Evacuees forced to pay rent at Miyagi yakuza home

Straight out of a suspense film: A yakuza couple have been arrested for abuse after they coerced a pair of tsunami evacuees to stay at their home, demanded rent and wouldn’t let them leave. The details are sketchy but according to reports, Daiju Omura, believed to be a high-ranking member of a group related to [...]

Yakuza looking to get a piece of the reconstruction pie

Sankei News is  reporting that suspect groups from west Japan have rolled into the Tohoku area, eyeing a piece of the estimated 15 trillion yen that will be spent on reconstruction efforts, including cleanup, rebuilding of neighborhoods and new urban developments. Police say they’ve found proof of activities in the disaster area by a group believed [...]

Someone had to do it: Man arrested for telling politician to STFU

An English teacher was arrested this Easter Sunday after he did what many Japan residents dream of doing: Telling those pesky campaigning politicians that they’re loud and obnoxious. English citizen Edward Jones, 34, was in Tokorozawa, Saitama, and had been having a few drinks with friends when the group happened upon a local politician campaigning [...]

Kobe neighbours once again regret living near those pesky Yamaguchi’s

There goes the neighbourhood.. again. Kobe authorities led a raid on the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters April 22, bringing a mass of 100 officers as backup for a quick in-and-out of the premises. The 30-minute search was ordered in connection with the April 11 arrest of second-level gang boss Noriaki Imura. Imura was picked up for attempted [...]

Shiga: What’s a few tons of paper to spread the word against yakuza?

The Shiga prefectural government knows no limits in their dedication to fight crime, printing a whopping 100,000 fliers to spread information on new anti-organised crime regulations that will come into effect this summer. Government officials cited how local citizen’s co-operation would be vital in ensuring the regulations come to fruit, printing the adverts in hopes of reaching [...]