The Fukuoka gang war has erupted at a time when, in other areas of Japan, yakuza belligerence has subsided. For several years, the country's three largest underworld organizations - including the massive Yamaguchi-gumi consisting of 55,000 members - have consolidated power and haven't engaged in much open fighting, said Jake Adelstein, the author of "Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan."
In Kyushu, on the other hand, no single victor has emerged among the fractious foes. "Fierce competition makes for fierce fighting," Adelstein said, drawing a comparison with the capital. "Tokyo gangsters don't lob hand grenades at each other."
Yet the mob maintains a potent and quiet reach in the Japanese business world, and experts are in disagreement over whether lawmakers will ever stamp out the yakuza completely. One in five companies admits to paying them off, reveals a November study by the National Police Agency, the organization that sets law enforcement policy.
Mob bosses also carry the backing of a titanic fan base. For years the yakuza were, and continue to be, revered by some as benevolent scofflaws who enforced a code of honor. They were seen as keeping the battles to themselves and avoiding civilians.
In the same way American pop culture finds romance in the stories of cowboys and pirates, the yakuza are glorified in fan magazines, comic books, and action films all over Japan.
But unlike the American underworld, the yakuza at times operate in the open without much thought to the eyes of police. The address of the Kudo-kai headquarters, a walled compound in Kitakyushu, is widely available on the internet, and the group sometimes offers interviews to journalists.
The National Police Agency acknowledges that it'll have a hard time thanks to an amendment in the Japanese constitution that guarantees freedom of assembly. The restraint has become apparent in Fukuoka, where the Kudo-kai sued the prefectural police in January over the "dangerous" label. The group's lawyer claims it infringes on their constitutional right to free expression.
Legal issues like these make Fukuoka residents doubt the effectiveness of striking the yakuza too hard.
"The police simply aren't powerful enough," says the construction executive. He thinks the mob presence will never go away, even if it is seeing a nationwide decline.
