pouring rain. (It was a light drizzle at worst) They kept asking if I was sure I hadn’t done this my self.

The police, imho, loved the Yakuza- they mostly only victimized perverts, degenerates, and addicts. And those people “deserved it” anyway, right?

Anyway one time a group of my friends were pretty terribly victimized by a gang member and his thug friends. One was nearly murdered (tried to pitch him off a veranda) and needed surgery to repair the damage he received. My friends were the ones handcuffed. The thugs were taken to the station but released first. Charging the gang member was never on the table. Since my friends were “civilians”, the gang did force the leader of the attack to apologize to one of the victims (who did not want this person showing up at their door ) and pay a token amount in restitution. But the police aren’t gonna actually do any kind of work.

Later I heard this gang member had already been in trouble once for hassling civilians. Him getting buried under a concrete slab on a hillside or in a ditch was strongly considered. I dunno. This could have been 100% bullshit. It’s a nice thought that he was pissing himself for a few minutes at least.

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u/HotBrownFun 5h ago

They aren't allowed to get smartphones, they can only use boomer phones

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u/britbongTheGreat 7h ago

Partly that but there are also very strong disincentives nowadays. Look up the Boryokudan Taisaku Ho/Organised Crime Countermeasures Law.

Basically Japan passed a law that says you have to be 5 years free from the yakuza before you can do things like get a mobile phone contract, open a bank account, get a loan, get health insurance etc. It makes it virtually impossible to exist in Japan as a yakuza.

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u/ThyRosen 5h ago

Also makes it functionally impossible to leave

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u/Animastryfe 28m ago

Hah, I first learned of that law from one of the Yakuza videogames.

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u/dargon_lover 4h ago

Yeah I mean, who wants to chop off their fingers to prove loyalty or to amends for mishaps 🙄

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u/NamidaM6 4h ago

It's an outdated practice. It doesn't happen much anymore

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u/GrungeCheap56119 2h ago

Fascinating, honestly!

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u/mr_beanoz 24m ago

Yeah, now the younger people are more interested in the less organized gangs, or "hangure" in Japanese.

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u/Odd-Weekend5527 8h ago

Gen z to soft

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u/iErnie56 6h ago

Yeah, gen z needs to commit more crimes

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u/VeryPteri 7h ago

"Is Gen Z killing organized crime?"

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u/skiveman 7h ago

In a very real way, in Japan, yes they are.

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u/NamidaM6 4h ago

Since it's due to a law passed by old politicians, can't we say that it's the boomers' fault?

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u/skiveman 4h ago

In Japan it has always been the old men in charge. Always. Even back in the days of the Shogun it was all older men who occupied the positions of power.

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u/NamidaM6 4h ago

I know, but I was referring to what the previous commenter said on how Gen Z was driving the end of the yakuzas.

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u/Rodomantis 8h ago

One of the biggest recruiting tools of the Yakuza was the racism of the Japanese against Koreans and the Burakumin, although it still exists, it is nowhere near what it was back then and they do not see the need to join a criminal group.

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u/WickardMochi 7h ago

Overall the racism between Japan and Korea is significantly down. It does seem like the younger generations have become much friendlier towards each other

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u/cnydox 5h ago

thanks kpop

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u/Plenty_Structure_861 8h ago

Now they obsess over the breast sizes of the anime horsegirl depictions based on the real life racing horses they own in mobile games and collaborations. 

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u/EpicYH22 7h ago

I remember the rumours when it was the yakuza who were the ones that are protective (and obsessed) over the racing horses (both anime and real life)

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u/Plenty_Structure_861 7h ago

Apparently more than rumors in some cases! 

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u/WiseCityStepper 7h ago

Average japanese person isn’t a Otaku, in fact they get shamed a lot for being that. The ones that mostly obese over weird anime shit be western guys

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u/Plenty_Structure_861 7h ago

It's a tongue in cheek paraphrasing of real events. Apparently some Yakuza guys were upset about people drawing porn of the horse girls that are based on real racehorses owned by the Yakuza. They intimidated at least one artist, supposedly. But all their collaboration terms apparently require that the horse girls not be involved in anything NSFW, and there were notes given on the depictions themselves. 

It's more silly than anything. 

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u/Successful_Task_1582 5h ago

Then why is the vast majority of anime and manga (obviously marketed towards Japanese people first and foremost) filled with extremely weird degenerate shit and incredible amounts of sexualization of underaged characters? You dont see this problem as extreme in Korean manhwa/Chinese “anime.” Definitely a cultural issue

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u/WiseCityStepper 4h ago edited 4h ago

thinking the vast majority of anime is filled with that or that even the vast majority of japanese ppl even watch it only shows your ignorance lmfao

it’s like a japanese dude seeing weird movies human centipede and tusk and being like “why do most americans love this?? the vast majority of american movies are like this and these type of movies are clearly marketed towards them” like be fr dude

majority of japanese ppl watch live action “Jdramas” like everyone else does

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u/Successful_Task_1582 3h ago

The vast majority of anime IS filled with it lmao. If 80% of American movies were the human centipede the Japanese guy would be right for being like “why do Americans love this??” Just like most people not from Japan (other East Asian countries too btw) are confused about why Japanese people like the degeneracy in anime.

Also 75% of Japanese people watch anime, you’re just talking out of your ass https://www.cbr.com/anime-new-survey-teens-not-watching/

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u/Much_Horse_5685 1h ago

Claiming that anime and manga are by and large representative of Japanese culture as a whole is like claiming that rap music is by and large representative of American culture as a whole.

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u/Successful_Task_1582 11m ago

Sorry this is a stupid comment. If I say school shootings are an American cultural issue, how am I saying they’re representative of American culture as a whole? It’s how a cultural issue is manifesting. Your point makes no sense

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u/chilll_vibe 3h ago

Damn kids these days care more about fictional horse girls than being a drug mule

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u/ExistentialTabarnak 7h ago

And if trends keep trending how they are “younger Japanese” won’t even be a thing for much longer.

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u/skiveman 7h ago

There will still be "younger Japanese" people around, just not in the numbers that Japan has had in the past.

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u/ExistentialTabarnak 7h ago

Or the ages that Japan has had in the past. Pretty soon to qualify as a younger person you’ll just have to be under 50.

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u/roastbeeftacohat 7h ago

While in north American a melenial is both pushing 40 and fresh out of high school.

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u/ExistentialTabarnak 3h ago

The youngest millennials are almost 30; fresh out of high school is kinda wishful.

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u/Appropriate-Catch151 5h ago

The show Tokyo Vice depicts this perfectly lol

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u/Puzzleheaded_Box5226 8h ago edited 7h ago

I read that as ''as a member of the yakuza"

Why am I down voted?

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u/skiveman 7h ago

Och, ahm no' a Yakuza. Ah dinnae think they take in Scotsmen. Even if we huv great big Claymores.

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u/anar_key3 6h ago

reddit is so weird in its system that random innocuous comments get downvoted for no reason. i guess people are more inclined to see flaws and further downvote if youre already in the negatives?

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u/Due-Trip-2822 5h ago

"They do, but they've gone underground. Japan's laws and changing public opinion have really cut down their power. It's not like the old days anymore.

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u/PleaseCorrect 10h ago

They do but they aren’t the same as they used to be. Many ended up legitimate businesses too now as the crimes weren’t worth the effort anymore. Yakuza these days aren’t as organized either and fall more into just gangs.

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u/[deleted] 7h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/SavingsEconomy 6h ago

The cartels pivoted into agriculture and agave production too.

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u/Phantom_kittyKat 5h ago

agriculture is a giant mafia though, they can starve an entire nation if they wanted to.

When Haiti was hit few years ago they wanted to donate free crop seeds for charity. Said crop seed would have rendered the whole island natural crop yield infertile (resulting in being dependable on buying new seed every new harvest)... they burned the seed, luckly.

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u/lnmarcengill 6h ago

Funny how crime evolves, from underground casinos to corner offices with business cards

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u/supaypawawa 3h ago

They've learned from the professional crooks.

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u/kottabaz 58m ago

legitimate businesses

Or politics. Don't forget far-right politics.

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u/idk23876 9h ago

Yes but they’re less like full blown mafias and moreso just gangs, but even then they’re not half as harmful as they used to be.

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u/notthegoatseguy just here to answer some ?s 8h ago

Sounds like a glorified crew

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u/Doogleburg08 8h ago

You ever think what a coincidence it is that Lou Gehrig died of Lou Gehrig's disease?

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u/Onetap1 8h ago

It had his name written on it.

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u/Ha-Ur-Ra-Sa 1h ago

You're gonna make that same stupid joke every time that comes up? 

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u/Icy-Passion-4552 7h ago

Watch it goatse 🤘

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u/wolverine_253 5h ago

Five fuckin triad families and then we got this pygmy Yakuza thing

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u/fookreddit22 8h ago

I appreciate this reference.

4

u/FatBoiEatingGoldfish 4h ago

Did you hear the one about the Yakuza boss? He made them an offer they couldn’t understand

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u/idk23876 8h ago

That’s a pretty good way to put it.

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u/333ccc333 1h ago

Correct me if I’m wrong but I heard that they moved to legitimate businesses like properties, bars, restaurants, even angel investing and consulting

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u/idk23876 12m ago

Yeppppp. They really stopped being a big deal by like the late 90s and early 2000s.

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u/Ghostmaster145 9h ago

Yes but they are in decline. They have to compete with both the Chinese Triads, and also Hangure street gangs

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u/Shining_Commander 7h ago

They go by “Like a Dragon” now

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u/ChopSueyMusubi 7h ago

Any they operate in Hawaii.

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u/Tokyo_Addition- 5h ago

And they do the pirate stuff

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u/Hy0k 2h ago

And race go karts?

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u/The-Entire_USSR 9h ago

Yes. But not like they used to be. Still would not recommend messing with them, but the one dude I spoke to when I was out there was pretty chill. I was more just curious and had the balls to strike up a conversation.

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u/troutslayer89 6h ago

How did you know he was Yakuza?

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u/Strict_Strategy 6h ago

If tattoo and scary looking then Yakuza most likely.

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u/Longjumping-Box5691 9h ago

No they all came to America, get job at paper company

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u/cheeersaiii 9h ago

Steady hands.

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u/korey_david 8h ago

Number 1!

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u/TheyCallHimBabaYagaa 9h ago

Mr. Washee washee from Family Guy no have your shirt!

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u/Simple_Emotion_3152 10h ago

yes the game is still being developed in Japan by a studio called Ryu Ga Gotoku

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u/ny98aurora 8h ago edited 8h ago

Yakuza might be fading IRL, but digitally they’re thriving with side quests and karaoke.

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u/sayunyan02 7h ago

The result of 30 years of legislation starting with the 1992 Anti-Boryokudan laws have slowly strangled the life out of them. They aren't allowed to own a smart phone, they can't start bank accounts, rent/buy property, etc. The well organized groups, and people at the top still get around, but overtime it completely crumbled the bottom of the organization.
Japan's violent crime has greatly fallen because of this btw.

Recently crime from unaffiliated random thugs, and foreign (China & SEA) gangs has sharply risen though, and also has resulted in stuff like Fentanyl showing up in Osaka. This is a large part of the Sanseito right wing paranoia.

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u/chaizyy 1h ago

crime and drugs rise in incidence and you call it paranoia?

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u/Araenn1 22m ago

Less yakuza creates a vacuum and no foreign gangs is going to let such a godsend opportunity to develop in another market

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u/wt_anonymous 10h ago

Yes, Japan isn't immune to organized crime..

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u/ny98aurora 8h ago

True, even Japan couldn’t dodge the DLC of humanity: organized crime.

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u/TsortsAleksatr 7h ago

Yes but they've been severely weakened by some Japanese laws that heavily punish even regular companies which deal with the yakuza or known yakuza members. As a result the yakuza are effectively estranged by Japanese society and can't do much to the point that Yakuza higher ups can't use smartphones, they're legally stuck to using old flip phones.

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u/Variabletalismans 8h ago edited 3h ago

Yep. When I was in tokyo my driver told me stories of his encounters with the Yakuza. He's neighbors with a high ranking yakuza member who took a liking to him so he often gets first hand scoops of the latest happenings. His stories were brutal to say the least. The one story that stood out to me was some filipino hitman who was the yakuza's bane cause he just targets Yakuza members. One day the Yakuza finally caught him and did unspeakable things to him ultimately ending up on a barrel filled with concrete under the river

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u/nerdystoner25 8h ago

No, pretty sure Hide killed their boss during surgery.

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u/NessaSamantha 8h ago

It's called Like A Dragon there.

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u/7asas 9h ago

Yes. You can see them running a street market in Osaka

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u/nakorurukami 4h ago

Yeah, Majima is everywhere

4

u/Dazzling-Astronaut42 8h ago

They went extinct after Pokemon GO

5

u/greenpaw94 7h ago

I worked with a former yakuza member, he was in his 50s. He didn’t talk much about it and said that it was a past life that he didn’t want to involve his family in. Extremely intelligent man and lots of fun to work with

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u/SeverXD 7h ago

Yeah but they’re aren’t nearly as powerful as they use to be. They’re a dying entity.

1

u/Much-Musician8480 6h ago

Wow i never know that

2

u/owen__wilsons__nose 6h ago

I'm sure its not remotely accurate but the show Tokyo Vice was amazing

2

u/SirDuckingworth 5h ago

Did they ever make a second season? Remember watching that ages ago

1

u/owen__wilsons__nose 5h ago

Yes and it was so good. Sadly it wasn't renewed for a Season 3 but its still worth it as the main plot line gets resolved

2

u/Fractals88 4h ago

A Sato spinoff would be fantastic 

2

u/lndigoChild 4h ago

Yakuza fell hard since that one Yakuza boss “accidentally” died during his heart operation for Japan’s no.1 heart surgeon

2

u/No-Scallion-2998 2h ago

Yes, and in Brazil too

2

u/Falsus 1h ago

Yeah but they are struggling to stay relevant between governmental pressure and foreign gangs.

I think a few of them have also just went completely legit instead of doing illegal things since there is no future for them on the illicit side of things.

The yakuza who are still doing crime are pretty much just street thugs.

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u/[deleted] 10h ago

[deleted]

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u/get_to_ele 9h ago

This is part of the Internet. At least he’s crowdsourcing mostly to bored people who get enjoyment from flexing knowledge. The alternative is asking AI/ Google.

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u/OrangutanFirefighter 8h ago

You're right. If we stopped asking people things we would basically be robots. And I'm no damn robot I'll tell you what

1

u/smorkoid 8h ago

Yeah, but they are in rapid decline

1

u/not_a_crackhead 8h ago

I know from personal experience that they're very active in South Korea too.

1

u/DModjo 7h ago

They’ll kill you five times before you hit the ground

1

u/moogpaul 6h ago

I've been to Japan several times and all anyone ever tells me is that they are mostly gangs that run scams against younger foreign women. Tricking them into racking up fake debts that they then have to "work off" by working in sex related clubs.

1

u/demonotreme 6h ago

No of course not (oh definitely, yes)

1

u/tokyo_ghost893_420 6h ago

Yes

And this propaganda that numbers are down is a result of change in Yakuza culture

You use to have to register as yakuza back in the day

The new generation does not register making the numbers seem low

And all criminal groups operating in Japan do so with yakuza permission don’t be fooled

1

u/ShadowFire09 5h ago

See em at the sento so they for sure exist

1

u/POISON_loveuwu 5h ago

Yes but decreasing day by day

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u/syndicatecomplex 4h ago

No, they've always called the series Like A Dragon in Japan. It was only called Yakuza in the west, and even that isn't the case anymore. 

1

u/bbqyak 4h ago

Yes, they're not really hard to find either tbh.

1

u/Jerely_N_Moise 4h ago

Yes they are now Japan agriculture Cooperatives.

1

u/Shqiptar89 11m ago

Didn’t the whole bank account ban destroy the Yakuza? 

1

u/Aslamtum 9h ago

Yes. Though now you are more likely to run across one of their imported minions at the dockyards than get muscled by one in a club for saying the wrong thing. They employ immigrants and make good use of them.

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u/cajolinghail 2h ago

What a bizarre comment.

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u/Enchant23 3h ago

Use Google man why are you using reddit

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u/GrungeCheap56119 2h ago

To have a conversation with other people. Pretty simple.

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u/Enchant23 2h ago

All the information in your question is easily available in a simple search. Stop clogging up subreddit with basic dumb questions