Yakuza

Japanese organized crime, descended from bands of gamblers and peddlers who organized in the 17th century, roughly a century before anything recognisable as the modern Mafia existed. Members are visible on purpose: open offices, a name and emblem on the door, tattoos and cyberware shown rather than hidden, because being unmistakably Yakuza is itself the message.

They are wealthy, disciplined, and technologically fluent, and their relationship with the Japanese megacorporations is closer than any other syndicate manages with the corporations of its own homeland. For decades since the Awakening they've been taking North American ground from the Mafia, even as the Triads take ground from them nearly everywhere else in the world.

What the crew knows#

• Wherever the Japanacorps do serious business, the Yakuza is rarely far behind, and in a city with a heavy Japanacorp presence they can operate close to level terms with any homegrown syndicate.
• Tradition runs deep and is not just theater: hierarchy, honor and ritual are real constraints on how a Yakuza clan behaves, not window dressing over an ordinary gang.
• They compete with the Triads for ground across the Pacific Rim and have been losing that fight for half a century, even while winning against the Mafia in the West.

Standing with the crew#

Neutral. Nobody has done business with the Yakuza yet, on either side of the law.