No. of crime syndicate members in Japan falls to record low in 2017

Nice tattoos on that man.

They lurk in the shadows and getting clever to hide their businesses.

seadog538Today 07:05 am JSTNice tattoos on that man.

Yeah, nice tattoos but they'll look very smeary in 20, 25, 30 years time. Also, is his left pinky just a half? I've heard about finger mutilation in the yakusa when something goes wrong and in my university Japanese studies class our professor told us about how 'you see a yakusa businessman with a few fingers missing, you're seeing a big dummy'.

I worked with a guy in small company we used to joke about he was yakuza because he was missing 3 fingers (him included). Later when he was arrested for something I won't mention we couldn't believe it. They are con men through and through and are getting better at hiding.

No. of crime syndicate members in Japan falls to record low in 2017

Of course- the population is falling. DUH!

The number of crime syndicate members in Japan fell to a record-low 34,500

Tattoos never look good on skinny, or old man like him. Wonderful to hear the Government is cracking down on these bullies. In 10 years, these gangs in Japan wont exist.

It’s not necessarily about the numbers it’s the reach that these organizations have , and it goes right to the top. Although a necessary evil in some sense many of them are psychopath animals.

Nice ink on that old fella.

Always curious how the police can count the number of yaks. Surely if you are a violent criminal you won’t go to the local Koban and register you name and rank.

I thought he was just wearing a nice shirt.

So, they calculate there are nearly 20,000 members nationwide. Then, they boast about their efforts to wipe them out. I've always wondered why they keep allowing these syndicates to operate at all. They know who and where they are and, they are aware of most of their criminal activity. They deemed these syndicates illegal over a decade ago, but they are still operation. Something doesn't seem right.

The man in the photograph, Shigeharu Shirai, is suspected in Japan of colluding in the murder of another yakuza gangster, but, at 74, but, because of the lightning speed of the Japanese justice system, will probably never actually come to trial.

 In 10 years, these gangs in Japan wont exist.

Never, name a society with no underworld and I might believe you.

The yakuza do have a function in Japanese society. Unruly boys were sent to the yakuza, where they would be subject to a rather severe form of discipline. Missing pinkies and all. And they were mainly in control of the underbelly of Japanese society.

The photo for this post was taken in Thailand. This guy was shirtless playing a board game with someone in a park there. Somebody took a photo of his tattoos and posted it on Facebook. The photo got shared until someone recognised him as being a Yakuza member wanted for murder back in Japan. He was arrested and deported back to Japan. Not sure what has happened since arriving back in Japan.