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1 Introduction
Organized crime is one of the most important issues in Japanese social safety problems. In Japan, there are more than 80,000 regular or associate Yakuza gang members, and they deteriorate people's daily life in Japan.
Yakuza, foreign criminal organizations and violent juvenile delinquents are considered as three major threats to the safety of people's daily life in Japan.
This paper will show brand-new statistics about the Yakuza, current tendency of it and countermeasures that have been taken by the Japanese police.
2 Current strength and arrests of Yakuza
The number of regular members of Yakuza is 44,300 and that of associate members is 42,700. The total number of Yakuza is 87,000. Although the total number and the number of regular members are gradually decreasing, the number of associate members is increasing (Table I [Figure omitted. See Article Image.]).
Various serious crimes are committed by the Yakuza members. One third of extortion and threatening and more than half of "unlawful arrest and confinement" are done by the Yakuza members[1] .
The number of arrests on charges of drug abuse is gradually decreasing. The Japanese police do not know whether it reflects the real decreasing numbers of drug abusers or the decreasing of the clearance rate. Actually, the confiscation load of methylene-dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is rapidly increasing. The Japanese police is concerned about wide-spreading MDMA abusers among young people (Figure 1 [Figure omitted. See Article Image.]).
There are 23 designated Yakuza groups. Among them, there are three large ones, Yamaguchi-gumi, Inagawa-kai and Sumiyoshi-kai that share over 70 percent of total number of membership. This ratio is increasing year by year.
3 Tendency of the Yakuza today
Yakuza groups are changing their styles and behaviors and adjusting to a changing society.
One tendency of Yakuza is decreasing transparency. As mentioned above, the number of associate members is increasing, although the number of regular members is gradually decreasing. A typical associate member of the Yakuza is a corporate manager of a criminal enterprise, such as a financial institute for consumers or a construction company. This means that it is becoming harder to identify organized crimes.
Second, Yakuza groups are diversifying their fundraising activities. Yakuza often commit financial crimes, organized fraud, organized burglary, and...