"Everywhere yakuza went, people would bow down to them. I was awestruck," ex-gangster Yoshiro Nishino, who joined as a teenage outcast, told AFP. Initiation rituals like the exchange of sake cups with ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Heavily tattooed yakuza members seen at the Sanja Matsuri Festival in Tokyo's Asakusa district on May 14, 2016. - Richard Atrero ...

When Takanori Kuzuoka began climbing the criminal career ladder, he didn't fancy joining Japan's old-school yakuza, with their tattoos, rigid hierarchy and codes of honour. Instead he was drawn to the ...

Think of Japan’s famed yakuza gangs and you might think of heavily tattooed men getting into bloody fights – the stuff of action films and video games. But last week four men were arrested in Tokyo ...

While the yakuza used to pride themselves on not preying on the poor and weak, the tokuryu have no such scruples. They make much of their millions from conning Japan's ageing population, while the ...

Tokyo (CNN) — Think of Japan’s famed yakuza gangs and you might think of heavily tattooed men getting into bloody fights – the stuff of action films and video games. CNN — Tokyo (CNN) — Think of Japan ...