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July 17, 2025
 

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YAKUZA

BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2014
Sure winners in 2020 Tokyo Olympics? Gangsters
As Japan bets on a big economic boost from the 2020 Olympics, it might be dismayed by what's happening right now in Russia. Moody's doubts the Sochi Games will be much of a plus for that economy.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 4, 2014
Cash, sex, the mob? Weeklies seek clues in gyōza king's killing
Just when it was starting to look like 2013 would end with minimal gun violence in Japan, two socially prominent individuals were shot dead in the space of two days.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jan 4, 2014
Here's eyeing Japan 2014 — warts an' all
"To know the future, look at the past," is a familiar Buddhist aphorism. However, it's also said that a prophet isn't honored in his hometown — which is why I live in Tokyo. As we ride into the Year of the Horse, I thought I'd canter awhile through times to come and report back on what I found. My...
WORLD
Nov 23, 2013
Japan's yakuza woes return to the silver screen
Hollywood has long fetishized Japanese gangsters, with their full-body tattoos, missing pinkies and harems of buxom groupies. Ever since Sydney Pollack's "The Yakuza" in 1974, the colorful mafiosi have provided regular fodder for directors including Ridley Scott and Quentin Tarantino.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2013
Mizuho has more loans to the mob
Mizuho Bank has outstanding loans to yakuza and other antisocial elements apart from car loans extended through its affiliate credit company, Orient Corp., President Yau00adsuu00adhiu00adro Sau00adto tells the Diet.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Oct 29, 2013
Shady loans have long history; laws slow to catch up
Mizuho Bank's loans to yakuza and other shady individuals through its group credit company Orient Corp. may be just the tip of the iceberg as corporate Japan struggles to break off its long-held ties with organized crime.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 28, 2013
Mizuho offers denials as heads roll over mob loans
Mizuho Bank announces it will punish 54 present and former executives for lending money to organized crime groups but denies it colluded with yakuza.
EDITORIALS
Oct 15, 2013
Get to the bottom of shady loans
The inability of Japan's third-largest bank to break the habit of approving car loans for yakuza reflects poor corporate governance and besmirches the reputation of the financial industry.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Oct 5, 2013
Has business blackballed the yakuza? Don't bank on it
The Financial Services Agency (FSA) publicly spanked Mizuho Bank last month by slapping it with a "business improvement order" for letting Japan's organized crime groups use its facilities. At least $2 million in illegal transactions were cited.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 5, 2013
Mizuho admits four execs knew of yakuza loans
Mizuho Bank has admitted that at least four of its executives, including two former deputy presidents, knew that it was lending money to underworld and other "antisocial" groups and that it neither stopped nor sought to hold management responsible.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 22, 2013
Think before you ink if you work with kids
I am very interested in getting an irezumi (traditional tattoo) in Japan. Are there any artists that will tattoo a foreigner? If so, who and where? My interviewer for the teaching position tried to warn me that tattoos are a 'no-no.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Jul 22, 2013
Bizarre merchandising, tabletop Nintendo and new releases for Wii U
Gangsters. Hostesses. And lots and lots of street fighting. No, this isn't a night in Shinjuku's Kabukicho red-light district. It's an evening with 'Yakuza,' Sega's crime opus on the Wii U.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
May 5, 2013
Yakuza links put nation at added nuclear risk
On April 15, two alleged terrorists in Boston killed three people, injured more than 170 others and terrified a nation — for about $100 it cost them to modify pressure cookers into bombs. We should be glad they didn't come to Japan, where they may have been able to explode a ready-made nuclear dirty...
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 9, 2013
Hashimoto to sue Asahi for story on family past
Osaka Mayor and Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) chief Toru Hashimoto plans to sue the weekly Shukan Asahi and daily Asahi Shimbun, claiming they violated his human rights when the magazine ran an article six months ago touching on his family background.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Apr 7, 2013
What's with the police purge on dance clubs?
If you're ever minded to dance the night away to trance music, or even old-fashioned rock, you may have a tough time finding a venue in Japan these days. In fact, you may end up waltzing away hours inside a police station, peeing into a cup after being rounded up in a raid. Yes, indeed, a War on Dance...
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Mar 3, 2013
Say goodbye to the Buddha of the yakuza
Takahiko Inoue, yakuza boss and Buddhist priest, died Feb. 10 at age 65. The police determined that he fell from the seventh story of the building where his office was located. When the ambulance arrived, Inoue told the crew: "I'm fine. Just take me to the hospital. I'll walk to the car myself." Those...
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 29, 2013
12-year term urged in Somalis' piracy trial
Prosecutors on Monday demanded 12-year prison terms for two Somalis being tried on charges of boarding and attempting to hijack a Bahama-registered oil tanker operated by a Japanese company in the Indian Ocean in 2011.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 22, 2012
Can showbiz really sever yakuza ties?
Last August, comedian and TV emcee Shinsuke Shimada retired from show business following allegations that he'd been palling around with an underworld figure. His withdrawal came on the eve of the implementation of a well-publicized police crackdown on organizations that work with antisocial elements,...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 18, 2009
Classic tales of newsprint noir
While a senior at Tokyo's Sophia University, 23-year-old Missouri native Jake Adelstein was heading home from a Shinjuku cinema when, on a whim, he dropped into a game arcade and popped u00a5100 into the slot of a fortunetelling robot for some mystical career advice.
Japan researchers identify gut bacteria strain that boosts anticancer drugs
Researchers at the National Cancer Center Japan say a new type of gut bacteria named YB328 could help unlock the potential of cancer immunotherapy.
Japan team finds ancient ocean full of squids
The ancient ocean was full of squids, whose population exceeded that of fish or ammonites, a Japanese research team mainly from Hokkaido University has found through a new method using technology.
Students in Japan struggle with Japanese language and math sections on national exam
The correct answer rate for the Japanese language section on a national test dropped to 67.0% from 67.8% the previous year among elementary school sixth-graders.
Japan launches government body to address concerns over foreign nationals
The new administrative body would serve as a cross-agency "control tower" to respond to issues such as crime and overtourism involving foreign nationals, according to the government.
Japan's Emperor Emeritus admitted to hospital to begin new heart treatment
Emperor Emeritus Akihito is accompanied by Empress Emerita Michiko as he travels to the University of Tokyo Hospital on Monday.
With China and Trump, Japan defense report says world entering ‘new era of crisis’
A senior member of a Self-Defense Forces honor guard inspects a formation before the arrival of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for a visit to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 30.
Tokyo stocks hit by a perfect storm of tariffs, politics and budget worries
Tokyo stocks are underperforming shares in other large markets globally.
Japan researchers identify gut bacteria strain that boosts anticancer drugs
Researchers at the National Cancer Center Japan say a new type of gut bacteria named YB328 could help unlock the potential of cancer immunotherapy.
Tokyobike founder believes in taking in sights of dynamic cities slowly
Ichiro Kanai, founder and president of Tokyobike, is developing a niche but a new customer base who want to cycle as part of a lifestyle.
Music idol and anime fandom merch is big business
Businesses who cater to fandoms gathered at Tokyo Lifestyle Week for the second annual Oshikatsu — Merch Collection Expo, a trade show devoted to fandom goods.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
By Megha Wadhwa

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