Under a setting sun: the spatial displacement of the yakuza and their longing for visibility

Spaces occupied by organised crime are usually kept secret, hidden, invisible. Japanese criminal syndicates, the yakuza, made instead visibility a key feature of the spaces they occupy through an overt display of their presence in the territory: in the past, a yakuza headquarter could have been instantly recognised by the crest and group name emblazoned on the front wall. However, recent changes in legislation have restrictively regulated these spaces, and the hygienisation of central neighbourhoods that used to be vital loci of yakuza activity has eroded the visibility of the groups. The intensification of the neoliberal drive took these processes to the extreme: political élites are urging to hide the yakuza from international scrutiny. Meanwhile, gentrification and temporary fortification of big cities have already changed the urban landscape and expelled elements of visual disturbance: marginal and dangerous ‘others’ such as the yakuza and the homeless. This article explores the relationship between organised crime and (in)visibility through the unusual case of a criminal group that ironically strives for visibility, and aims to investigate the socio-spatial consequences of the invisibilisation of the yakuza. Based on interviews and institutional documents, this article focuses on the wards of Kabukichō (Tokyo) and Nakasu (Fukuoka) – traditionally spaces of yakuza presence – examining how the increasing grip of the politics of surveillance over urbanscapes and the consequent spatial displacement of the yakuza induced a change in the yakuza’s relationship with their surroundings. As a result, it is argued, this is further contributing to the emergence of new forms of crime challenging the yakuza’s historical monopoly of the underworld.