Notes:
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At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Century, Japan underwent great industrial and social change and the Yakuza were not slow in adapting to, and exploiting these changes. They began recruiting heavily within the shipping and construction industry and also began to co-operate with authorities in return for more favourable treatment from police. The number of Yakuza members continued to rise steadily up until Japan's involvement in WWII. During the American occupation of Japan after WWII food was rationed and this led to a flourishing black market in a variety of goods and the emergence of a new kind of Yakuza (gurentai - or street hustler). The Yakuza began to take many of their cues from the Italian Mafia that was operating in America at the time and would dress in dark suits, withshoes and shortAcropped hair.
Between 1958-1963 the number of Yakuza members rose to a record 180,000 people, in approximately 5,000 gangs throughout Japan. This increase in gangs also led to an increase in violence as the gangs began to mark out their territories. From this high of 180,000 members in the early 1960's numbers have continued to decline. In 1988 the National Police Agency estimated that there were 3,400 organized crime groups operating with roughly 100,000 members (this compares to an estimated 30,000 members of organized crime in the US).
More recently the Yakuza has begun to branch into legitimate society through businesses that are easily accessable for them, such as finance, real estate and investment banking. There is even concern that the Yakuza is developing the kind of financial power that could threaten the whole economy. In 1992 steps were taken to reduce the Yakuza's increasing politcal and financial influence by passing the Act for the Prevention of Unlawful Activities by Boryokudan (Yakuza or criminal gang) Members in 1992. So incensed by this new law, wives and daughters of Yakuza members marched through Ginza in Tokyo in protest.
The new law has appeared to make little inroads into the perceived problem and the Yakuza are still ever present in Japanese society. An example of this was shown in 1995 when a large earthquake hit Japan. The city of Kobe, home to Japan's largest Yakuza organization the 'Yamaguchi-gumi', was hit the hardest and in the immediate aftermarth, with local authorities slow to respond to the devastation the local Yakuza provided food and clothing for thousands of people in need. This was not only an embarrassment for the local authorities but also a PR coup for the Yakuza.
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