KOBE--A stone wall shields the south side of a sprawling house in a quiet residential area here while several surveillance cameras are trained on the sidewalk.

This is the headquarters of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the nation’s largest yakuza organization. And law enforcement officials hope it will become the next target of residents in a decade-long fight to drive gangsters out of their neighborhoods.

The Yamaguchi-gumi split up in August 2015, leading to an increasing number of rival gangs as well as violent acts. Fearing for their safety, residents filed petitions at courts that have led to injunctions preventing gangsters from using their offices.

But no injunction has been sought concerning the relatively peaceful main base of the crime syndicate.

‘INDIFFERENCE’ TO YAKUZA BASE

The headquarters is located in the Shinohara-Honmachi district of Kobe’s Nada Ward, about a 20-minute drive from the city center.

The building was initially the home of Kazuo Taoka, the third leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi, who developed the syndicate into a nationwide organization.

People in the neighborhood voiced mixed feelings about the fortified structure.

A man in his 70s who said he has lived nearby for all of his life does “not care if the building is here or not.”

He said he has never felt threatened by its existence, although it has “offered nothing in particular to be grateful for.”

“I think other people are indifferent to it, too,” he said.

Another local said, “I’m not saying I want them there, but I’m worried about who will come once they are gone.”

Such concerns stem from the Yamaguchi-gumi’s split 10 years ago that led to a plethora of rival gangs, starting with the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi based in Inami, Hyogo Prefecture.

The Kizuna-kai, based in Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, then broke away from the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi in 2017. And in 2020, the Ikeda-gumi in Okayama similarly separated from the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi.

Violent incidents were then reported between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the three other crime groups.

Police in 2020 officially designated the conflict as a “turf war,” enabling authorities to legally prohibit mobsters from entering their offices and other establishments.

The designation also made it possible for residents living near yakuza facilities to pursue lawsuits to suspend gangsters’ use of the buildings.

The broader goal is to prevent yakuza members from ever returning to these bases, even if their gangs are removed from the list of designated conflict-involved organizations.

Of course, taking on gangsters carries the risk of retaliation.

So, in 2013, the anti-yakuza law was revised to allow the National Public Safety Commission to recognize prefectural centers combating organized crime as “qualified organizations.”

These centers can file “representative lawsuits” against crime syndicates on behalf of residents, whose personal information is not disclosed to the defendants during legal proceedings.

In Hyogo Prefecture, the prefectural center for yakuza elimination has submitted 10 temporary injunction requests since 2017, targeting buildings used by the Yamaguchi-gumi, the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi and the Kizuna-kai.

Nine of the cases resulted in provisional injunctions being finalized. A settlement was reached in the remaining case, essentially upholding the residents’ demand.

Following these lawsuits, gang offices in various locations were sold off to private organizations.

Takamitsu Yoritomi, chairman of the committee to combat mobsters’ violent intervention in civil disputes at the Hyogo Bar Association, said residents took action over fears that innocent people would get caught up in the gang violence.

“Behind the trend lies a heightened sense of alarm among residents after a string of hazardous incidents, such as shootings on public roads and attacks on gang offices, transpired,” Yoritomi said.

The anti-yakuza department of Hyogo prefectural police emphasized that in one case, locals were concerned about “possible dangers to a kindergarten, elementary school and junior high school in close proximity” of a gang office.

Residents also said they avoided a street where a crime syndicate’s building was located.

‘COUNTERMEASURES’ AGAINST RESIDENTS

But moves to seek an injunction regarding the Yamaguchi-gumi’s headquarters have yet to start.

“One reason appears to be the absence of violent incidents around the core facility,” a prefectural police executive said.

Another senior police official said the gangsters have gone out of their way to be good neighbors.

“The crime syndicate has implemented ‘countermeasures’ against residents, including starting a regional cleanup campaign, hosting a rice cake cooking event and organizing a Halloween party,” the officer said. “They seemingly know all too well that they would be kicked out if criticism mounts.”

Behind the scenes, the main office plays an important role in increasingly complicated schemes to make money, police said.

According to the National Police Agency’s 2025 white paper, “mobsters, among others, are deeply involved in special fraud cases as key members, showing that yakuza organizations exploit these specialized scams as a major source of funding.”

Police searched an office of a Yamaguchi-gumi affiliated group over a member’s suspected involvement in a swindle.

Based on this investigation, a Hyogo prefectural police executive described the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters as the “base for their illicit activity.”

“The facility serves as a symbol of their presence for members,” the officer said, expressing hope that locals will press ahead with the legal effort for an injunction.

“Progress toward suspending its use will tighten the screws on their operations,” the officer said.

SHOOTING SPOOKS LOCALS

One example of residents’ successful legal action concerns the former office of the Yamaken-gumi, a group affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi, in the Hanakumacho district of Kobe’s Chuo Ward.

A member of the Kodo-kai, a core organization in the Yamaguchi-gumi, shot and killed two mobsters from the Yamaken-gumi in front of the building in October 2019.

At that time, the Yamaken-gumi was under the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi umbrella.

The local center against organized crime represented 40 neighborhood residents and filed a petition for a provisional injunction in March 2022 to prevent gang members from staying at the building.

Tentative bans on the office’s occupation were issued for the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi in May and the Yamaken-gumi in June.

“We had long taken the yakuza office’s presence for granted,” said a woman in her 50s who lives nearby. “But after the (shooting) incident, we realized it was frightening.”

Although the building remains at the site, the woman stressed she “now feels relieved, knowing that gang members no longer show up here.”

She also said residents can walk through nearby streets without worrying about gang warfare.

A representative of the anti-yakuza department of Hyogo prefectural police vowed to cooperate with related parties on a continual basis to shut down gangster operations.

“We will be extending aggressive assistance to people hoping to get rid of crime syndicate offices from their communities,” the representative said.

Kobe is not the only place that has seen residents taking legal action against organized crime groups.

The Kurume branch of the Fukuoka District Court in 2019 issued a tentative ban on use of an office of an organization connected to the Dojin-kai designated crime group.

The Tokyo District Court in 2024 granted a temporary injunction against the headquarters of the Sumiyoshi-kai housed within an apartment in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.