Is Japan’s reopening to tourists triggering a series of ‘kamikaze car’ attacks between yakuza gangs?
- At least five ‘kamikaze car’ attacks have occurred in the last month as two of Japan’s most notorious gangs are locked in a bitter turf war
- One analyst believes the escalating violence is an attempt by the Yamaguchi-gumi gang to bring a splinter group back into the fold
Police in Osaka and Kobe appeared to have quelled fighting between local gangs after a series of arrests of high-profile leaders and legal manoeuvres to curb their ability to make money. The relative peace of the last three years has been shattered, however, in recent weeks, with police reporting a series of “kamikaze car” attacks on gang leaders’ homes.
On May 8, a member of a gang linked to the Yamaguchi-gumi deliberately drove a car into the gateway of Tadashi Ide, the second-in-command of the rival Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi and head of the affiliated Takumi-gumi.
No one was injured, and the driver was initially charged with criminal damage, but now faces additional charges of breaking and entering a private property and assault.
Two days later, a high-ranking member of Kizuna-kai, a small underworld group made up of former members of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, was found in a car that had been left at a hospital in Mie Prefecture with a bullet wound to his arm. A man connected to the Yamaguchi-gumi was subsequently arrested.