Yakuza Member Arrested in Japan for Trafficking 15 Kilos of Meth from Mexico

One of the suspects arrested was Mikio Kuramochi, a 76-year-old senior figure in the Sumiyoshi-kai crime syndicate in the city of Warabi, Saitama Prefecture. The identities of the other suspects have not yet been disclosed.

As of 2015 reports, the Sumiyoshi-kai is Japan’s second-largest Yakuza organization and the largest that operates in Tokyo, with roughly 3,400 active members, and 8,500 if you include associated members. The current sosai (President) is Shigeo Nishiguchi.

Matsugoro Ito initially founded the organization as a Tokyo Shibaura area bakuto (gambler) union in the early Meiji Era (late 1800s). Though Yakuza organizations usually take on the name of their founder or their founding location, Ito named his group the “Sumiyoshi Family” after his birthplace in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi Sumiyoshi-cho. Following WWII, Shigesaku Abe was elected to the 3rd socho (supreme leader), who adopted expansionist policies. Japan recognizes the current formation of the organization taking place in 1958 (when they began to keep records on the Yakuza).

Unlike the other two largest Yakuza organizations (Yamaguchi-gumi and Inagawa-kai), the Sumiyoshi-kai operates more like a loose federation of many gangs centered around the Sumiyoshi-ikka.

Hareaki Fukuda (right), kaicho of the Sumiyoshi-kai, pictured with Hidetoshi Tanaka (left), Chief Director of Japan University and Vice Director of the Olympic Commission.

Decline of the Yakuza in Japan

As of 2022, the largest organization, Yamaguchi-gumi had 8,100 members in total, down 400 from the previous year, accounting for 36.2% of all organized crime members in Japan. The next-largest organization, Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, had 6,100 members when it was formed in 2015, but its ranks have thinned to just 760 today.

The members and associate members of these two organizations, combined with those of the four other major groups (Kizuna-kai, Ikeda-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai, and Inagawa-kai), totals 16,100 persons, accounting for 71.9% of all gang members.
According to the National Police Agency, members and associates of designated crime syndicates numbered 22,400 as of the end of 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 1,700. This marks the eighteenth consecutive year-on-year decline and the lowest number on record since 1958 when statistics were first kept.

The number of members and associates arrested in 2022 fell by 1,832, to 9,903, dipping below 10,000 for the first time. The decrease takes place against the overall decline in the power of organized crime, with a majority of the arrests being for stimulant-related crimes.

The largest number of arrests was for violations of the Stimulants Control Act (2,141), followed by cases of fraud (1,424), assault resulting in injury (1,424), theft (847), violations of the Cannabis Control Act (619), and extortion (453). In addition, there were 79 arrests for murder.