The yakuza is not illegal in Japan. Members have clearly labeled offices, business cards, and fan magazines.
The history of the yakuza dates back to the 17th century.
The word yakuza is believed to have derived from a worthless hand in the Japanese card game Oicho-Kabu, similar to baccarat or blackjack.
There are four main syndicates in the yakuza.
The largest yakuza syndicate in Japan, with roughly 8,000 members, is The Yamaguchi-Gumi. This crime family has a 12-page entrance exam for new members. To weed out the duds is our guess.
The Sumiyoshi-kai is the second-largest yakuza family, with 4,200 members.
The Inagawa-kai is the third largest with roughly 3,300 members.
The fourth largest yakuza family is the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, with 3,000 members. They are a splinter group that broke away from the Yamaguchi-gumi family, the largest yakuza family, in 2015.
The yakuza are recognized by their tattoos. The art is hand-poked into the skin instead of using a tattooing gun.
The process is long, painful, and expensive. The more ink you have, the more successful you appear to be.
The yakuza was originally formed to protect communities from bandits and samurai.
The yakuza is also known as Boryokudan, which means “violence group.”
Like most organized crime, the yakuza also has legitimate businesses like real estate and construction.
The highest-ranking member in a yakuza syndicate is called a Kumichō.
The yakuza has a strict code of loyalty and silence. There are severe punishments for betrayal. Many members face Yubitsume, the cutting off of a finger.
New members must undergo a ritual called Sakazuki. They drink sake with senior members to seal their loyalty.
The yakuza have been known to provide aid during natural disasters and other crises. What thoughtful, upstanding citizens.
If you are or know a memeber of the yakuza and we have any of these facts wrong. Please, I beg forgiveness. Don’t take my thumbs!
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#9 Don't take a knife with you to Japan. They can arrest you and detain you without charges for almost a month.
#13 It's pretty scary seeing a guy with a short little finger in Japan. They don't like foreigners much, either.
Yakuza don't like foreigners.
#14 It's kind of funny that most of these pictures show "Beat Takeshi". In Japan he well known for being a comedian. Not in these movies, though.
it's not just the Yakuza that don't like foreigners most/many Japanese don't. they are just too polite to say anything while the Yakuza just don't give a sh#t about being polite to filthy gaijin. there is a reason why Japan has one of the lowest immigration rates in the world. A cousin of mine married a Japanese girl and they tried to live in Japan but he got treated so badly that they ended up leaving.
had*, now "those" are being imported there too.