The Occupation Years
After WWII when the American troops occupied Japan they saw the yakuza as the biggest threat against their forces. They began to watch the yakuza's activities. The American troops rationed out food and as a result the black market flowered and made the gangs rich and powerful. It were during the occupations that a new sort of yakuza began to grow, gurentai (street hustler). They were for the most part involved in robbery and black market. Yakuza became influenced by the American gangster movies and began to dress in black suits with white shirts, black sunglasses and cropped hair. They became tougher and more violent, the sword became history, now it was firearms. It was about this time that not just gamblers and storekeepers became exposed to violence but also the ordinary person was becoming more of a victim. Between about the years of 1958 and 1963 the number of yakuza- members increased with over 150%, to 184,000 members, now are they well below that. There are an estimated 5,200 different gangs in Japan. Also during that time they began to mark out their territories and wars started between the gangs. It is believed that the wars between the gangs were settled by a man named Yoshio Kodama. Kodama was Japan's underworld counterpart to America's Al Capone.