Japan's yakuza quietly moving offices to condos, meeting in restaurants amid crackdowns January 29, 2022 (Mainichi Japan) Japanese version The demolition of the office of the Kudo-kai's headquarters is seen underway on Nov. 23, 2019
スーパーコピー靴 in this photo taken from a Mainichi helicopter. (Mainichi) FUKUOKA -- A formidable building with security cameras, rows of black cars and rough-looking men staring out -- such is the image of yakuza offices portrayed in movies and dramas. But now, it seems, the situation is changing in some areas, with gang members appearing in regular apartments and sometimes even holding meetings in family restaurants. The Mainichi Shimbun investigated the situation with the Kudo-kai, one of Japan's largest yakuza groups, which is based in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Fukuoka. In Fukuoka's Chuo Ward
偽ブランド a high-rise apartment building with over 100 apartments stands along a main road. One of these apartments is used as the office of a gang operating under the Kudo-kai, which is headquartered in the Fukuoka Prefecture city of Kitakyushu. Looking at housing registry records, ownership of the apartment was transferred to a business in the city of Fukuoka about 20 years ago. A senior member of the Kudo-kai was listed as a director of the company. Fukuoka Prefectural Police recognize the apartment as an office affiliated with the Kudo-kai. When a Mainichi Shimbun reporter talked to people living in the building, most of them gave responses such as "I've never seen a gang member," and "there's no interaction between residents amid the coronavirus crisis, so I don't know about that." According to one investigative official, there are many days when there are no gang members present in the daytime, so in the event of a criminal investigation, the group may be contacted to come and unlock it. There are believed to be about 100 gang offices in Fukuoka Prefecture, and one investigation official divulged, "Gang offices in Fukuoka are often in one apartment, and there are quite a few offices that forward calls." In April 2010, an ordinance on the expulsion of gangs in Fukuoka Prefecture, which prohibited the transfer of proceeds to criminal groups, came into force. One investigative official conjectured that it has become harder for gangs to obtain funds and to keep buildings as their offices. Since 2014, the removal of at least 56 gang offices has been confirmed. Another reason for changes in gang locations is the Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Group Members, whose latest revision went into effect in October 2012. Under the revised law it is possible to impose restrictions on the use of gang offices if the gangs are designated as posing a specific danger or being involved in specific conflicts. In December 2012, the Kudo-kai was specified as posing a specific danger within Fukuoka Prefecture, while the Dojin-kai yakuza organization and the Kyushu Seido-kai (currently the Namikawa-kai) were designated as specific conflict groups (this was lifted in June 2014). The Kudo-kai is currently the only yakuza group designated as posing a specific danger in Japan. Local residents and others raise their voices calling for the expulsion of a gang during a rally in Kitakyushu's Kokurakita Ward on Nov. 18
ブランド財布コピー 2021. (Mainichi) Previously the Kudo-kai had a four-story headquarters in Kitakyushu's Kokurakita Ward, which stood as a symbol of its existence. The third floor had a large hall of over 100 tatami mats in size. In December each year, gatherings to mark the "commencement of activities" were held, attended by gang members and the head of the yakuza group, 75-year-old Satoru Nomura. (Nomura has since been convicted of murder and other charges and is appealing a death sentence that was handed down on him by the Fukuoka District Court.) However, the Kudo-kai building was demolished in February 2020 after restrictions were placed on its use. In October 2021, demolishment began on the headquarters of Nomura's predecessor organization, the Tanaka-gumi, and the organization's Konyamachi office
コピー激安通販 both in the city of Kitakyushu. Gang membership in Fukuoka Prefecture peaked at 3,750 people at the end of 2007, but by the end of 2021, the figure had fallen to under half of this, standing at 1,340. One member of a gang affiliated with the Kudo-kai disclosed, "Our meetings are held at family restaurants, too." Lawyer Kiyoshi Hikita, former head of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations' committee on civil intervention for criminal group countermeasures, who is a member of the Osaka Bar Association, pointed out, "In the future, gangs will probably maintain their organizations in environments not easily noticed by those around them
ブランドコピー激安 such as condominiums." He added, "Communications between gang members may be becoming more sophisticated due to the development of social networking services, and so investigative authorities need to be more aware of the state of their activities." But how exactly can residents stand against gang offices that are set up in apartment buildings? The Taishu-kai, a designated crime group based in the Fukuoka Prefecture city of Tagawa, set up an office in a condominium in the city of Iizuka in the prefecture, but in October 2019, the condominium's management association filed a lawsuit demanding that the Taishu-kai hand over the property. A settlement was reached in court in December the same year, and the apartment was sold and cleared out. Full-scale demolition of the Kudo-kai's offices progresses with heavy machinery in Kitakyushu's Kokurakita Ward on Nov. 22, 2019. (Mainichi) Prefectural police gave advice to residents, and provided support, attending general meetings of the management association. One resident commented, "I was uneasy about suing a gang that knew my home and my face, but with residents cooperating together, we were able to have them removed." There have also been widespread moves to have prefectural centers for the removal of criminal organizations take legal action on behalf of residents to have gangs' use of apartments suspended. According to the National Center for Removal of Criminal Organizations, there have been 18 such cases in areas including Fukuoka, Hyogo in western Japan and Shizuoka in central Japan. Under the revised Fukuoka Prefecture ordinance on the expulsion of gangs that went into effect in December 2021, it has effectively become impossible to open new gang offices in urban areas in the prefecture. Expanding the areas where the opening and operation of gang offices is restricted is hoped to have the effect of limiting the movements of gangs that are trying to get into apartments and other urban facilities in order to obtain funds. (Mainichi) Font Size SML Print Go to The Mainichi Home Page Related Articles Japan's former yakuza struggle to find work despite police attempts to provide support Ex-yakuza-turned-novelist gives narrative lowdown on life after prison in Japan Editorial: Death sentence for yakuza boss a severe rebuke for attack on civilians
