The organizer of the famous Kishiwada Danjiri Festival in Osaka will remake its poster for this year's event because a yakuza appeared on it.
The Kishiwada Police Department said Sunday that a member of Yamaguchi-gumi, the nation's biggest crime syndicate, is in the poster, which was made using several photographs from last year's festival.
The organizer, made up of local residents, printed about 4,000 copies but has since retrieved them, according to an official of the Kishiwada Municipal Government.
The Kishiwada police said it had asked the organizer to consider changing the poster because it could violate a city ordinance that stipulates gangsters must be excluded from festival events.
The organizer consulted the police after receiving information Thursday that a yakuza had been spotted on the poster. The poster was due to be distributed to related groups, individuals, train stations and other public facilities.
The Kishiwada Danjiri Festival is famous for groups of men who pull danjiri (wooden floats) through the city's streets at high speed.