The late author Koji Kata, a prolific chronicler of crime in contemporary Japan, once observed, "Nobody ever set out in life with the aim of becoming a yakuza."
An offspring of a yakuza, however, has even less choice in the matter. Still, a few have risen from rough-and-tumble beginnings to achieve success and even respectability.
In his acclaimed autobiography "Toppamono," journalist-commentator Manabu Miyazaki recounts how growing up in a gang-connected Kyoto family led to his radical political idealism.