Shin-Yokohama Chaos as Inagawa-kai Boss Sends Daily Greetings to Yakuza Groups

Arriving in a Century

Despite the string of midsummer days exceeding 30 degrees Celsius since late June, the heat persisted into July in the Kanto region.

On July 1st, inside Shin-Yokohama Station in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, amid the hurried flow of office workers in dress shirts and inbound tourists, a group of sturdy men in suits and ties had gathered from early morning. Among them were individuals holding shopping bags from luxury fruit stores. Nearby, several Kanagawa Prefectural Police investigators were stationed for security.

What exactly was happening at Shin-Yokohama Station, one of Kanagawa’s major terminal stations?

“These were top executives of the Inagawa-kai, a yakuza group headquartered at the Inagawa Hall in Yokohama. On this day, they had gathered to pay a summer greeting to their affiliate group, the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi. The luxury fruit bags were likely gifts. The Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi had arranged for its secondary groups in Shizuoka and Aichi Prefectures to host the greetings over a three-day period, and affiliate and friendly groups from across the country would come to pay their respects.

The Inagawa-kai was the first in line. The Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi’s Wakagashira, Teruaki Takeuchi (65), and the Inagawa-kai’s Chairman, Kazuya Uchibori, have exchanged ‘equal-status brotherhood cups,’ signifying a long and close relationship between the two groups. Supreme executives, including boss Shinobu Tsukasa (83), would be on hand to receive them. Though it’s an annual custom, it’s an important event in the yakuza world to reaffirm their bonds,” explained a journalist familiar with organized crime.

Shortly after 9 a.m., Chairman Uchibori arrived at the station in a Toyota Century. Along with several top executives who had been waiting, he boarded the Shinkansen. Perhaps due to the familiarity of the annual event, he appeared relaxed throughout, with a soft expression on his face.

Three days later, he also interacted with the long-established Yakuza

On the 4th, the day after the summer greeting had concluded, Chairman Uchibori was seen at the Inagawa-kai headquarters building in Roppongi, Tokyo. This was because senior executives from the Dōjin-kai, a friendly group headquartered in Fukuoka Prefecture, had come to pay their own summer greeting.

“Tetsuji Kobayashi, the former chairman of the Dōjin-kai, is known for having mediated between the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi and the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi during their split conflict, working toward its resolution. It’s even said that during a meeting with Kunio Inoue (76), the boss of the Kobe faction, he suggested retirement. In early April this year, the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi unilaterally submitted a ‘written pledge’ to the Hyogo Prefectural Police declaring the end of hostilities, and it was Chairman Uchibori who worked hard behind the scenes to lay the groundwork for that. Because of this history, it’s likely their relationship has grown even closer,” said a national newspaper reporter from the social affairs desk.

Shortly after 11 a.m., Chairman Uchibori arrived at the headquarters building amid security by several investigators from the Kanagawa Prefectural Police and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. As members of the group welcomed him with shouts of “Good work, sir!”, he entered the building with a gentle expression—perhaps because this was the customary reception of a friendly group’s greeting.

At 11:30 a.m., several senior members of the Dōjin-kai arrived. After a brief 15-minute greeting, they boarded a Sumiyoshi-kai vehicle that had come to pick them up at the Inagawa headquarters and headed to the Sumiyoshi-kai.

Chairman Uchibori showed a streak of active diplomacy over consecutive days. Among these interactions, what remains most notable is his relationship with the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi. The aforementioned journalist commented:

“It was none other than Chairman Uchibori who laid the groundwork for the end of the conflict. The fact that the Inagawa-kai was the first group to offer the summer greeting also shows how strong their relationship with the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi is. Within the Yamaguchi-gumi, Wakagashira Takeuchi is steadily advancing a ‘reformist personnel strategy’ by promoting younger members and building a new structure. The relationship between the two organizations is likely to grow even closer from here on.”

The Yamaguchi-gumi split conflict, which has had a major impact on the yakuza world, will mark its 10th anniversary in late August this year. While the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi remains eerily silent, each organization is already looking to the future and continuing their proactive diplomacy.