Yakuza member arrested for stealing Pokémon cards as Japan’s criminal underworld declines

Japan’s notorious yakuza are resorting to petty theft. The recent arrest of a powerful gang member in Tokyo for allegedly stealing 25 Pokémon cards illustrates the decline of Japan’s criminal underworld — often glorified in popular culture.

Thanks to a government crackdown that banned the yakuza from opening bank accounts and driving on highways, its members have fallen to around 22,000 in 2022 from their peak of 184,000 in the 1960s, according to Le Monde’s Tokyo correspondent.

And like the rest of Japan, the yakuza are also getting older, forcing gangs to pivot to more age-appropriate criminal acts like illegal sea cucumber fishing and retouching suggestive photos.