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Definition of yakuza
yakuza
1 : a Japanese gangster
2 : an organized crime syndicate in Japan
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Recent Examples of yakuza from the Web
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FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME PRINT COMMENTS Director Takashi Miike reprises the breathless craziness of his 2013 cops-and-yakuza hit in a sequel with even more action, again starring the irrepressible Toma Ikuta.
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In a separate case in December, two men connected to a yakuza crime syndicate, the Inagawa-kai, were arrested at an airport in Okinawa after flying in from Macau with 250 pounds of gold stashed aboard a Gulfstream private jet.
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By Min Jin Lee (Grand Central Publishing) Sunja is a teenager from a poor family in pre-World War II Korea who is seduced by a Japanese yakuza and becomes pregnant.
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The reason for this hardline stance against tattoos in public places is that, because in Japan, tattoos are associated with yakuza — or members the Japanese mafia.
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This is because tattoos are strongly associated with organized crime here — specifically the yakuza, or Japanese mafia — and are therefore almost universally viewed with repugnance.
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The firm’s leader promises to help clear his name and help his mentor win a power struggle within his Tokyo yakuza clan.
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Copying Seymour’s files, which the author had gathered from archives, courts, and a confidential source’s hidden trailer, Begley glimpsed the far reaches of the speculation: bioweapons, Lebanese heroin shipments, Howard Hughes, the yakuza.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'yakuza.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of yakuza
Japanese, ruffian, gangster
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