Editing Yakuza (section)

==Law enforcement and indirect enforcement==
===Operation Summit===
Between 1964 and 1965, the Japanese police carried out mass arrests of yakuza leaders and executives in what they called the {{nihongo3|First Operation Summit|第一次頂上作戦|Daiichiji chōjō sakusen}} in response to public demands for the yakuza to be banished from society. As a result, crime declined and the number of arrested yakuza fell from about 59,000 in 1964 to 38,000 in 1967. The number of yakuza organizations and members also declined, from 5,216 organizations and 184,091 members in 1963 to 3,500 organizations and 139,089 members in 1969.<ref name="moj89i">{{cite web|url=https://hakusyo1.moj.go.jp/jp/30/nfm/n_30_2_4_2_5_3.html|title=White Paper on Crime 1989 3 頂上作戦とその影響(昭和30年代末～40年代前半)|pages=|website=[[Ministry of Justice (Japan)]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731064258/https://hakusyo1.moj.go.jp/jp/30/nfm/n_30_2_4_2_5_3.html|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=31 July 2023}}</ref> As a result, 1963, the year before the First Operation Summit was launched, was the peak of yakuza power.<ref name="npa99"/>

From around 1970, yakuza leaders and executives who had been imprisoned began to be released from prison, and yakuza organizations that had been disbanded during the First Operation Summit were revived and reorganized, leading the police to conduct the Second Operation Summit in 1970 and the Third Operation Summit in 1975. These series of police crackdowns led to a decline in the number of yakuza organizations and members, from 2957 organizations with 123,044 members in 1972 to 2517 organizations with 106,754 members in 1979. As a result, small yakuza organizations were forced to dissolve, and the total number of members decreased, but some members transferred to large yakuza organizations, so the number of members of large organizations actually increased during this period. The three major organizations, Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai, and Inagawa-kai, expanded during this period. During this period, Japan was in a recession following the [[1970s energy crisis|energy crisis of the 1970s]], and it became difficult for the yakuza to acquire sufficient financial resources through traditional methods alone, so it was inevitable that they would consolidate into large yakuza organizations with diverse or legal sources of funding.<ref name="npa99"/><ref name="moj89ni">{{cite web|url=https://hakusyo1.moj.go.jp/jp/30/nfm/n_30_2_4_2_5_4.html|title=White Paper on Crime 1989 4 広域化・寡占化による再編の時代(昭和40年代後半～50年代前半)|pages=|website=[[Ministry of Justice (Japan)]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731194644/https://hakusyo1.moj.go.jp/jp/30/nfm/n_30_2_4_2_5_4.html|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=31 July 2023}}</ref>

===Anti-yakuza laws===
The {{nihongo|Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Group Members|[[:ja:暴力団員による不当な行為の防止等に関する法律|暴力団員による不当な行為の防止等に関する法律]]|}}, passed in 1991 and enacted in 1992, was a landmark piece of legislation that cracked down on the yakuza. The law prohibited 27 acts by yakuza, including demanding hush money or donations, collecting debts and conducting land grabbing activities in an unjustified manner. The law also made it illegal to demand and collect so-called {{nihongo3|protection racket|みかじめ料|mikajime-ryō}} from downtown restaurants and bars, which were the yakuza's main source of funding. Police could issue two cease-and-desist orders to offenders who demanded ''mikajime-ryō'', and could arrest offenders who still refused to comply. Until then, the yakuza had charged bouncer fees to restaurants and bars in their territory, especially those open at night, and made various threats, such as ramming dump trucks into businesses that refused, and business owners, fearing reprisals, had paid ''mikajime-ryō'', but the new law resulted in more businesses refusing ''mikajime-ryō'' and the yakuza's financial resources were lost. In 1991, the yakuza had 63,800 members, but by 1992, when the new law took effect, the number had dropped sharply to about 56,600, then to about 48,000 in 1994 and 43,100 in 2001.<ref name="genmika">{{cite web|url=https://gendai.media/articles/-/108038?page=2|title=「億単位のカネが簡単に集まった」暴対法から約30年…指定暴力団の幹部が明かす「バブル時代の暴力団のヤバすぎる実態」|pages=|website=[[Kodansha]]|date=30 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528091910/https://gendai.media/articles/-/108038?page=2|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=28 May 2023}}</ref><ref name="ncrco">{{cite web|url=https://www.zenboutsui.jp/jousei_taisaku/taisakuhou/27.html|title=暴力的要求行為の禁止内容|pages=|website=National Center for Removal of Criminal Organizations|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204034646/https://www.zenboutsui.jp/jousei_taisaku/taisakuhou/27.html|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=4 December 2023}}</ref>

Additional regulations can be found in a 2008 anti-yakuza amendment which allows prosecutors to place the blame on any yakuza-related crime on crime bosses. Specifically, the leader of the [[Yamaguchi-gumi]] has since been incarcerated and forced to pay upwards of 85 million yen in damages of several crimes committed by his gangsters, leading to the yakuza's dismissal of around 2,000 members per year; albeit, some analysts claim that these dismissals are part of the yakuza's collective attempt to regain a better reputation amongst the populace. Regardless, the yakuza's culture, too, has shifted towards a more secretive and far less public approach to crime, as many of their traditions have been reduced or erased to avoid being identified as yakuza.<ref name="apjjf.org"/>

Beginning in 2009, led by agency chief [[:ja:安藤隆春|Takaharu Ando]], Japanese police began to crack down on the gangs. Yamaguchi-gumi's number two and [[Kodo-kai]] chief [[Kiyoshi Takayama]] was arrested in late 2010. In December 2010, police arrested Yamaguchi-gumi's alleged number three leader, [[Tadashi Irie]].<ref name="afp260111">Zeller, Frank ([[Agence France-Presse|AFP]]-[[Jiji Press|Jiji]]), "Yakuza served notice days of looking the other way are over," ''[[Japan Times]]'', 26 January 2011, p. 3.</ref>

=== Yakuza exclusion ordinances ===
In addition to the anti-yakuza laws, the [[Yakuza exclusion ordinances]] enacted by each of Japan's 47 prefectures between 2009 and 2011 also contributed significantly to the decline of the yakuza.<ref name="asahi031223">{{cite web|url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP9Z5FP8P9SPTIL047.html|title=「早くやめておけば」あえぐ組員、強まる排除 「暴排」条例の10年|pages=|website=[[The Asahi Shimbun]]|date=30 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203220806/https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP9Z5FP8P9SPTIL047.html|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=3 December 2023}}</ref><ref name="nhk300622">{{cite web|url=https://www.nhk.jp/p/gendai/ts/R7Y6NGLJ6G/blog/bl/pkEldmVQ6R/bp/pMzwQVwkop/|title=30年で構成員7割減…令和時代 暴力団はいま|pages=|website=[[NHK]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630044232/https://www.nhk.jp/p/gendai/ts/R7Y6NGLJ6G/blog/bl/pkEldmVQ6R/bp/pMzwQVwkop/|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=30 June 2022}}</ref> Ordinances were enacted in Osaka and Tokyo in 2010 and 2011 to try to combat yakuza influence by making it illegal for any business to do business with the yakuza.<ref>Botting, Geoff, "[http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20111016bj.html Average Joe could be collateral damage in war against yakuza]", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 16 October 2011, p. 9.</ref><ref>Schreiber, Mark, "[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fd20120304bj.html Anti-Yakuza Laws are Taking their Toll]", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 4 March 2012, p. 9.</ref> While the anti-yakuza laws prohibited the yakuza from making unreasonable demands on businesses and citizens, these ordinances prohibited businesses and citizens from offering benefits to the yakuza. This made it increasingly difficult for the yakuza to raise funds, as fewer businesses and citizens succumbed to the yakuza's threats and offered benefits to the yakuza, such as contracting work or paying money to the yakuza.<ref name="asahi031223"/><ref name="nhk300622"/> According to the media, encouraged by tougher anti-yakuza laws and yakuza exclusion ordinances, local governments and construction companies have begun to shun or ban yakuza activities or involvement in their communities or construction projects.<ref name="afp260111"/>

In addition, these ordinances have made it difficult for yakuza members to lead normal civilian lives. The ordinances also require businesses and citizens to refuse to rent meeting rooms or parking spaces to the yakuza, or to print business cards with the name of yakuza organizations on them. Companies can now also refuse to open bank accounts, sign mobile phone contracts, credit card contracts, lease real estate, or process various loans for people identified as yakuza under the anti-yakuza laws, making it more difficult for yakuza to live in society.<ref name="asahi031223"/><ref name="soc250124">{{cite web|url=https://www.riskeyes.jp/hansha-check-column/72|title=元暴5年条項とは？定義や反社会的勢力排除に必要な理由を解説|pages=|website=Socialwire Co., Ltd|date=28 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125074407/https://www.riskeyes.jp/hansha-check-column/72|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=25 January 2024}}</ref><ref name="tok030723">{{cite web|url=https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/259624|title=暴力団から足を洗って5年以上なのに、どうして銀行口座つくれないの？ 元組員が「不合理な差別」と提訴|pages=|website=[[Tokyo Shimbun]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703142815/https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/259624|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=3 July 2023}}</ref> Even companies that provide lifelines have become tough on the yakuza, with [[Osaka Gas]] terminating contracts if a contractor is discovered to be a yakuza. To prevent yakuza from nominally leaving the organization and signing contracts with companies, these ordinances allow companies to treat a person as a yakuza for five years even if he or she has nominally left the yakuza and become a civilian.<ref name="asahi031223"/><ref name="soc250124"/><ref name="tok030723"/>

Since 2011, regulations outlawing business with yakuza members, government-ordered audits of yakuza finances, and the enactment of [[yakuza exclusion ordinances]] have hastened a decline in yakuza membership. The number of yakuza members and quasi-members fell from 78,600 in 2010 to 25,900 in 2020.<ref name="asahi031223"/>

===Outside Japan===
Yakuza organizations also face pressure from the US government; in 2011, a federal executive order required financial institutions to freeze yakuza assets, and as of 2013, the [[United States Department of the Treasury|U.S. Treasury Department]] had frozen about US$55,000 of yakuza holdings, including two Japan-issued American Express cards.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-22/yazkuza-mobsters-whacked-by-regulators-freezing-amexs.html | work=Bloomberg | title=Yakuza Bosses Whacked by Regulators Freezing AmEx Cards}}</ref>

=== Current situation ===
The number of yakuza members and quasi-members fell by about 70 percent in the 30 years between 1990, before the anti-yakuza law, and 2020, after the anti-yakuza laws and the yakuza exclusion ordinances took effect.<ref name="nhk300622"/>

With the addition of the employer liability clause in the 2008 amendment to the Anti-yakuza law, there have been a number of situations in which yakuza bosses have been held liable for crimes committed by members of the yakuza. For example, in a civil case, the [[Tokyo High Court]] held the head of [[Sumiyoshi-kai]] liable for a {{nihongo3|special fraud|特殊詐欺|[[#Current activities|tokushu sagi]]}} committed by members of Sumiyoshi-kai under the employer liability article of the Anti-yakuza law in 2021. As a result, Sumiyoshi-kai paid 652 million yen to the victims (approximately $6 million US dollars at the time), 35 million yen more than the amount of damages.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP6M5DSMP6LUTIL07S.html|title=住吉会トップら6億円超支払う 詐欺被害上回る和解金|date=19 June 2021 |publisher=[[The Asahi Shimbun]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929230459/https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP6M5DSMP6LUTIL07S.html|accessdate=11 May 2024|archive-date=29 September 2022}}</ref>

In criminal cases, [[Satoru Nomura|Nomura Satoru]] became the first {{nihongo|"designated yakuza"|指定暴力団|Shitei Bōryokudan}} boss to be [[Capital punishment in Japan|sentenced to death]] under the employer liability clause on 24 August 2021. Nomura was involved in one murder and assaults of three people. The presiding judge Adachi Ben of the Fukuoka District Court characterized the murders as extremely vicious attacks.<ref name="satoru">{{cite web |title=Yakuza boss is first ever to be sentenced to death in Japan |website=The Japan Story |url=http://live56today.com/yakuza-boss-is-first-ever-to-be-sentenced-to-in-japan/ |date=24 August 2021 |author=RJ Endra |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825122106/http://live56today.com/yakuza-boss-is-first-ever-to-be-sentenced-to-in-japan/ }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sankei.com/article/20210824-X2XRJM7NVZPJ7DRJVS6L3ES7AQ/|title=捜査幹部「画期的な判決」 他の暴力団に影響も|language=ja|trans-title=Senior investigator: "Groundbreaking ruling" could have an impact on other gangs|date=24 August 2021 |publisher=[[Sankei Shimbun]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019175633/https://www.sankei.com/article/20210824-X2XRJM7NVZPJ7DRJVS6L3ES7AQ/|accessdate=11 May 2024|archive-date=19 October 2021}}</ref> On 12 March 2024, the Fukuoka High Court overturned Nomura's death sentence and downgraded it to life imprisonment. The High Court found him not guilty of murder.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Japanese high court overturns death sentence against yakuza gang leader |date=12 March 2024 |url=https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240312_11/ |access-date=12 March 2024 |publisher=NHK |language=en |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312061323/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240312_11/ |archivedate=12 March 2024}}</ref>

On top of the already staggering anti-yakuza legislation, Japan's younger generation may be less inclined to gang-related activity, as modern society has made it easier, especially for young men, to gain even semi-legitimate jobs such as ownership in bars and massage parlors and pornography that can be more profitable than gang affiliation - all while protecting themselves by abiding by the strict anti-yakuza laws.<ref name="apjjf.org">{{Cite web |title=21st-Century Yakuza: Recent Trends in Organized Crime in Japan ~Part 1 ２１ ―― |url=https://apjjf.org/2012/10/7/Andrew-Rankin/3688/article.html |access-date=2022-04-01 |website=The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus}}</ref>

Citizens who take a stronger stance seem to also have taken action that does not lead to violent reactions from the yakuza. In Kyushu, although store owners initially were attacked by gang members, the region has reached stability after local business owners banned known yakuza and posted warnings against yakuza entering their premises.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Citizens battle Kudo-kai yakuza gang to take back their streets {{!}} The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis |url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14429666 |access-date=2022-04-01 |website=The Asahi Shimbun |language=en}}</ref>