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

Participants pose to show their traditional Japanese tattoos (Irezumi), related to the Yakuza, during the annual Sanja Matsuri festival in the Asakusa district of Tokyo on May 20, 2018. Photo by AFP

Yakuza forces have been dwindling since 2005, due in part to a stricter crackdown.

Despite that decline, "some of their activities are becoming more and more opaque, with their sources of funding diversifying," the National Police Agency warned in a report published on Thursday.

"The fact remains unchanged that yakuza is a threat to our society."

It was not immediately clear how police compiled the yakuza membership data.

However, one example of that growing murkiness was a link to anonymous criminal groups increasingly held responsible for offenses such as online scams and investment fraud.

Collectively dubbed "tokuryu", such groups are notable for their recruitment using social media, often of young people who are desperate for quick money.

Some yakuza members were found to be ringleaders of such emerging criminal groups, whose profits can flow to the yakuza, police said.

Police records showed that the total amount of damage linked to organized fraud and other crimes traceable to tokuryu reached 263 billion yen ($1.8 billion) last year, compared with 62 billion yen in 2019.