The Yakuza Will Kill You

Yakuza: Japan’s violent organized crime syndicate that believes they’re descendants of samurai. Learn more about this Japanese mob / mafia from Tokyo!

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8: Cutting off pinkies
When entering a terrifying organization like the Yakuza, you should expect to be exposed to a lot of harm, not just from enemy gangs, but from your own members as well. Failure is often not tolerated, and you should expect more than just detention. The Yakuza practice plenty of bizarre rituals, but are most known for Yubisume, or the act of cutting off a section of one’s little finger. This is done as a form of penance, as a means of apology, or punishment. The transgressor will then present their severed pinky to their
7: Full body tattoos
Another bizarre and painful Yakuza ritual is full body tattoos. This practice is known as "Irezumi", and has a rather long standing in Japan’s history. It evolved from being used for ritual and status purposes, to becoming a form of punishment in order to brand criminals. Tattooing was eventually outlawed in the Meiji period as the Japanese governmentYakuza. Tattooing
6: Corporate Blackmail
The Yakuza are known for all sorts of crimes ranging from human trafficking, rigging sumo matches, and firearm deals. But one of their biggest fortes is corporate blackmailing. Compared to Italian mafias who usually extort small businesses for "protection money", the Yakuza practices their own unique extortion method, with a specialized faction known as the sokaiya. The sokaiya would typically blackmail large corporations and conglomerates, usually focusing on stockholder meetings. They would obtain the rights to attend the meetings through stock purchases, and then scare other stockholders with their presence. The sokaiya also dig up all matter 5: Heirs to the samurai
Some people actually consider the yakuza as the true heirs to the no longer existing warrior class of feudal Japan known as the samurai. The reason for this theory is due to some obvious similarities between the two groups when compared side by side. Both yakuza and samurai are organized into a strong hierarchical system that is based on honor and subservience. They have a strong sense of tradition and great pride
4: Political involvement
The Yakuza have always been involved in Japanese politics, and the two have a long intertwined history. The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan which has dominated the country’s politics for over 60 years is said to have received ridiculous amounts of donation money from the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest yakuza organization. This is due to the organization’s leaders supporting the nationalist right wing party. It is also said that a number of high profile politicians have been proven to have had links with the
3: Their true size
One of the most terrifying things about the Yakuza is their true size and extent of influence. After the second world war, it was reported that the total number of yakuza members had increased exponentially to about 184,000. This equates to about 1 yakuza member for every 2 police officers. This is the most members to have been in the organization at any one point, and was perceived as a threat by the American forces following their occupation of Japan
2: They hate being ridiculed
It is quite a well known fact that the greatest mafia film of all time, the Godfather, never once had the word "mafia" mentioned throughout the entire film. This is mainly as an attempt to not upset the real mafia, who initially opposed the making of the film. At the Japanese side, the Yakuza also doesn’t take things lightly when it comes to being depicted badly on film
1: Yakuza wars
The yakuza is known for violent rivalries between different gangs, and these rivalries would sometimes spiral out of control into full-on gang wars. The worst yakuza gang war ever was the Yama-Ichi war that took place in Japan from 1985 to 1989. It stemmed from a succession dispute in the Yamaguchi-gumi, which is Japan’s largest and most dominant yakuza clan. A splinter group named Ichiwa-kai was formed by a disgruntled lieutenant who failed to inherit the Yamaguchi-gumi’s top position. The Yamaguchi-gumi vowed revenge, igniting a bloody four year war. Things got so terrible that a daily local newspaper started putting together a score card listing down the deaths and injuries inflicted upon the 2 gangs on their front page. In the end, the Yamaguchi-gumi