Concern in Japan as police investigation uncovers possible yakuza-triad alliance

Footage found during a raid shows yakuza members taking part in a ritual with individuals believed to be part of Hong Kong’s 14K triad

A police investigation into alleged organised crime activity in Japan has uncovered what experts say could be signs of cooperation between a domestic yakuza faction and Hong Kong’s 14K triad, one of Asia’s most powerful criminal networks.

The concern centres around a video found on a mobile phone seized during an arrest in September last year, which shows individuals sharing glasses of sake – a traditional ritual that experts say can symbolise an oath of loyalty or alliance.

According to Jiji Press, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said the footage depicted members of the yakuza taking part in the ritual with individuals believed to be part of Hong Kong’s 14K triad. The meeting was said to have taken place at a hotel in Yamanashi prefecture in March 2024.

Police said the footage was discovered six months later during an unrelated investigation into the illegal resale of mobile phones. However, five of the Japanese men involved in the March hotel meeting were subsequently arrested on a separate charge: failing to declare their alleged affiliations with banned organised crime groups when checking in – an offence under legislation introduced to restrict gang movements and activities.

Among those arrested was Kajiro Shirai, 51, who officers identified as a member of the Chinese Dragon gang – a group largely composed of descendants of Japanese nationals who were left in China after World War II and later repatriated.

Also detained was Kazuyuki Tajima, 53, who police described as a senior member of the Sumiyoshi-kai, one of Japan’s largest yakuza syndicates.

Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan and an authority on the nation’s underworld groups, said the Japanese authorities’ crackdown on yakuza had dramatically cut into their profits and hit recruitment. The only way for them to survive, he said, was to form new alliances and diversify their operations.

“These groups are joining forces in order to expand into the international drug trade,” Adelstein told This Week in Asia. “The 14K triad controls methamphetamine routes in Southeast Asia and tying up with the Sumiyoshi-kai will give them access to overseas drug supply chains.”

According to Adelstein, a second opportunity lies in money laundering through the booming tourism and property sectors. “The boom in Chinese tourists coming to Japan has created channels to launder cash via duty-free shops and property deals,” he said.

With the 14K known to have expertise in cybercrime and the Sumiyoshi-kai’s ability to provide “local infrastructure” in Japan, Adelstein said both groups together “are capable of conducting phishing scams and cryptocurrency fraud, both crimes that are rising sharply in Japan”.

According to the National Police Agency’s 2024 white paper on crime, there has been an increase in cooperation between gangs in Japan and other parts of Asia, with “anonymous and fluid criminal groups” emerging to assume the operations of traditional yakuza groups.

There were more than 19,000 cases of communications fraud in 2023, leading to damages of about 45.3 billion yen (US$313.9 million), with elderly people the most frequent victims of such scams. Authorities have also reported a surge in investment or romance fraud via social media, saying that such cases have “reached an alarming level” and damages soaring to 45.5 billion yen.

“Legal crackdowns – like the 2011 Organised Crime Exclusion Ordinances – have weakened traditional yakuza operations, but that has only pushed these groups towards international and tech-driven crime,” Adelstein said. “Ties with the 14K will only serve to bolster the Sumiyoshi-kai’s standing, both domestically and abroad.”