Yakuza
A 400-Year History of the Japanese Underworld
Contributors
Formats and Prices
- On Sale
- Sep 15, 2026
- Page Count
- 384 pages
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- ISBN-13
- 9781541607675
Price
$32.00Price
$42.00 CADFormat
Format:
- Hardcover $32.00 $42.00 CAD
- ebook $18.99 $24.99 CAD
Buy from Other Retailers:
Japan’s gangster groups, known collectively as the yakuza, are among the oldest underworld societies in the world. With military-style organization and a code of absolute obedience, they have run Japan’s black markets for centuries. They have remained strikingly conspicuous in Japanese society, and as a cultural force beyond Japan, with movies and video games celebrating their exploits globally.
Andrew Rankin offers the first comprehensive history of the yakuza, from their emergence out of seventeenth-century samurai gang culture to the present day. Though their activities have always encompassed illegal gambling and sex trafficking, the yakuza have also aggressively maintained business interests in private security, the construction industry, the entertainment industry, and debt collection. Yakuza bosses acquired a degree of legitimacy by styling themselves as peacekeepers maintaining order at society’s bottom end. Yet that legitimacy has come into doubt in recent years as Japan’s contracting economy has pushed the yakuza into increasingly predatory criminal activities.
Featuring a lively cast of extortionists, smugglers, hit men, and corporate crime lords, Yakuza is a fascinating tour of Japan’s sprawling mob syndicates and the cultural traditions with which they are so deeply intertwined.
Genre:
You May Also Like
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use