The is a

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...

syndicate based in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

with a predominantly

Zainichi Korean comprise ethnic Koreans who have permanent residency status in Japan or who have become Japanese citizens, and whose immigration to Japan originated before 1945, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South ...

membership. Originally named the , with its historic leader Hisayuki Machii, the Toa-kai was deeply involved in the history of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

n community and Japan's anti-communist circles in the 20th century.

History

The group was formed by Hisayuki Machii, a

mob boss,"Overview of a 'heretic' of post-war history"
April 2009, ''The Facta Magazine'' as the Tosei-kai in 1948. The Tosei-kai was originally a reported far-right organization of anti-communist activism led by Machii as a sympathizer of

Kanji Ishiwara was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. He and Itagaki Seishirō were the men primarily responsible for the Mukden Incident that took place in Manchuria in 1931. Early life Ishiwara was born in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Pref ...

,"Review : The Man Called the Wild Bull : 'Tosei-kai' Hisayuki Machii's Post-war History"
, March 2009, Shin'ichi Sano, ''

Shinchosha is a publisher founded in 1896 in Japan and headquartered in Yaraichō, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Shinchosha is one of the sponsors of the Japan Fantasy Novel Award. Books * Haruki Murakami: '' Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World'' (19 ...

'' which was in conflict with the

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

-associated General Association of Korean Residents in Japan. The Tosei-kai quickly became one of

's most powerful gangs, and had significantly expanded during the time of the post-war economic growth. Membership reached 1,500 in the 1960s. As the leader of the syndicate, Machii became an essential "fixer" between Japan and

."Hisayuki Machii - Top 10 Real-Life Mob Bosses"
20 January 2011, ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' Increasing police crackdowns by 1965 forced Machii to disband the Tosei-kai and establish a new gang, the , or "East Asia Friendship Enterprise Association". He also formed a "legitimate" company called the , or East Asia Enterprises Company, and named power-broker

Yoshio Kodama was a Japanese right-wing ultranationalist and a prominent figure in the rise of organized crime in Japan. The most famous '' kuromaku'', or behind-the-scenes power broker, of the 20th century, he was active in Japan's political arena and crim ...

as chairman of the board.''Yakuza: Japan's criminal underworld'', p.229, 2003, David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro, Afterwards, the Toa Yuai Jigyo Kumiai changed the name as and Toa-kai. The founder Machii retired in the 1980s, and died of heart failure on September 14, 2002, in Tokyo. Also known as a successful businessman, he was 79.

Condition

The Toa-kai is a member of a

bakuto ''Bakuto'' (博徒) were itinerant gamblers active in Japan from the 18th century to the mid-20th century. They were one of two forerunners (the other being ''tekiya'', or peddlers) to modern Japanese organized crime syndicates called ''yakuza'' ...

fraternal federation named the Kanto Hatsuka-kai, along with four other

Kanto Kantō (Japanese) Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain *Kantō region *Kantō-kai, organized crime group *Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ' ...

-based yakuza syndicates, the Sumiyoshi-kai, the

Inagawa-kai The is the third largest of Japan's yakuza groups, with approximately 3,100 members. It is based in the Kantō region, and was one of the first yakuza organizations to begin operating overseas. History The Inagawa-kai was founded in Atami, Sh ...

, the

Matsuba-kai The , meaning "Pine Needle Society," is a yakuza organization based in Tokyo, Japan. The Matsuba-kai is a designated yakuza group with an estimated 360 active members as of 2020.

, and the Soai-kai."The Yamaguchi-gumi Bakuhu theory"
Kenji Ino, 17 December 2007 The Toa-kai has aligned itself with the largest known

Yamaguchi-gumi is Japan's largest '' yakuza'' organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for dockworkers in Kobe before World War II. It is one of the largest criminal organizations i ...

syndicate since the syndicate's Taoka era in the 20th century, and has been closely supported by

Shinobu Tsukasa , also known as , is a Japanese Yakuza, the sixth and current ''kumicho'' (supreme kingpin, or chairman) of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest yakuza organization. Career Shinoda was born in Ōita, Kyushu. Ginza-Dori Avenue at night

Territories

The Toa-kai has its headquarters in Ginza,

ever since its formation. The Toa-kai has its five branch organizations in Tokyo, and one branch organization outside of Tokyo."Toa-kai"
''Yakuza Wiki''

Okinawa

The Toa-kai's notable branch organizations include the . The Yoshimi-kogyo is the Toa-kai's only branch organization based outside of Tokyo. Based on the

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

island, the Yoshimi-kogyo is one of the three major yakuza groups in the Okinawa region, along with the Kyokuryu-kai and the Okinawa Kyokuryu-kai. The origin of the Yoshimi-kogyo reportedly traces back to the late 20th century, when Toshio Gibo, an ethnic Okinawan mobster, formed an anti- left nationalist organization named the Makoto-kai in Okinawa under influence of

. Gibo met with Machii through Kodama, founding an affiliate of the Tosei-kai in Okinawa. Okinawa's underworld has been known for its exclusiveness since the 20th century, where the dominating Kyokuryu-kai has persistently attacked and violently expelled any yakuza syndicate attempting to enter the island. The reason why the Toa-kai has been able to be active on the island may be because the group has historically been more oriented to legitimate businesses, and of its gentle stance, in contrast to other yakuza syndicates which have attempted to expand their influences into Okinawa with heavy violence, such as the

and especially the

Dojin-kai The is a yakuza organization headquartered in Kurume, Fukuoka, on the Kyushu island of Japan,

. For example, in 2002 in Okinawa, only one Yoshimi member was arrested, while 56 Kyokuryu-kai members and 95 Okinawa Kyokuryu-kai members were arrested.

Leadership

*''Tosei-kai'' era ::President: Hisayuki Machii *''Toa Yuai Jigyo Kumiai'' era ::1st president: Fujimatsu Hirano ::2nd president: Morihiro Okita *''Toa Yuai'' era ::President: Shohei Futamura *''Toa-kai'' era ::1st president: Shohei Futamura ::2nd president: Yoshio Kaneumi

References

{{reflist Organizations established in 1948 1948 establishments in Japan Yakuza groups Anti-communist organizations category:Yamaguchi-gumi Zainichi Korean history