The End of War and Unification: Kiyoshi Tominaga and the Trajectory of the Okinawan Yakuza (1946-2019)

The End of War and Unification: Kiyoshi Tominaga and the Trajectory of the Okinawan Yakuza (1946-2019)

After the war, Okinawa formed its own society under U.S. military rule, and gangs emerged along with the development of entertainment districts. Local forces, the "Naha faction" and the "Koza faction," were in constant conflict, but in 1970 they formed the "Okinawa Rengo Kyokuryukai" to prevent the mainland yakuza from advancing. Kiyoshi Tominaga rose to prominence in this organization, but an internal conflict in 1990 led to the establishment of the "Okinawa Kyokuryukai" and the organization split. Since then, the two factions continued to fight, affecting Okinawan society, but were unified in 2011 to form the new Kyokuryukai, with Kiyoshi Tominaga as its chairman. However, the organization's influence declined due to tighter gang exclusion; with Tominaga Kiyoshi's death in 2019, the future of the yakuza in Okinawa became uncertain. He was a man who dedicated his life to the unification of the Okinawan yakuza, working hard to preserve its independence from mainland forces.