Japan yakuza membership hits record low amid rise of anonymous groups

Japan’s yakuza numbers hit new low, police data shows

Yakuza forces have been dwindling since 2005, due in part to a stricter crackdown. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Japan yakuza membership hits record low amid rise of anonymous groups

The number of yakuza members and associates in Japan fell to a record low of 18,800 at the end of last year amid a rise in anonymous, ad hoc criminal groups, National Police Agency data showed Thursday. Membership fell below 20,000 for the first time since records began in 1958, as the number of organized crime members has been steadily declining since 2005 amid strict crackdowns. Read full story here

Unlike the yakuzas, which see their numbers melt, the anonymous and less hierarchical criminal groups of the type "tokuryu" multiply on the archipelago. But this does not necessarily sound like the glass of the Japanese underworld, according to the Japanese press.

Japan's National Police Agency has eliminated skirts from its police uniforms 50 years after they were established because as women's roles have expanded, skirts have fallen out of use because they hinder movement in the field, according to the agency. Uniforms for female officers were standardized in 1976, allowing skirts and pants, but skirts have been eliminated now, some 50 years later. Until recently, local police departments decided whethe…

The local mafia went under the 20,000 mark in 2024 for the first time. But more and more yakuzas would develop links with criminal groups involved in Internet scamsThe members of the Japanese underworld, the "yakuzas", are becoming less and less numerous with a figure that was first passed under the 20,000 mark, according to the data published by the Japanese police on Thursday. The local mafia had only 18,800 members in 2024, a figure which has…