Sandbox / Yakuza: The Tojo Clan

The Tojo Clan

The Tojo Clan is one of Japan's largest crime organizations, with over 10,000 employees and several families, and many of the main characters and their families belong to it. The main clan of the games, Kiryu's former employer and the most unhealthy place to work in the universe (over 8 onscreen lieutenant deaths and counting...). Makoto Tojo is named as the founder of the clan, with Takashi Niihara serving as the Second Chairman, who was succeeded by Masaru Sera, and followed briefly by Kazuma Kiryu and Yukio Terada. Yayoi Dojima served briefly as an Interim Chairman before her son Daigo Dojima took the mantle of the Sixth Chairman, a position he's retained up until 6 where it's then taken over by Sugai, who rules as acting chairman with Someya as his right hand, because Daigo is sent to prison at the beginning of the story and with most of the family heads either dead or jailed as well. In Like a Dragon, the clan is announced to be completely disbanded alongside the Omi Alliance.

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Clan Chairmen

First Chairman

Takashi Nihara

Voiced By: Hidekatsu Shibata

"You need to learn to choose your words, boy."

The Acting Second Chairman of the Tojo Clan, who reigns over the most powerful underground criminal group in eastern Japan in 1988. As such, Nihara stands as a god among men, especially to the rank-and-file members of the clan's great families like Kiryu. Following the death of his predecessor, he stepped in as interim leader of the clan. While the next rightful successor to the position of chairman would be a clan captain, a position that remains unfilled, Nihara is Tojo's leader in name only and holds only limited sway within the organization. He comes to the negotiation table with Tetsu Tachibana and after a long chat and some sacrifices from Tachibana, orders the Dojima Family to not lay a finger on Kiryu. After Masaru Sera obtains the rights to the Empty Lot, he names the latter Clan Captain, before remarking that his job is soon coming to an end.

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• The Don: As Chairman of the Tojo Clan circa 1988.
• Good Old Ways: As an old school Yakuza, he seems to prefer long chats over violence. Even then, he still forces Tachibana Real Estate to fight their way out of the Tojo HQ as a personal test.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's calm and collected, and seems to have the respect of his peers, even though he's not a real chairman.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Being the Tojo's Acting Chairman, he doesn't make many appearances, but the few times he does, he enacts decisions that impact far beyond the Empty Lot dispute.

Third Chairman

Masaru Sera

Voiced by: Ryuji Mizuki (Yakuza), Tōru Ōkawa (Yakuza 0, Kiwami), Alan Dale (Yakuza, English version)

Sera as he appears in Yakuza 0.

Introduced in the first game as the third Chairman of the Tojo Clan, who is seen as a phenomenon for reaching the rank of chairman while being just in his 40's. After Sohei Dojima's murder, he managed to rebuild the shattered organization and remains in power after ten years, and has many young followers. Unfortunately for him, he's killed in the beginning of Yakuza shortly after Nishiki reveals that 10 billion yen was stolen from the clan, which Sera himself played a part in, along with Kazama and Yumi, which sets off the plot of the first game.

He also appears in the prequel Yakuza 0, where he is the President of the Tojo Clan's Nikkyo Consortium, an organization that does most of the Clan's dirtiest work behind the scenes. He's among those after the Empty Lot, but his motivations are unclear.

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• Affably Evil: A very polite and considerate man for the head of an assassination organization turned Tojo Clan chairman. He spends more time on the side of the heroes rather than against them.
• Ascended Extra: Important in the first game but he only has one scene before dying as well as certain significant flashbacks prior to his death. In the prequel 0, he plays a far more active role even having a boss fight.
• Boring, but Practical: Much less flashy than other fighters in the series being neither particularly strong nor acrobatic and having relatively stiff form and posture in combat. He still manages to be a difficult boss fight with his precise strikes, fast reflexes, quick footwork, and effective counter attacks.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Bears a striking resemblance to Ken Watanabe.
• Counter-Attack: What makes him so tricky of an opponent in Yakuza 0 is his ability to consistently counter attack by side-stepping Majima's attacks and then kicking his ankle, often followed by successive strikes that can stun him for even more punishment. Once he heats up he'll start using a new grapple counter that deals more damage. Even his Quick Time Event involves parrying a punch by Majima before knocking him off his feet with a few well-placed strikes.
• The Don: As the third Chairman of the Tojo Clan, he is one of the biggest crime lords of his time.
• The Dreaded: He was the former head of the Nikkyo Consortium, a group that does the dirty work of the Tojo Clan.
• Genius Bruiser: The first game shows him as more of an intelligent individual, but Yakuza 0 shows that he's also a very competent fighter.
• Good All Along: In Yakuza 0. Not only is he trying to protect Makoto as well, but he's working with Kazama to prevent Dojima from becoming Third Chairman of the Tojo Clan, which Kazama believes Sera is better suited for.
• Good Is Not Soft: Despite being a well-intentioned man on Kazama's side, he won't go easy on his enemies, as shown by his Cruel Mercy towards Lao Gui. He himself admits as much.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: In Yakuza 0, he's revealed to be in cahoots with Kazama, who is setting Sera up to be the Third Chairman of the Tojo Clan. He tries to protect Makoto on his own merits and ultimately gains the rights to the Empty Lot. When the first game comes around, he sends a hitman after Kiryu (although a Kiwami-only sidequest reveals Sera expected Kiryu to survive and only sent a hitman just to keep away other possible hitmen) and was then in cahoots with Jingu. Sera even tried to have Yumi and her baby Haruka killed, just to keep a promise. Shintaro intervenes and snaps him out of it, and the two conspire against Jingu along with Yumi.
• In the Back: After his fight with Majima, Sagawa shoots him in the back while he's entrusting Majima with protecting Makoto.
• It's Up to You: In his will, he leaves the name of his successor blank, allowing Kazama to name who will become the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan.
• Killed Offscreen: He's killed shortly after the clan discovers the 10 billion yen was stolen, but his death isn't shown. The Florist and the remaining Nikkyo Consortium members very much suspect that Nishiki's responsible since it fits his methodology of eliminating the competition to secure himself more power. It's never outright confirmed though.
• Plot-Triggering Death: His death early in the first game sets off the power struggle for the Tojo Clan leadership and the hunt for the missing 10 billion yen.
• Posthumous Character: In the first game, he only appears in one short scene before he's killed. He still appears throughout the game in flashbacks, which explore his character and reveal that he played a much larger part in the game's story.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: One of the very few yakuza patriarchs to actually be a fairly decent guy.
• Saved by Canon: His death in the first game sets up most of its plot. So, of course, that means Yakuza 0's shocking chapter turn where he gets shot doesn't actually kill him.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Literally. Realizing just how much Jingu went off the deep end is what drove Sera to conspire with Kazama and Yumi to engineer the theft of the 10 billion yen that the Tojo Clan was laundering for Jingu to try and bring him down.
• SNK Boss: In Yakuza 0. While in the story you have access to various healing items, preventing you from getting your ass kicked by Sera's perfectly placed counters and combos, the Climax Battle against Sera is a lot more difficult since you have no items to heal, he dodges combos up to two hits and counters you by his own very damaging combos. It becomes a battle of patience as you basically use his own medicine against him. When he attacks, counter.
• Speed Echoes: Has this effect whenever he's running or dodging to the side to perform a low kick, perhaps to emphasize his swift footwork and evasive fighting style.
• Strength Equals Worthiness: He states in 0 that he's the type to figure others out through fighting, which is why he challenges Majima. Kiwami also reveals that this is why he sent assassins after Kiryu in prison: Both as a way to see if he's tough enough to survive hard time and so everyone backs off of him if he survives.
• Superboss: In the Climax Battles in Kiwami unlocked after beating the game, Melee Battle 10 features a unique Long Battle at Tojo Clan Headquarters with Sera appearing in the final combat sequence. He's got lower health than he did in 0 but he still uses the same powerful moveset from said prequel while Kiryu is restricted to being level 1 so he's still rather difficult.
• Villainous Rescue: He saves Majima and Makoto from an enraged Sagawa in 0 only to knock out Majima and take Makoto for himself. Overlaps somewhat with Big Damn Heroes when he turns out to have no malicious intentions at all and even tries to work together with Majima when they meet again.
• Warrior Therapist: Eloquently talks down Majima's wrath in the finale of 0, discouraging from taking revenge on Lao Gui and Sohei Dojima for Makoto's sake even though he has the both of them at his mercy. Sera talks of how killing for her sake will put a burden on her because she will have no way to properly pay him back for such a huge undertaking. While Majima does put down his knife and acquiesce to his offer to have Lao Gui put in "The Hole" for the rest of his life, he's not moved by Sera telling him what a hero he is, believing that Sera's simply manipulating him just like Shimano.
• Weak, but Skilled: He's not as physically capable as the other bosses in Yakuza 0. However, he more than makes up for it with well-placed counters and combos that would throw the player off guard.

Sixth Chairman

Daigo Dojima

Voiced by: Satoshi Tokushige (Japanese), Roger Craig Smith (English)

Daigo as he appears in Like a Dragon.

"It may not seem it, but I'm trying my best to navigate this path I'm on."

The son of Sohei and Yayoi Dojima. Kiryu seeks him out in the second game as someone who can rebuild the Tojo Clan to glory after Terada's death, not realizing he lost himself after his father's murder and served time. When Kiryu finds him, he's pretty much become just another street punk, but he's convinced to aid Kiryu against the Omi clan, and eventually becomes the Sixth Chairman of the Tojo Clan. He's since remained a staunch ally of Kiryu's, but struggles to maintain control the Tojo Clan amid its financial woes and power struggles from within.

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• Abdicate the Throne: In Like a Dragon, he and Watase both end up disbanding the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance with plans to transition into private security.
• Alliterative Name: Daigo Dojima.
• All Your Powers Combined: As a Poundmate in Like a Dragon, he attacks by summoning four of the Tojo Clan's major figures from the past (his father Sohei, Shimano, Kashiwagi and Kazama) to open fire on all targets.
• Ascended Meme: One of the passwords that allow you to recruit him for Yakuza 6's Clan Creator is "kiryusavemepleaz".
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Just compare Daigo's fighting abilities from his days as a street punk and The Lancer to his run as the sixth Chairman of the Tojo Clan. Even more impressive as his opponent is Kiryu of all people.
• Backup from Otherworld: His Poundmates summon in Like a Dragon has him rain gunfire down on the opponent alongside spectral versions of the previous chairmen of the Tojo Clan.
  Daigo: Welcome to the Tojo Clan.
• Badass in Distress: He's held captive twice in the second game, is shot in the third and again in the fifth.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: While he's a decent man by most standards, Daigo is ultimately a criminal kingpin and thus has far less reservations against killing, which helps to keep other characters' hands clean.
• Battle in the Rain: It starts raining right before your boss fight against him in the beginning of Yakuza 2 and it persists until he's been defeated.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • In the third game, when Kiryu and Mine are cornered by Richardson and Black Monday, Daigo recovers from his coma just in time to pull out a gun and take out everyone in the group.
  • Double Subverted in the fifth game. At first, when Kurosawa has a single bullet left and a badly injured Kiryu, Saejima, and Watase at his mercy, Daigo arrives and shoots his gun out of his hand only to get shot from behind by Kanai, allowing the bad guys to escape and continue their plans for eliminating the compeition. Then later, when Kurosawa tries to have Majima and Saejima executed with guns trained on them, Daigo arrives just in time having awoken from his coma to once again shoot Kurosawa's gun out of his hand and then gunning down all of his men.
• Big Good: From 3 onwards. Downplayed on both the "Big" and the "Good" parts, but for all his faults, Daigo is by far the highest-ranked gangster to consistently be on the side of the protagonists and he helps them out to the best of his ability. That "to the best of his ability" part is the catch; he's not above allying with villains if it's the only way to keep the Tojo Clan from collapsing, but he's not particularly pleased with himself and Kiryu at the very least acknowledges that he is still the best person to lead the organization even after the events of 4.
• Boss Subtitles: A notable aversion; when he fights Shinada in 5 his title is simply "Daigo Dojima", without the usual "6th Chairman of the Tojo Clan" blurb, indicating that he's having a personal fight against a long-time friend rather than acting as a yakuza boss.
• Bratty Half-Pint: A substory in 0 shows that as a kid, he was disrespectful towards everyone around him except for Kiryu, and flaunted his status around to feel superior to others. By the end of the substory however, he learns the error of his ways and vows to change.
• Broken Pedestal: Downplayed but Daigo made it clear in the second game he was disappointed in Kiryu (and the Tojo Clan by extension), going as far to say that Kiryu was his hero. Gradually becomes a Rebuilt Pedestal once Kiryu convinces him to rejoin the Tojo Clan.
• Continuity Cameo: One of Kiryu's substories in Yakuza 0 revolves around Daigo when he was a spoiled school boy, who calls out Kiryu to hang out with him despite being kicked out of the clan and has a large target on his back.
• The Chains of Commanding: By the time of Yakuza 4, it's clear that he sees being the Tojo Clan's Chairman as a burden. Before the Final Boss fight He tells Kiryu that he would like nothing better than to have Kiryu take over the Tojo Clan, but his pride tells him he has to be tough and set a strong example for his men.
• Childhood Friends: Subverted with regards to Tatsuo Shinada in Yakuza 5. Shinada only remembers Daigo as a classmate with good grades but Daigo looked up to Shinada as the unlikely star baseball player who inspired the whole school. To this end, Daigo singlehandedly beat up a mob of students from a rival school who wanted to keep Shinada's team from playing at the Koshien Tournament, getting expelled in the process.
• Climax Boss: A huge chunk of his screentime in Yakuza 5 is spent trying to motivate Shinada to uncover the conspiracy that ruined Shinada's life by offering him a huge sum of cash. It's then revealed that Shinada knew him from the past as the high school delinquent who wrecked his own chance at graduating to keep a violently jealous rival team from brutalizing Shinada's team allowing him to get further along in his baseball career. Upon realizing that Daigo is now a Yakuza patriarch, he rejects Daigo's offer to use his shady connections to have Shinada reinstated as a baseball player and outright attacks Daigo when he insists on trying to figure out the rest of the truth behind Shinada's wrecked life on his own. They end up fighting because Shinada wishes to accompanying him to meet up with the head of the Nagoya Family while Daigo doesn't want to get him any more involved. Him being the last boss Shinada fights in his chapters helps further make the encounter something of a climax.
• Combat Pragmatist: Unlike the protagonists, he has no problems with killing and will shoot people when the situation calls for it (usually to keep the heroes' hands clean).
• Counter-Attack: By the time he's become a boss fight in Yakuza 4 and later Yakuza 5, he now has three! The first one is to evade incoming blows by strafing around the enemy and throwing a punch while flanking them. The second is performed from a block, where continually pressuring him with attacks while he's blocking will have him reel back for a heavy punch. The third and final one is to hold up his hands to prepare a counter attack where he'll catch an enemy's attack to throw them to the ground. He can even do this while being hit mid-combo when he's in heat mode and Immune to Flinching from frontal attacks. Thankfully that last counter attack is only used in said heat mode.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Always wears dark colors, but is usually on the heroes' side except for most of Yakuza 4.
• Dark Reprise: The upbeat, if rather emotional main theme song of Yakuza 4, "For Faith" gets remixed for all of that game's final bosses, and Daigo's version is by far the most solemn take on it, fitting his sympathetic motives for his schemes in the game and the emotional connection he has with Kiryu who's arrived to put an end to his plans by force.
• Despair Event Horizon:
  • After his father was killed and the Tojo was in shambles, he lost faith in his hero, Kiryu, as well as the Clan that raised him. He made a move in Kansai and was set up, which landed him in prison for five years.
  • It happens again in the fourth game due to Tojo Clan running out of money. You don't see it on his face, because he's kinda The Stoic.
• Disguised in Drag: In a sidestory in the non-canon Yakuza: Dead Souls, Majima has poor Daigo dress as a woman to use as bait for luring out zombies, since he said he'd do anything to help him out earlier to prevent more casualties. At the end of it, he orders Majima never to speak of it again.
• Distressed Dude: Frequently in a position in which Kiryu finds himself having to rescue him despite Daigo's best efforts.
• The Don: From the third game onward, as the Sixth Chairman of the Tojo Clan.
• Easily Forgiven: While he does get beaten up by Kiryu because of it, no one really faults him that much for his questionable decisions in 4 where he sells out Majima, one of his strongest allies, to the corrupt police as part of a lucrative deal. While it's true that he was just trying to keep the financially weakening Tojo Clan afloat, It's rather surprising how much characters like Majima or Saejima who aren't as close to him as Kiryu still ultimately put their faith in him, slight reservations aside. This is despite Majima himself having previously been worried in 3 that he wouldn't be able to keep Daigo from making poor decisions and/or being taken advantage of.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In the second game, he has loose and messy hair. From the third game onward, he has his hair slicked back to signify his increased professionalism ever since becoming the Tojo Clan's Chairman.
• Face-Heel Revolving Door: In the fourth game, he turns his back on his allies for the sake of saving the clan, selling out Majima to the police and serves as Kiryu's Final Boss, but redeems himself at the end, having pulled Majima out of jail and is present during the inauguration of the Saejima Family.
• Failure Hero: Always tries to do what's best for everybody despite it rarely ever working out. He does show signs of definite improvement in 5 but he still gets put through the wringer.
• Final Boss: For Kiryu in 4.
• First-Name Basis: He's always referred to by his first name or Sixth Chairman to differentiate him from his father.
• The Hedonist: He's introduced as this in Yakuza 2, but it takes a good ass-kicking from Kiryu to get him back into shape.
• Gangsta Style: His Summon in Like A Dragon has him firing this way while being flanked with More Dakka by the spirits of deceased Tojo leaders.
• Genius Bruiser: Shinada described him as having the best grades in highschool and he was tough enough to take down a mob of violent highschoolers from a rival school all on his own. He's still plenty strong and intelligent as an adult.
• Hope Spot: Has Kurosawa, the main antagonist of 5 on his knees at gunpoint and completely at his mercy. He probably could have detained him or even shot him to end the story right then and there. Then Kamon Kanai showed up with a gun.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Following his introduction in the second game, each game since often has him heavily involved with the plot in one way or another. Even in those where he barely appears due to being incapacitated or arrested, he's still the focus of those who wish to overthrow or kill him.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: He's one of the few heroic characters to not have a Thou Shalt Not Kill creed, which is just as well, since he is a very good shot.
• Informed Ability: Supposedly has the makings of a great leader according to Kiryu, but under his rule the Tojo Clan faces constant disasters where he's usually put in a position of helplessness and it's still up to Kiryu and others to clean up the mess. Multiple characters in 4 and 5 outright call him a weak leader, unfit for leading the now weakening Tojo Clan. Finally Acknowledged in 6 by Kiryu himself where he states that Daigo was put in a position of power without any real support or experience. Eventually he chooses to disband the Tojo Clan entirely in Like a Dragon in order to avoid being put under Governor Ryo Aoki's thumb.
• In the Back: Shot by Kanai in 5 at a critical moment when he has the main antagonist cornered. He survives but is hospitalized though he recovers enough to save Saejima and Majima's asses later on.
• Karma Houdini: After he had partly compromised the Tojo Clan in Yakuza 4 and even basically gave Majima off to the police because Munakata and Arai had him in a tight grip while he struggled for the funds to keep the clan running, Daigo gets beaten and bruised by Kiryu.. and ultimately got off lightly enough to keep on running the clan for the next couple years compared to the presumed jail time that Kido and Arai would face, and Munakata's refusal to accept his consequences. Presumably because Daigo wasn't really trying to stir the boat himself by choice, at least.
• The Lancer: He serves as one to Kiryu in the second game, a role he shares with Kaoru.
• The Leader: Kiryu picked him to join the Tojo because he was always good at inspiring loyalty and command. Even as a street punk he has a gang that calls him aniki despite him not insisting.
• Leitmotif: While Yakuza 2 and its remake give him generic boss fight themes used in multiple other encounters, his following appearances have more specialized battle themes: "For Face" in Yakuza 4, and "Wild Romance" by famous former musician Kyosuke Himuro in Yakuza 5. Due to "Wild Romance" being a licensed track, he instead gets the self-titled "Daigo" in the English version of Yakuza 5.
• Like a Son to Me: In 6, Kiryu states that he sees Daigo as a son, though one that he has failed as a father figure for, especially in how he pushed him to become Chairman without enough proper guidance.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Other than committing a few questionable actions in later games, it's pretty hard to believe he's the son of Sohei. Especially given light of Sohei's actions in the prequel and flashbacks, not to mention the actions that got Sohei killed to begin with.
• Lightning Bruiser: As Kiryu's Final Boss in Yakuza 4, he takes a substantial amount of punishment to put down and is very quick on his feet able to recover quickly from most attacks that knock him to the ground as well as swiftly evade and throw stunning blows at Kiryu to open him up to more powerful combos. Less so when Shinada faces off against him in Yakuza 5 where the stakes are considerably lower and Daigo's fighting just to convince Shinada to stay out of trouble and get himself possibly killed.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Suggested to have been this as a schoolboy in Yakuza 0. As the son of Sohei Dojima, the most powerful patriarch of the Tojo Clan, he claims that he has no one to talk to unless someone's expecting money or power from him somehow. He seems to partially blame his own Spoiled Brat tendencies on this.
• Magnetic Hero: Kiryu singled him out as worthy of being the next Chairman of the Tojo Clan largely because of his tendency to attract strong, loyal allies. As the series goes on though, that latter descriptor starts become questionable with regards to the sort of people who start working for him in later games. Even Yoshitaka Mine in Yakuza 3 who is completely devoted to Daigo starts making several questionable choices after Daigo's put in a coma.
  • Yakuza Online reveals that this was what drew Mine to Daigo in the first place. He just wanted to understand why so many of his man have such Undying Loyalty to this man to the point of risking their lives for him. When Daigo Takes the Bullet for Mine after a shady deal gone wrong, Mine talks to him about it and understands why.
• Manipulative Bastard: In the fourth game, he makes a plethora of questionable decisions that cause a huge rift between him and Kiryu, and they only make up after the latter beats some sense into him, literally.
• Mirror Boss: While he's not directly copying his attacks like Komaki often does, his fighting stance and refined streetbrawling skills as Kiryu's Final Boss in 4 are still very similar to how Kiryu fights.
• Moveset Clone: Kiwami 2 makes him one for Yuta Usami from 6. An especially odd choice considering how his moveset from 4 and 5 is present in the game being used by other miniboss-strength enemies. Then again, Usami's fighting style includes a jumping kick identical to one Daigo had in the original 2.
• One-Man Army: As a highschooler, he once singlehandedly beat up a whole mob of students from a school with a rival baseball team when they tried to launch an attack on Daigo's high school baseball team.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: While emptying a pistol into and killing Koji Shindo was very shocking (especially when Kiryu actually spares the latter after a usual beat down), the fact that Koji betrayed the Tojo Clan and caused the deaths of Tojo Clan Officers is simply just too much to let him get off that easy. And he was trying to have his way with his mother...
• Properly Paranoid: In 4 and 5. In 4, he knew something was shifty about Arai's induction the Shibata family and sent Kido to keep tabs on Arai so he doesn't make things worse. In 5 he was all too aware of how treacherous members of the Tojo used the looming war with the Omi to quietly rise up the ranks and sent not just Majima out as a delegate but certain troublemakers like Aoyama as well to remove them to avoid the same situation in 2 where Shindo uses the ongoing tensions to sell out to the Omi and get a lot of Tojo members killed. He also knew that Kurosawa was going to take advantage of this as well and quietly slipped out of view to go to Nagoya to investigate Kurosawa's former family and their involvement.
  • In 3 as well to a lesser extent. In the intro, he suspects that someone may try to go through with the higly profitable Okinawa Deal behind his back even though he rejected it since it would force Kiryu and his orphanage to relocate. He even had The Florist look into Hamazaki's dealings both current and in the past, rightfully suspecting him as being one of a number of potential traitors in the Tojo Clan. It still doesn't stop him from spending the rest of the game in a coma after he gets shot point blank though.
• Punch Parry: During the climax of the Final Boss of Yakuza 4, Kiryu and Dojima throw a single punch at one another and they end up clashing with their fists. If you successfully do the Quick Time Event, Kiryu overpowers Daigo and breaks his hand in the process. You can even end the fight this way if Daigo's health is low enough. Failing the QTE has Daigo do the same to Kiryu instead.
• Put on a Bus: He's arrested along with Majima and Saejima in Yakuza 6, thanks to Sugai's machinations. They don't show up again until the ending sequences.
  • Also happens to him in 3 to a lesser degree. He gets shot in the introduction, but gets another appearance in a flashback months earlier when he meets up with Kiryu and the Ryudo Family Patriarch Nakahara. He's absent for the rest of the game until the finale.
  • At one point early on in Like a Dragon, Adachi tells Ichiban that after the Omi Alliance took over Kamurocho in the wake of the diminishing Tojo Clan, the heads of the Tojo took their leave from the city while a still image shows the backs of Majima, Daigo, and Saejima as they leave through the gates of Kamurocho. They don't make a reappearance until much later in the game while Ichiban's crew is trying to sneak into the Omi Alliance HQ.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • He wants to do what's best for the Clan, but won't betray his friends to do so. Until the fourth game, that is...
  • As the Tojo chairman, Daigo is quick to seek alliances and avoid bloodshed with other groups, even when the balance of power is vastly to his advantage. He's evenhanded in all his dealings with other clans.
• Recurring Boss: He's fought several times throughout the series.
• Reluctant Ruler: A hot-blooded young heir to a declining family in the Tojo Clan suddenly becoming the Sixth Chairman not only has some of the other families with older members disrespecting and undermining his authority, but also results in an inexperienced Daigo struggling to make ends meet and keep the Clan under control. His potential as a leader also means little when he's often a primary target to try to assassinate and weaken, which causes him to be totally put out of commission in 3 and 6 respectively. Eventually he decides to disband the Tojo Clan entirely partly due to the time of Organized Crime coming to an end as well as to avoid being the pawn of Ryo Aoki.
• Rousing Speech: Gives one in 2 to fire up his men before searching for bombs planted all over Kamurocho.
• Sequential Boss: Along with Hideaki Arai, Takeshi Kido and Seishiro Munakata in the fourth game.
• Skilled, but Naive: Has strength, skill, and a good head on his shoulders. He's still relatively young and inexperienced in the world of Yakuza which keeps him from being as effective of a leader as he should be.
• Spoiled Brat: In Yakuza 0, where he's depicted as a young schoolboy. Although he looked up to Kiryu as a big brother figure even then, Daigo was rather insufferable to be around as he had a nasty temperament, was frivolous with his father's money and used his name when he didn't get what he wanted. But he was also paranoid, convinced that people only wanted to be around him to get in good with his dad and other yakuza. Kiryu only puts up with it for so long before he decides to set him straight, even if it means using his fists, but the threat alone is enough.
• Tattooed Crook: Has a tattoo of the wise but fierce deity Fudō-myōō, which perhaps reflects on his abilities of being a natural leader. He's shown holding his trademark sword, the kurikara-ken, which has a dragon (the kurikara-ryuu-ou) coiled around it, said to be another manifestation of the deity himself and a possible reference to Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima, who is Daigo's most powerful and trusted ally.
• Took a Level in Badass: Takes a couple in the second game the moment Kiryu convinces him to go back to the Tojo Clan. By the time of Yakuza 4, he's rather happy to get another chance of facing Kiryu in combat and he's improved enough to be Kiryu's Final Boss in said game.
  • In terms of his leadership and planning skills, he starts coming into his own in Yakuza 5, where he takes pre-emptive measures to prepare for a potential war and find the mastermind behind The Conspiracy of the game (see Properly Paranoid above) which come to fruition in the finale as the families he allied with have a Big Damn Heroes moment, though he is shot and put into a coma again. In Like a Dragon, after multiple games of being a victim in the main villain's plan, he is able to mastermind a plan with Watase and Arakawa to disband both the Tojo Clan and Omi alliance to put a damper on Aoki's plan and prevent the two organizations from becoming slaves to him. The dissolution ends up going smoothly.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He's shown to be a Spoiled Brat in 0 and is still rather rough around the edges as a street punk in 2. From 3 onwards, he basically treats everyone in a polite and respectful manner even when they don't really deserve it.
• Unknown Rival: To Ryuji Goda. Daigo has a very justified reason to dislike Ryuji yet the latter clearly doesn't recall the incident upon their encounter.
• Warmup Boss: The first boss fight in 2. He's tougher than most of the generic enemies you fight throughout the game but he's not meant to be a major problem to deal with.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: All his questionable decisions in Yakuza 4 were for the sake of keeping the Tojo Clan up and running after they'd lost so much money and power after the events of Yakuza 3.
• Willfully Weak: He's noticeably less impressive in 5 compared to Kiryu's Final Boss fight against him in 4. He's got one less health bar than he did before, putting him at a mere two bars of health despite several bosses like Shigeki Baba having twice that amount. The boss fight against him also amounts to a very athletic but unskilled civilian managing to overcome one of the nation's biggest crime lords in 1-on-1 combat. However, the proceeding cutscene shows that while Shinada managed to force Daigo to one knee, Shinada's also breathing heavily and clearly the more exhausted of the two. The moment Daigo accepts defeat and agrees to Shinada's demands, Shinada immediately collapses to the ground out of both relief and fatigue while Daigo's the one standing up and seemingly already recovered from the beating. While Daigo would have to go all out to have even a chance at beating Kiryu in a fair fight, Shinada's a mere civilian. It's also much less of a dramatic situation compared to 4 so it's safe to assume that Daigo wouldn't go all out against his former classmate who he just wants to see become a pro base ball player and not get any more involved with the Yakuza.
• The Worf Effect: Frequently finds himself on the receiving end. For being one of the biggest crime lords in Japan and a very capable fighter in his own right, he has a rather poor track record of actually coming out on top in any battles he gets into, not to mention how often he ends up as a Badass in Distress or otherwise incapacitated by the villain-of-the-day. Subverted if he has a gun, although even then he's been outplayed a few times.
  • Happens often to him even before ascending to the position of chairman. Every single one of his attempts to challenge Ryuji in 2 ends in failure for him.
• Worthy Opponent: After the boss fight against Daigo, he submits to Shinada's demands to accompany him on a dangerous trip to Kamurocho, Tokyo simply because he's that impressed with Shinada's strength and resolve.
• Young and in Charge: He managed to ascend to Chairman of the Tojo Clan at the age of 30. In fact, he's about the same age as Ichiban and Ryo Aoki (the latter of which also ascended to power fairly young) at about 42 as of Like a Dragon.
• Young Gun: In the second game as The Lancer. While he is skilled as a fighter, he isn't quite there compared to those like Kiryu or Majima, both who Daigo looks up to. You gotta hand it to him though for taking on Ryuji Goda. Bonus points for being really damn good with a gun.

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The Dojima Family

What was once the largest and most powerful family in the Tojo Clan, headed by Sohei Dojima. While much of the family's success is owed to his right hand man, Shintaro Kazama, Sohei's role is not insignificant. However, the family didn't survive the death of its ruthless patriarch, and was broken up shortly afterwards.

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Sohei Dojima

Voiced by: Hisao Egawa

Dojima as he appears in Yakuza 0.

The Patriarch of the Dojima family. Ruthless, violent and greedy, Dojima will stop at nothing and use whatever means to get what he wants. His death kicks off the first game when he suddenly has Kiryu's and Nishiki's childhood friend Yumi kidnapped and tries to have his way with her, but he ends up getting killed in cold blood by Nishiki instead. As killing one's Oyabun is seen as the worst offense a yakuza can take, Kiryu takes the blame and goes to prison for ten years to protect his friend. Sohei is survived by his wife Yayoi and son Daigo.

Dojima is furthered explored in Yakuza 2 through flashbacks, which reveals he was the one who called for the Jingweon Massacre, a move which resulted in his rise to prominence. He returns in the prequel Yakuza 0 which depicts the family at its prime, and is eager to get his hands on the Empty Lot needed for the Kamurocho Revitalization Project, which would land him the position of the Third Chairman of the Tojo Clan. With Kazama in prison, he puts his three lieutenants up to the task to make it happen.

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• Ambition Is Evil: His ambitions are matched only by his cruelty and eagerness to use violence to achieve them.
• Big Bad: Of Yakuza 0.
  • Non-Action Big Bad: As he is a strategist and not much of a fighter, it is his top three enforcers and the hired killer who are fought as bosses.
• Bad Boss: Abducting and trying to rape Yumi in Yakuza 1 was a pretty good indicator of how little he cared about Kiryu, his own subordinate. But Yakuza 0 fleshes this out even more, showing that not only was he in on the Frame-Up of Kiryu for a murder he signed off on, he was all too willing to give his Lieutenants free reign to utterly torment and decimate Kiryu once it became clear he wouldn't stay out of their way.
• Break the Haughty: The final act of 0 is essentially this to him.
• The Chessmaster: How he's normally described.
• Cruel Mercy: In 0, Kiryu seeks expulsion from the Dojima family so that he can freely investigate the murder in the Empty Lot that he's being framed for, and Dojima saves him from Kuze's attempt to have him killed in retaliation. However, not only does Dojima then completely dismiss Kiryu's plan of discovering the true culprit he also makes it clear that he will punish Kazama for the incident, effectively squashing Kiryu's entire reason for seeking expulsion, leaving him utterly lost as a result. He's later revealed to have been in on the Frame-Up the entire time; the true killer was an assassin on his payroll.
• Dirty Coward: Unlike his subordinates, who are unafraid to go to battle themselves, he turns into a quivering mess whenever his flunkies are dispatched or when he loses his weapon.
• The Don: During the 80's, he was the head of the most powerful families of the Tojo Clan. After the events of 0 however, he became little more than a figurehead.
• Even Evil Can Be Loved: Despite everything he's done, including cheating on her several times, Yayoi genuinely loved him, and remains faithful to him after his death.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Perhaps his only redeeming moment is his willingness to honor an expulsion of Kiryu from the Dojima Family that was given by Kuze, showing he's at least willing to back up his lieutenants.
• Evil Genius: He's among the Tojo Clan's most ruthless and cunning leaders. When Makoto approaches him, willing to give him the rights to the Empty Lot in exchange for the heads of his three lieutenants, Dojima reveals that the bureaucrats heading the Millennium Tower's construction didn't even know of the Lot's existence, and would proceed with the construction as long as it remained a secret, which meant killing Makoto.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Speaks with a coarse, scratchy voice fitting for his sleazy, smug demeanor.
• Fat Bastard: Overweight and underhanded, he fits this trope like a glove.
• Greed: His main defining trait. We get to see how far he is willing to go in 0.
• Hate Sink: Between the first game and 0, he's rather lacking in any likeable traits as he's power-hungry, murderous, scheming, arrogant, callous, ruthless, unfaithful to his own wife to the point of being a known Serial Rapist in the first game and can't even back up his immense power in the Tojo with any sort of physical strength or ability. The nicest thing he's ever done is posthomously assist his son during his summon in Like A Dragon, something that likely only occurs in Ichiban's imagination.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: In his eagerness to secure the Empoty Lot in 0 his plan ends up backfiring spectacularly. Not only does he lose control of the Empty Lot but his three most powerful lieutenants are all dead or in prison, as is the expensive hitman who acted as his chief enforcer. This causes both the power and standing of the Dojima Family to plummet and by the first game it's implied Dojima himself is little more than a figurehead.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Once almost all powerful in the Tojo Clan, he falls from grace after he lost the race to the Empty Lot and his 3 best men were either killed or thrown in prison. By the time of the first game, he's left clinging on to his glory days.
• I Was Quite a Looker: Downplayed. He definitely was never a hunk but the flashbacks to 1980 in 2 depict him as having a somewhat thinner, sharper face with a stronger more defined jawline as well as a slightly larger, stronger looking upper body. Averted in the Kiwami 2 remake which more or less uses his appearance from 0 but with the addition of a beard.
• Laser-Guided Karma: We knew he had it coming after he tried to rape Yumi, as well as his actions that drive the plot of Yakuza 2, but after everything he's done in 0, it's hard to feel any measure of sympathy towards Sohei when he's offed by Nishiki.
• Mister Big: In a series where most characters of authority are tall and physically fit, he stands out by being short and fat.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: His schemes always involve at least one person to die, be it to frame someone, keep witnesses silent or to get rid of a rival mob. His family is also infamous for slowly torturing their victims to the point their remains look barely human according to Nishiki.
• Necessarily Evil: His schemes are what helped the Tojo into becoming the powerhouse it is in Kanto and even after his death the Dojima name carries weight (his wife and son are put in charge of the Tojo clan during and after crisis) but his methods and greed were actually frowned upon by the rest of the clan. 0's plot is mostly about how no one wants him as Chairman because then he can't be reined in.
  • In the flashbacks to 1980 in 2, he claims that the Jingweon Mafia are amoral and dishonorable even by Yakuza standards and that they have to strike first and wipe them out before they do the same to the Dojima Family operating in Kamurocho. Shimano also backs up his statements as he's outraged over Kazama's hesitation when they've lost so many Dojima soldiers to the Jingweon.
• Papa Wolf: While it's just part of Daigo's summon in Like A Dragon, his spirit is depicted as backing up his son alongside the other Tojo Clan chairmen.
• The Peter Principle: In Yakuza 0, both Tachibana and Shimano end up having the same belief that Sohei gaining control over the Empty Lot and the Kamurocho Revitalization Project and thus securing a promotion to become the Tojo Clan's 3rd Chairman would be a massive mistake. While Tachibana discusses how he'd likely become Drunk with Power and abuse his power, Shimano outright states the Tojo Clan would fall apart with a man like Dojima in charge. Considering how hard Kazama's been working to keep Dojima from gaining control, it's likely he feels the same.
• Power Trio: With both Kazama and Shimano in regards to the Jingweon incident flashback in the second game. He was the brains and leader.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He gets killed for trying this with Yumi.
• Saved by Canon: The finale of 0 has Majima dead set and putting an end to the Dojima Family once and all with the express intent of knocking off Dojima himself. We all know he's gonna survive since it's his death at the hands of Nishiki in the prologue of the first game that sets the plot in motion.
• Serial Rapist: In the first game, he's become infamous around town for having his men kidnap women off the streets so he can have his way with them. He gets gunned down by Nishiki for trying this on Yumi.
• Sinister Shades: Always shown wearing large sunglasses.
• Smug Snake: He puts on an air of superiority and is generally very haughty, but as soon as the tables are turned on him, he turns to quivering and gritting his teeth.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: He's an ugly, dwarfish man while his wife Yayoi looks like a classical Japanese beauty. The flashbacks in the PS2 version of 2 imply he might not have always been so much uglier than her.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Despite being a fairly major figure in the Tojo Clan and the original namesake of Kiryu's legendary title, he is killed off about as quickly as he is introduced. This is later amended in future games (2 but especially 0) which delve deeper into what he was like in life.
• Would Hit a Girl: He doesn't do so directly, but he makes his stance on the matter crystal clear in 0; as he states himself even women and children should know that "yakuza are not to be fucked with". Also his first proper introduction in the series is trying to rape Yumi with rumors that he does that a lot.

Yayoi Dojima

Voiced by: Orine Fukushima (Yakuza, Yakuza 2), Mio Kouchi (Kiwami, Kiwami 2)

Dojima as she appears in Yakuza 2

Introduced as Sohei Dojima's Crusading Widow, who nurses a grudge towards Kiryu for killing her husband and directly challenges him in the first game after he's released from prison. However, after he beats down her mooks, she quickly comes to realize that he took the fall for someone else, and Kiryu promises to tell her the truth once he's settled everything.

She plays a much larger role in the sequel, where she becomes the Interim Chairman of the Tojo Clan following Terada's death, and tries to guide it through one of its darkest hours when the Omi Alliance wages war against the clan along with the Jingweon Mafia. Kiryu offers not only to negotiate with the Omi Alliance as part of Terada's will, but also tracks down her son Daigo, believing he's the one who should lead the clan. Once Daigo is willing to step up and lead, she steps down and allows her son to take the mantle of the Sixth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, and has been absent from the series since.

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• Absurdly Youthful Mother: Looks remarkably young for her age, enough to get Shindo's attention.
• Action Girl: All the more notable for being one of the few examples in the yakuza world. Don't underestimate her skill with that sword she carries, and she's the only Tojo chairman who manages to last an entire game without being killed or injured.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Despite cheating on her and being a ruthless bastard, she's only had her eye for Sohei Dojima and remains faithful to him even after his death.
• Ascended Extra: She appears briefly in the first game in a substory that can be easily missed. She plays a significantly larger role in the second game's main story.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Despite playing a major role in Yakuza 2 as the Interim Chairman of the Tojo Clan, after her son takes over the Tojo Clan, she effectively disappears from the series.
• Crusading Widow: She's vengeful enough to challenge the Dragon of Dojima directly and armed with a sword because Kiryu killed her husband Sohei.
• Damsel in Distress: When Shindo betrays the clan in the sequel, he tries to have his way with her.
• Iron Lady: Just because she looks traditional on the outside, she's a force to be reckoned with and is more than just a yakuza's widow. She's fearsome in her own right who even Kashiwagi would give a wide berth.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Her weapon and doesn't hesitate to pull it out on anyone. She tosses it to Kiryu to assist him during his fight with Shindo.
• Kimono Is Traditional: She sports a kimono and a geisha hairstyle, giving her this vibe. But a delicate flower she isn't.
• Lady of War: She's an effective leader who will pull out her sword and scare the ever-living hell out of anybody who challenges her authority, and tells her men to take no prisoners when Sengoku's men invade Kamurocho.
• No Accounting for Taste: Sohei Dojima was an utterly vile, repugnant man who — among his numerous acts of atrocities — regularly cheated on his wife with reckless abandon. Yet somehow, Yayoi still loves him enough to try avenging him after his death and even states that he was the only man for her despite knowing his tendencies. One has to wonder just what this woman ever saw in the guy to begin with.
• Older Than They Look: At the bare minimum, she'd have to be in her late 40s during the events of Yakuza 2 since her son Daigo is thirty years old at the time. However, no one would blame you for taking one look at her and thinking that she's in her 20s.
• The Queenpin: Oh yes, son. Oh yes. Yayoi led the Tojo clan through one of its darkest hours, and kept the families together through sheer force of personality.
• Quickly-Demoted Woman: She's not counted among the Chairmen of the Tojo Clan, despite having guided it through one of its darkest hours. Still, it's impressive that she managed to attain leadership at all. Once Daigo steps up, she relinquishes her position and allows him to take over the clan. Justified as she was interim Chairman and not an officialized one.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: When members of the Tojo Clan call for war immediately following Terada's death, she believes it should be avoided instead, considering it's not in the Clan's best interest in the state that it's in.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Look at Sohei, then look at her. It's a mystery for the ages how these two ever managed to click, let alone got hitched...
• Unexpected Successor: She was only acting Chairman because of circumstances but given that she was the widow of a fallen from grace patriarch it's quite a pull.
• The Unfought: She challenges Kiryu directly in the first game armed with a sword, but backs off once Kiryu takes down her mooks and realizes he wasn't her husband's real killer.

The Three Lieutenants

(From left to right)Keiji Shibusawa, Hiroki Awano, and Daisaku Kuze

The three lieutenants of the Dojima Family. They serve as some of the biggest physical threats to the heroes of Yakuza 0, being the driving forces behind Sohei Dojima's current reign of influence within both the Tojo clan and all of Kamurocho. The three all being taken out of commission by the end coencides with the family's fall from power.

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See their page for tropes on them.

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Shimano Family

Established back in the 80's, the family was orginally a subsidary of the Dojima Family before being ranked up to directly under the Tojo Clan.

Futoshi Shimano

Voiced by: Naomi Kusumi, Michael Madsen (Yakuza, English version)

Shimano as he appears in Kiwami.

The Patriarch of the big and powerful Shimano family, who are one of the backbones of the Tojo clan under their ruthless leader. Futoshi is big, nasty and shamelessly uses greater events to grab himself greater power. Like his sworn brother Sohei Dojima, he's wild and violent, holds a grudge against Kiryu for Dojima's murder, and has sworn revenge. He's also Majima's boss.

Shimano appears in flashbacks in Yakuza 2, showing that he was involved in the Jingweon incident. He also plays a small role in Yakuza 0. Following the Ueno Seiwa hit, he punishes Majima for disobeying orders and has him tortured in a cell called "the hole", before expelling him from the Tojo Clan and having him exiled to Sotenbori in Osaka. There, he has his sworn brother Sagawa of the Omi Alliance watch over Majima and keep him in line.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: Downplayed, but Kiwami gives him a more muscular appearance than in the original.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Led one of the most powerful Tojo Clan Families of his time and is a huge, brutish, and physically powerful man. It's telling that a man who respects power as much as Majima is willing to bow his head to a man like Shimano.
• Ax-Crazy: Shown to be this in the flashbacks of Yakuza 2, showing his involvement in the Jingweon Massacre and gleefully killing off its members.
• Bad Boss: An utterly ruthless boss who doesn't hesitate to perform Yubitsume on those who fail him. Yakuza 0 shows that he'll even have those who defy him tortured and exiled, even after they've already lost an eye. He even has Majima manipulated as an Unwitting Pawn as part of his gambit to get the deed to the Empty Lot.
• Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: In 0, while Shimano is pointing a gun right at Majima's forehead, he suddenly angles it around to instead shoot the head of Omi HQ.
• Bald Head of Toughness: Despite being a much weaker Mr. Shakedown, Shimano makes up for it in sheer dominance, brutality, and power, with the Irezumi on his back being a Tiger, an equal to the Dragon. In Kiwami, this trope is further stressed as he is given an absurd amount of health, emphasizing his high durability. Unlike a lot of the Patriarchs, Shimano's completely bald.
• Bald of Evil: He even has a scene in the first game where it's getting a trim.
• Batman Gambit: In 0, he chose Majima as Makoto Makimura's hitman because he knew he wouldn't go through with it, with his real plan being to have them develop a bond so that she would come to trust him and thus be naturally willing to sell Shimano ownership of the Empty Lot.
• Betrayal Tropes: In 0, a combination of No Honor Among Thieves, The Mole and Renegade Splinter Faction. He is secretly the traitor in the Tojo Clan who is trying to secure ownership of the Empty Lot and sell it to the Omi Alliance, so that he can take the helm as the chairman of the Tojo Clan.
  • Even in the original game, his plan involved working together with the rival Omi Alliance and Snake Flower Triads for the sake of gaining the money and power necessary to secure the seat of the Tojo Clan's Chairman.
  • Villain Has a Point: However, Shimano's motives are not purely selfish; he is also keen on ensuring that Dojima doesn't get his hands on the lot (in the end, neither Dojima nor Shimano get it). Shimano fears that the clan would fall apart if someone like Dojima secured the lot and subsequently became the next chairman. This is not without basis, as Tachibana himself makes similar remarks during his meeting with Nihara, commenting that men like Dojima are better subordinates than leaders, and Dojima is shown to be a very reprehensible person in the series.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Shares the position of Big Bad of the first game alongside Nishikiyama and Kyohei Jingu. Unfortunately for him, he's the first of them to get offed in pursuit of the 10 billion yen.
• Big Eater: When Majima meets with him for the first time in years in 0, Shimano is scarfing down a massive feast.
• Big "SHUT UP!": "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Directed at Nishiki when he claims that 10 billion yen of the Tojo Clan's fortune has gone missing.
• The Brute: The loudest, most openly violent of the major antagonists in the first game with the stature and brutality to match. That said, he's capable of scheming when the opportunity presents itself.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Yakuza 0 shows that after Majima lost his eye for disobeying orders and insulting the man who captured him, Shimano expressed his disappointment in him by having Majima chained up in a cell and tortured for a year.
• Combat Tropes
  • Car Fu: If he grapples you in his second battle and you don't break free in time, he'll try to have one of his mooks try to run you over with a car. It's slightly different in the Kiwami version where he'll always manage to toss Kiryu in front of the car but Kiryu will roll as he lands, barely avoiding the fate of becoming roadkill
  • Katanas Are Just Better: On his second encounter.
  • Mighty Glacier: In Kiwami, he uses the awkward Mr. Shakedown moveset, and while he doesn't deal nearly as much damage, he does have their Super Armor.
• The Corrupter: In a flashback in "Kiwami", Shimano told Nishiki that Kazama was likely setting him up for failure by giving him subordinates that do not respect him and that the only reason he has his own Family is to get Kiryu to take over once he's out of prison. This instilled in Nishiki feelings of distrust and inadequacy that would lead to Nishiki's self-serving lust for power later in life as well as drive a massive enough rift that Nishiki would be willing to personally assassinate Kazama.
  • His treatment of Majima in 0 between the torture, the demeaning punishment, and finally playing with his emotions only for Majima to have a breakdown when faced with such a harsh reality was partly out of a desire to turn him into a living weapon and boy did it pay off.
• Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: As part of his intimidating appearance.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • Performs Yubitsume (finger amputating) on one of his subordinates for failing to kill Kiryu, as well as the fact his barber accidentally cut his scalp. To make it worse, rather than just cutting off the pinky finger, he cuts off both the forefinger and middle finger of his poor employee. He also has the gall to claim he's being merciful because he's glad to hear about Kazuma's return.
  "Since I'm in a good mood today, I'll just take two fingers from you."
  • After his second defeat at Shibaura Wharf, he throws a grenade at Shintaro and Haruka out of pure spite, forcing Shintaro to shield Haruka against it.
• Early-Bird Boss: For the second boss fight in the game, he's tough enough as is, but he's definitely the first boss where it becomes noticeable how detrimental it is to not have any "Essence of Kiwami" skills unlocked since it's the only way to keep boss fights from healing faster than you can hurt them. For Shimano, you'll want the "Essence of Extreme Rush". Without it, you'll have to survive past him healing himself twice before he goes down and at this point in the game, his two healthbars will feel quite long even if he couldn't heal himself.
• Evil Eyebrows: He's got some very thick and bushy eyebrows.
• Evil Is Hammy: He's rather expressive even when he's trying to hold a normal conversation.
• Evil Sounds Deep: In Japanese, Shimano is played with a deep, gruff voice fitting of his portly stature.
• Fat Bastard: Played straight in the original but subverted in Kiwami, where once he takes off his shirt it's shown that he's heavily built and has solid abs.
• Flunky Boss: The second fight against him has him fight alongside members of his clan. However, Kiryu gets his own backup.
• Foil: 0 makes him a foil of Kazama in regard to their relationship with their "sons". While Kazama and Kiryu have a genuine and healthy relationship based on loyalty and love, Shimano treats Majima more as an attack dog that he abuses to make as a weapon while still seemingly having a twisted sense of fatherly affection for him to the point where he knows him well enough to properly manipulate him.
• Genius Bruiser: He's both brutal enough to earn Majima's respect and a capable schemer with the foresight and patience for long-term plans.
• Gonk: He has particularly exaggerated features compared to most characters in the series, most notably his sunken eyes and bushy eyebrows.
• Graceful Loser: When Majima informs him that Sera acquired the empty lot, Shimano seems nonplussed about it. He instead decides to play the Long Game and stay in Sera's good graces for now, confident that he'll get his chance sooner or later. It helps that they did succeed the other half of his goal in ensuring a bastard like Dojima didn't get the lot, which also results in Dojima's gradual decline in power, so Shimano still partly wins anyway.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He's known for his violence and hot temper, as his poor subordinate found out the hard way.
• Jerkass: A rude and vulgar loudmouth who very rarely ever shows any sort of respect to others, not even the Tojo Clan's Patriarch.
• Karmic Death: Though neither he nor anyone else would have known then, Shimano's death at Terada's hands becomes all the more fitting. In Yakuza 2, it's revealed that Terada is one of the sole survivors of the Jingweon massacre, of which Shimano was one of the key perpetrators.
• Kick the Dog: Constantly. But a real stand out example comes in Majima's flashback to the start of his year of torture in 0, where Shimano purposefully ignores Majima's pleas to at least know the fate of his sworn brother Saejima. Shimano knows Saejima's alive and in prison, but he also knows that not knowing Saejima's fate will hurt Majima even more than any torture.
• Killed Off for Real: He's gunned down by Terada after his second fight in the first game, but not before he throws a grenade that kills Kazama.
• King Mook: In the first Yakuza on PS2, he used a souped-up version of a fighting style used by generic heavy mooks on the streets in not only the first game but most of the later games as well.
• Large and in Charge: He's a massive brute who also happens to be a major crime boss.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Just barely lighter really. In 0, he's shown to have subjected Majima to all sorts of physical and psychological abuse not just as punishment but as part of a plan to mold him into a living weapon. All the same, while his plans for Makoto would have ultimately lead to a massive betrayal of the Tojo Clan that would turn control of Kamurocho over to the Omi Alliance, it's still easier to want to go along with his plans when he's happy to negotiate the deal over the Empty Lot with Makoto in a civil manner compared to Sohei Dojima who tries to have her killed off not long after she's been captured.
• Leitmotif: "Pray Me" in the first game, remixed as "Pray Me - Revive-" in Kiwami.
  • His clan as a whole in the first game has "Scarlet Scar" for their battle theme which later got remixed "Scarlet Scar by Fierce Tiger" in Kiwami.
• Like a Son to Me: In his own twisted way, he claims that he sees Majima as a son at the end of 0, justifying the various miseries he inflicted upon him as his way of turning Goro into a proper "weapon".
  Shimano: They say if you love your child, you let him see the world.
• Manipulative Bastard: He's been orchestrating Majima's actions in Yakuza 0 from the get go. The order to kill Makoto Makimura? Shimano knew Goro could never bring himself to murder an innocent civilian and would instead do everything in his power to help his would-be target, right down to falling in love with her. All of this was to ensure that Makoto would feel genuinely indebted to one of Shimano's own and then willingly hand over her rights to the Empty Lot to him, thus securing Shimano's victory. Everything went according to plan, except for the last part; the rights end up falling into Sera's hands instead.
• Moveset Clone: In Kiwami, he shares the same moveset of Mr. Shakedown from Yakuza 0. Once he gets his hands on a katana, he uses Taiga Saejima's one-handed sword-fighting style from the games in which he's playable.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Compared to the other characters that look realistic and Japanese, his exaggerated features almost make him look cartoonish in comparison.
• Obviously Evil: Cartoonishly evil-looking due to a mix of exaggerated facial features and the actual faces he makes with them. His initial appearance in 0 makes him look almost inhuman as he sentences Majima to a year's worth of torture.
• Pet the Dog: Make no mistakes, Shimano is a ruthless man who has killed people for petty reasons and brutalized his men for even less. But he doesn't attack the barber in 1 when she accidentally cuts his head (taking it out on one of his men instead), and in 0, his big plan was to have Majima create a bond with Makoto so she'd give up the Empty Lot without a fuss compared to the Dojima Family's assassination attempts on her life. He had no reason to really go about it that way, and simply does so on a whim while predicting everything but Sera getting the deed instead.
  • While his appearance as a spirit during Daigo's summon in Like A Dragon obviously wouldn't be canon, he's depicted as backing him up alongside the other chairmen.
• Pragmatic Villainy: In 0, he'd rather buy the lot or at least encourage Makoto to hand it over without a hitch, with a fairly solid plan and rational thinking for it (even if it did involve manipulating Majima), compared to the sheer homicidal rampage the Dojima family causes in the hunt for her. In fact, it's only because of Sohei and Shibusawa's actions that Shimano's merciful plan doesn't go through.
• Purple Is Powerful: He wears a purple suit and he and his family are known to be frighteningly dominant in the Tojo Clan history.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Kiwami has him give one to Nishiki in a flashback, telling him that the only reason Kazama gave him a clan was to facilitate Kiryu's return to the Yakuza and that even Kiryu wouldn't have much use for a "sorry piece of shit" like him.
• Recurring Boss: You fight him twice in the game. You first fight him early on in the game at Sera's funeral, and you then fight him near the end of the game at the docks. The first time, he's fought purely alone, but the second time he has an army of goons to help him out.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Shintaro and Sohei's blue.
• Revenge: In the first game, he wants revenge against Kiryu for the murder of Dojima.
• Say My Name: "Kazuma!" "Terada."
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Even if you excluded the English dub of the first game, he is quite foul in his language.
• The Starscream: In 0, he conspired to take the rights to the Empty Lot for himself. When he used the power and influence it carried to become the next chairman of the Tojo Clan, he would offer up half of the Tojo's territory to the Omi Alliance for his own profit.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: After Sera obtains the Empty Lot and demands a show of loyalty from him, Shimano simply kills the Omi HQ head he was negotiating with at the time and decides to play the Long Game before making a move.
• A Sinister Clue: Powerful and ruthless, he wields a katana in his left hand in the original game. Averted in the Kiwami remake where he's instead right-handed.
• Stout Strength: He's built like The Kingpin — looks fat with his suit on, but raw muscle underneath.
• Tattooed Crook: See below.
• Tiger Versus Dragon: Has the tattoo of a tiger in contrast to Kiryu's silver dragon. Naturally, he's one of Kiryu's first major foes in the series and is fought twice before biting it.
• Unskilled, but Strong: In the remake, he fights using the Mr. Shakedown moveset from 0, which means he just swings his arms around wildly and hard enough to knock Kiryu around. Frankly, his unarmed moveset in the original game didn't show all that much skill either.
  • Subverted when he brings out the Katana, where he shows proper, dangerous skill with it. Better knock it out of his hands fast. Less so in Kiwami where he has a more unique one-handed style that's not quite as graceful.
• Villain Has a Point: During Nishiki's chapter in Kiwami, he's approached by Shimano, who suggests Kazama isn't as kind as everyone makes him out to be for giving Nishikiyama his own family with men who were out of control and had no respect for him. He also points out that Yakuza are still criminals despite the structure and ideals so Kiryu being a patriarch killer does give him much more street cred.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: In Kiwami mostly for the same reasons he's an Early-Bird Boss. Even ignoring that, he's very durable at the point in the game where he's fought so you have to get used to dodging and taking advantage of his openings consistently to get anywhere with him without losing too much health since he's also pretty damaging as well.
• Weapon Across the Shoulder: Carries his katana this way in Kiwami.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Implied. When his female barber accidentally cuts his scalp while shaving him and is terrified, he simply chuckles and ignores her in favor of mutilating his underling for his recent failure. In the later released Yakuza 0, his proposed plan to gain ownership over the Empty Lot is surprisingly gentle towards Makoto Makimura in contrast to Sohei Dojima trying to have her killed off not long after he has her captured.
  • Averted after his final defeat. He angrily tosses a grenade at Kazama even though Haruka's standing next to him. If Kazama hadn't used his own body to shield her completely, she definitely would've been seriously injured at the very lease.

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Nishikiyama Family

One of the youngest Families formed by Akira Nishikiyama after Dojima's death with Kashiwagi's blessing for his service to Kazama. The family at first proves to have no respect towards him, as they viewed him as a bootlicker. Due to Nishiki's hardships and finally asserting control in a ruthless manner they became one of the most ambitious and traitorous families in the clan. Following Nishiki's death, its members house a tremendous grudge against Kiryu, and their Patriarchs often defy the Tojo's authority and attempt to kill Kiryu at the first opportunity as a result of the arrogance of the newfound power they get in both games (by absorbing Shimano's family and in the sequel, recruiting Mine, a skilled moneymaker to the Tojo) which never ends well (for them). Disbanded as of the fourth game.

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Akira Nishikiyama

Voiced by: Kazuhiro Nakaya, Michael Rosenbaum (Yakuza, English version)

Portrayed by: Claude Maki (live-action film)

Nishiki as he appears in Kiwami.

^{Click here} to see Nishiki as he appears in Yakuza 0.

"Brother! Hold out! Someday... if the time ever comes where you have to cross that line... then I'll cross it with you!"

Known as "Nishiki" to his closest friends, he's Kiryu's best friend who joined the Dojima family the same time his friend did. Also raised by Shintaro Kazama in the Sunflower Orphanage, while Kiryu joined the yakuza to repay and help the man who raised him, Nishiki was more interested in rising the ranks and making it to the top unlike his uptight friend. He was one of Kiryu's strongest allies during the events of Yakuza 0, and while his loyalties were challenged, his role in the situation earned him standing in the Dojima family and allowed him to climb the ranks along with his blood brother.

In spite of that, Nishiki also suffered an inferiority complex toward Kiryu, whom many others seemed to favor. He even had strong feelings for Yumi Sawamura, who grew up with them in the same orphanage, but her affections were aimed only toward Kiryu. He also has a sister, Yuko, who grew ill and he was struggling to support. One night in December 1995, Yumi was suddenly kidnapped by Sohei Dojima. By the time Kiryu got there, he discovered that Nishiki had already murdered Dojima in cold blood to protect Yumi from an Attempted Rape at his hands. As killing your Oyabun is considered one of the worst possible offenses for a yakuza, it would have been all over for him, but considering Yuko's deteriorating health, Kiryu made a snap decision and took the fall for his friend and went to jail for ten years.

Shortly afterward, Yumi lost her memories and disappeared, and in spite of his efforts Yuko succumbed to her illness. With all of those closest to him gone, Nishiki abandoned his ideals and pursued his ambitions, leading him down a road that would eventually lead to his downfall. He's a changed man by the time Kiryu leaves prison, eager to get the 10 billion yen and get everything he wants, including Yumi, control of the Tojo Clan and his life, while proving himself superior to his old friend.

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See his page for tropes on him

Shinji Tanaka

Voiced by: Takafumi Yamaguchi (Yakuza), Tomokazu Sugita (Kiwami), Daniel Capellaro (Yakuza English version)

Shinji as he appears in Kiwami.

A former member of the Dojima family who joined the yakuza out of admiration for Kiryu, becoming his faithful younger "brother". Following the family's dissolution after Dojima's murder, he joins the Nishikiyama family as a mole for Kazama and remains a loyal ally to Kiryu throughout the ordeal of the game.

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• All Men Are Perverts: He enjoys going to soaplands, and in the expanded prologue for Kiwami, he's nothing but a full blown pervert eager to get Kiryu laid. When Kiryu needs a lot of money from him later on, Shinji convinces himself that he's finally become one with the pleasures of the red light district and gladly gives him whatever he needs, when Kiryu is just trying to get Yumi's stolen ring back.
• Badass Longcoat: Sports one after Kiryu leaves prison.
• Continuity Cameo: 16 year-old Shinji appears in Yakuza 0 during a sidequest where he tries to kill Kiryu out of hatred for the yakuza.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His appearance in 0 expands on his history, giving him a hatred of Yakuza due to them destroying his family by tricking his father into a loan and then beating him when he couldn't pay, in turn leading to his father beating him until Shinji snapped and hit back. This lead to Shinji joining a street gang to get away from the depressing sight of his alcoholic father.
• The Determinator: Tries to rescue an injured Reina from Nishiki and his men, apparently leaving behind several pools of blood to get from the Serena bar to the Champion's District across town. He still manages to beat down a group of Yakuza during the escape.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: In Kiryu's.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Downplayed. One substory in 2 has Kiryu beat down a pair of thugs impersonating him and Shinji, partially out of anger that someone's impersonating his dead junior. Later games in the story feature less reference to Shinji as Kiryu moves on from his friend's death.
• Hero-Worshipper: After saving his life in 0 Shinji decided to enter the yakuza and follow Kiryu's footsteps.
• The Lancer: Becomes Kiryu's in the first game, although he acts more behind the scenes.
• Missing Mom: His mother left him and his father behind at the first sign of trouble with her husband's loan debts. Given the Yakuza's methods this was a smart choice, but the fact that she didn't bring Shinji with her says a lot about her character.
• The Mole: Shinji joins Nishiki's family as a mole working for Kazama, and remains loyal to Kiryu after he's released from prison.
• Took a Level in Badass: During Kiryu's stint in prison, Shinji went from a goofball ranker to a slick, gun-toting, longcoat-wearing lieutenant advisor.
• Undying Loyalty: To Kiryu. 0 reveals this is due to Kiryu saving him from a small-fry family of Yakuza and inspiring him.
• With Friends Like These...: In 0, someone in the street gang he runs with sells him out to a small Yakuza family to save their own hide.

Koji Shindo

Voiced by: Tomoyuki Dan (2), Taichi Setogawa (Kiwami), Takahiro Kageyama (Kiwami 2)

Shindo as he appears in Yakuza Kiwami 2

A lieutenant of the Nishikiyama Family who eventually becomes its second patriarch, living up to the family's growing reputation by being an overly ambitious jerk. He appears briefly in the first game, leading the ambush against Kiryu in Serena's back alley. He appears again in the sequel as the family's patriarch, holding a grudge against Kiryu for the fall of their leader.

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• Ascended Extra: In the first game he appears a single time leading a gang of mooks, but returns as the patriarch of the Nishikiyama Family in the second, and he's not happy about the circumstances behind his promotion.
• Cowardly Boss: In the second game, he'll usually run off when he's taken enough damage.
• Flunky Boss: In your first battle with him, he's surrounded by several mooks.
• Foreshadowing: He's present for Terada's funeral in the 2nd game despite earlier voicing his intentions to have the Nishiki Family leave the Tojo Clan. Not to mention the smug smile he cracks when Kiryu and his allies run outside to deal with the Omi Alliance gatecrashing. Turns out, he sold the Tojo Clan out to the Omi Alliance and stages a violent coup by offing several commanding officers.
• Evil Is Petty: Refuses to provide support for Kiryu out of spite for what he did to the Nishikiyama Family, including the death of their patriarch. This is in spite of the fact that Nishiki chose to die on his own terms.
• Hate Sink: In the second game, he seems to have absolutely no redeeming qualities. He betrays you later on and you're going to love kicking his ass again.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Holds Yayoi Dojima hostage, and tries to have his way with her.
• Insane Troll Logic: Not only does he think he'll become the next chairman of the Tojo Clan after he's sold it out to Sengoku, in which several Tojo members are killed, but he compares his lust for Yayoi to Kiryu and Nishiki both fighting over Yumi in the first game, thinking he and Kiryu aren't that different when the truth of the matter was quite a bit more complicated than that.
• Jerkass: Especially in the sequel.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While the context behind it doesn't give him any justification, Shindo does have a point in saying that Yayoi has no reason to remain faithful to her late husband, considering how he constantly cheated on her.
• Killed Off for Real: Following his defeat and expulsion from the clan, Shindo goes for a gun but Daigo shoots him dead.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After trying to have his way with Yayoi Dojima, he can get cut up by her sword during a Quick Time Event and later gets shot dead by her son Daigo.
• Light Is Not Good: Always wears light-colored suits and is never on Kiryu's side. Naturally when he switches to a white suit in 2, he shows just how loathesome of a person he actually is.
• Leitmotif: In Yakuza 2, he gets "The Grudge", named after the grudge he holds against Kiryu, blaming him for Nishiki's death a year prior. It gets replaced with "Break Off" in Kiwami 2, instead being named after his intentions to have the Nishiki Family break off from the Tojo Clan since they continue to support the man he holds said grudge against.
• Moveset Clone: His katana skills in Kiwami are identical to that of Nishiki's historical look-alike Izo Okada from Ishin. In Kiwami 2, he's now a Moveset Clone of Goh Hamazaki's historical look-alike Ito Kashitaro though it helps that his style of katana fighting was already very similar to the way Shindo fought in the original Yakuza 2 right down to the sword stance itself.
• Nothing Personal: In the first game when he attacks Kiryu outside Serena, he simply says it's on Nishiki's orders. After Nishiki's death, however, it becomes a lot more personal in the second game.
• Number Two: He's Nishiki's lieutenant, and becomes the family's second patriarch.
• Romancing the Widow: He lusts after Dojima's wife and tries to take her for himself in the second game. Technically speaking, he finds himself on the receiving end of her sword for this.
• Smug Snake: He's so blinded by his delusions of taking over the Tojo Clan that he thinks he's unstoppable.
• The Starscream: In the second game, he sells out the Tojo Clan to Sengoku.
• Undying Loyalty: To Nishiki. In the second game, Yayoi orders him to assist Kiryu against the Go-Ryu clan and the Jingweon foreigners, but he refuses considering the damage Kiryu did to the family a year before. They remain loyal to Nishiki in spite of his betrayal, and are more than willing to risk being expelled from the clan for it.
• Villain in a White Suit: Much like his boss did, he dons a white suit in 2 and he turns out to be far more detestable than Nishiki ever was.

Kazuto Arase

Voiced by: Hidenori Takahashi (Yakuza Online)

Arase as he appears in Yakuza Kiwami.

A skilled hitman who holds the rank of a sergeant in the Nishikiyama Family and was responsible for Reina's and Shinji's deaths. Following his defeat by Kiryu in the first game, he found himself ridiculed by the other members of the Nishikiyama family and was eventually disowned by them, and forms a group comprised of other disowned yakuza members. He blames Kiryu for ruining his life and has sworn revenge on him for it. He also appears in Dead Souls where he can be recruited as an ally.

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• Aborted Arc: The end to his optional questline in Yakuza 3 implied he was gonna try to go after Kiryu again later and Dead Souls had him reappear and remind him that he's planning to go after him once the Zombie Apocalypse has been resolved, but he's yet to make any sort of reappearance in the series. With Kiryu no longer being the main character of the series, it's questionable if we'll ever see him again.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: He looks younger than the original game in the first Kiwami.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: While it's present to some extent as the former sergeant of the Nishikiyama Family in the first game, it's more definite by the time of the third game where he's the become the leader of an organization of assassins called the Avengers/Reapers and is their most dangerous member.
• Badass Longcoat: It's red!
• Combat Pragmatist: Doesn't hesitate to use guns in a fistfight where he's already aided by several flunkies.
• Disproportionate Retribution: A victim of this. He was kicked out of the Nishikiyama family for his failure to kill Kiryu. This is ignoring the fact that he was still able to kill Reina, who tried to assassinate Nishiki, and Shinji, who revealed himself as a traitor when he aided in her escape. It's even more egregious when you consider that Shindo got a similar job only to also fail with nothing else to show for it, yet remained in the family and still had enough prestige among them to become the next Chairman after Nishiki's death. With that in mind, while it doesn't justify him killing Shinji and Reina, it can be hard to blame him for starting the Reapers to target Yakuza.
• Dual Boss: During said sidequest in the third game, he's assisted by his second-in-command Hideki Shinzaki.
• Easily Forgiven: Under Nishiki's orders, he ended up murdering two of Kiryu's closest friends and allies in cold blood and then flashing a smug grin while Kiryu is completely outraged. Despite this, Yakuza 3 reveals that Kashiwagi and his Honest Living Association have been trying to track him down to help him with being disowned from the Nishikiyama Family for his failures. He ends up forming an organization dedicated to hunting down other former Yakuza members called the Avengers/Reapers and specifically tries to kill Kiryu himself. After Kiryu takes him and his second-in-command down in combat, the current head of the HLA, Ibuki arrives to try and talk him down and offer him a chance to rehabilitate in the HLA with even Kiryu trying to convince him despite how much Arase has done and how much Kiryu has been personally affected by such actions.
• Enemy Mine: In Dead Souls, Arase can be a recruitable ally against the zombie outbreak. He bluntly tells Kiryu he'll go after him again once the zombie problem blows over.
• Expy: Wears a red longcoat, red sunglasses, black shirt, black trousers and black boots. Wields two automatic pistols... this is the yakuza version of Alucard. He also fires his guns crazy just like Dante.
• Flunky Boss: He never fights alone, and he'll take shots at Kiryu while he's occupied fighting someone else.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: He normally runs away from Kiryu if he tries to engage in melee combat and gets a perfect vantage point where he can shoot Kiryu.
• Guns Akimbo: Which makes him an absolute pain to fight against.
• Gun Fu: Armed with two guns and wil flip, throw kicks, and roll around the rooftop even laying down fire in the midst of acrobatics at times.
• The Gunslinger: In a country where guns are fairly hard to come by, forcing several of Kiryu's enemies to rely more on fists, blade, and blunt weapons, his reliance on two pistols combined with his usage of Gun Fu make for a very distinctive opponent.
• Hero Killer: Him and his men are responsible for the deaths of Reina and Shinji.
• Leitmotif: "Turning Point" in the first game, which later gets remixed to "End Point" in the third game where he is an Optional Boss. It's remixed again in Kiwami as "Vertical Point".
• Moveset Clone: In 3, he shares the same attacks as Andre Richardson when he has both his pistols out though it helps that several of Richardson's attacks were already extremely similar to how Arase fought in the first game. In Kiwami, he's one to Hiroshi Hayashi's historical counterpart in Ishin, Takeda Kanryusai. It's effectively Andre Richardson's moveset but with several attacks missing resulting in him fighting more similarly to how he did in the original game.
• Optional Boss: He reappears in the third game in the very final assassination sidequest and he is revealed to be the organizer of the hitman organization The Reapers.
• Psychotic Smirk: Gives one when he shows Kiryu Reina's bullet-riddled corpse.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Red jacket, black clothes, and a ruthless hitman.
• Redemption Rejection: Ibuki of the HLA and Kiryu offer to take him in and give him a chance to rehabilitate and use his natural charisma for an honest living, but he refuses, referring to the two of them as naive. While he's legitimately rather moved that there's still people wanting to reach out to him like that and is willing to stop targetting the HLA, he can't forgive Kiryu for the way his life fell apart and vows to face him in combat again.
• Short Range Guy, Long Range Guy: During his boss fight in the third game, he's the two-pistol-carrying Long Range Guy to the knife-wielding Shinzaki's Short Range Guy.
• Sinister Shades: He always sports them.
• Sunglasses at Night: Which is when he's always fought.
• Trigger-Happy: Nishikiyama's underlings try to wrap things up before he arrives because he tends to go all gun blazing.
• We Will Meet Again: Vows to one day beat Kiryu after he's defeated in Yakuza 3. He's yet to make good on that promise.

Matsushige

Voiced by: Hitoshi Ikeda

Matsushige as he appears in Kiwami.

A top earner in the Kazama family who is introduced in Kiwami. When Nishiki is given his own family after Kiryu's arrest, members of the Kazama family were transferred over to serve under him. Like the others, Matsushige treats his new boss with nothing but disdain and utter disrespect, thinking Nishiki, more of a junior officer, is beneath him and should be serving under him instead. Out of control and using whatever means necessary to make money, he takes advantage of Nishiki's desperation to save his sister for his own gain. He'd much rather serve under someone like Kiryu instead.

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• Beleaguered Assistant: As a former senior earner of the Kazama Family, he sees him being assigned to Nishikiyama as him being kicked to prop up some fledgling nobody which explains why he's so surly.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He's a real piece of work, but even he seems to have distaste for compulsive gamblers whose habits has caused them to rack up insurmountable debt... like the doctor Nishiki trusted and just gave 30 million yen to.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Has a deep, gruff voice and the primary source of conflict for Nishiki once he started to lead his own Family in the Tojo Clan.
• Greed: He'll use whatever means necessary to get money and it's all he cares about.
• Gutted Like a Fish: He's stabbed by Nishiki, but given how much blood came gushing out of him, it's implied that Nishiki sliced him open as well.
• Hate Sink: Oh boy. The moment he's introduced, you know why Nishiki ended up Jumping Off the Slippery Slope.
• Jerkass: A huge one. He acts with total insubordination due to seeing Nishiki as a nobody who rose through the Tojo Clan's ranks via sucking up.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As much of a jerk he is, he has his justifications for acting the way he does.
  • While he is an absolute scumbag about it, Matsuhige did have a point that someone green like Nishiki, who only got as far as he could through his connections, would never earn the respect of his subordinates.
  • He also points out that Nishiki really shouldn't be so pissed at him collecting money on Kashiwagi's turf when Nishiki explicitly told him he doesn't care what methods he uses to get cash. He also points out that sticking to their own turf wouldn't get Nishiki the money he wanted, given that Japan was still reeling from the bursting of the bubble economy.
  • His callous disrespect towards Nishiki while still thinking Kiryu would have made a better boss is a solid train of thought considering that Nishiki is an unknown while Kiryu earned his respect from other Yakuza (despite the Dojima incident). When one just rockets to the top like that, one isn't going to gain immediate respect. Likewise, Nishiki gets all the respect he needs after gutting a disobedient underling like Matsuhige who shook down other clan's territory.
• Just Eat Gilligan: A lot of the problems Nishiki had with him would have been resolved had he shown more of a backbone towards Matsushige and actively tried to discipline him. Technically, he finally does end up punishing Matsushige for his behavior.
• Lack of Empathy: When he walks in on Nishiki mourning his sister's death, all he cares about is getting paid.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Considering everything he puts Nishiki through, it's no surprise that Nishiki ends up killing him in cold blood.
• Perma-Stubble: Just short of becoming a Beard of Evil.
• Small Role, Big Impact: We never see or hear about this guy in Kiryu's side of the story, but his lack of respect for his own boss Nishiki combined with his own philosophy of gaining power and wealth through any means necessary plays a significant role in turning Nishiki into the man he is in the present day. Later revealed to be a Posthumous Character since the last Kiwami flashback reveals that Nishiki stabbed him to death.
• Sinister Shades: Always sports them, even at night!
• Villains Never Lie: While he's a huge asshole about it, he's completely upfront about his business dealings to Nishiki and never outright goes behind his back (primarily so that Nishiki will be the one taking responsibility in the end).

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Kazama Family

The 'nice' family, the Kazama Family has been Tojo's main source of successes after their involvement in the empty Vacant Lot Dispute and surviving the ruthless assault led by the Dojima Family led to the appointment of Masaru Sera as the third Chairman. Kiryu's main allies through the games, though they are thought of as somewhat ineffectual due to their focus on the needs of the Clan over their own. Broken up after the death of Kashiwagi in Yakuza 3.

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Shintaro Kazama

Voiced by: Tetsuya Watari, Roger L. Jackson (Yakuza, English version)

Portrayed by: Sansei Shiomi (live-action film)

Kazama as he appears in Kiwami.

Shintaro Kazama (known as Shintaro Fuma in the early English releases) was the Dojima Family Captain and the Patriarch of the Kazama Family. A retired premier hitman for the Tojo Clan, he is considered one of the their most exceptional men in terms of literal strength and strength of character, and much of the Dojima Family's success is owed to him.

A man who is held in the highest regard by most who know of him, he had also established the Sunflower Orphanage where Kiryu, Nishiki and Yumi were raised, who saw him as a father figure. To his dismay, one day Kiryu and Nishiki revealed their intentions to join the yakuza to follow in his footsteps, which lead to a harsh beatdown on them in a failed attempt to dissuade them. But after Kiryu explained his dream of winning the same respect and fame Kazama had achieved, they were both allowed into the Dojima Family. Although Kiryu joined in hopes to help him and repay Kazama for everything he's done for him, Nishiki wanted to climb the ranks of the yakuza world.

Six months prior to the events of Yakuza 0, Kazama was sent to jail after a police raid on a gambling site he led. In his absence, the three lieutenants of the Dojima Family began jockeying for his position as Captain, who were likely involved in selling him out in the first place. However, even behind bars he remains an effective force behind the events that occur.

Some time afterward, Kiryu was kidnapped and tortured by the Snake Flower Triad after the Dojima Family set them up with fake passports for a large sum of money. With Kiryu on the brink of death, Kazama came and rescued him, while taking a bullet to the leg that would eventually require him to walk with a cane. Years later when Yumi is kidnapped by Dojima, he tries to dissuade Kiryu from going after Nishiki, believing he would lose all of them, and found himself unable to help Kiryu during his prison sentence and to prevent Nishiki from pursuing his ambitions. He's incapacitated before he can explain everything that's going on to Kiryu right after he leaves prison, but knows the truth behind Sera's murder, Haruka and her parents and the missing 10 billion yen, finally revealing it all when Kiryu meets up with him again. It's also revealed that prior to Sera's death, he allowed Kazama to name the next chairman of the Tojo Clan, a title he gave to Kiryu.

He's also shown in flashbacks in Yakuza 2, playing a key role in the Jingweon Massacre incident.

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• The Ace: Before Kiryu, Kazama was the patron saint of the yakuza. Kiryu wanted to join the yakuza life because of how awesome his adoptive father was.
• Always Someone Better: A heroic version. 0 reveals that many of his fellow yakuza, even his boss Sohei Dojima, saw him as an insurmountable obstacle to the top as he represented prestige that they felt incapable of achieving without relying on the most underhanded and brutal of means.
• The Atoner: He killed Kiryu's biological parents in a hit. Given that he places all the children of his targets in Sunflower Orphanage, it can be reasoned he killed Nishiki's and Yumi's parents as well.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • In a flashback in the first game when Kiryu was kidnapped and tortured by Lau Ka Long, Shintaro comes guns ablazin' and rescues him, having suffered from the wound that forces him to walk with a cane in the present.
  • He does this again in a flashback when Jingu and Sera try to have Yumi and an infant Haruka killed, shooting the hitman.
• Big Good: In 0, everyone on Kiryu's side holds him in the highest regard. He sets up the game's events to prevent his boss Sohei Dojima from getting the Empty Lot and taking leadership of the Tojo Clan. Even some of his enemies view him as a cut above the rest, which is partly why they oppose him.
• Career-Ending Injury: In a flashback, when he stormed the Snake Flower Triad's hideout to rescue Kiryu, he was noticeably bleeding from his leg. It's implied that his need for a cane to helping him walk is a result of the leg injury that he sustained years ago. While he's still in the yakuza business, said injury likely meant that he could no longer continue his profession as a yakuza hitman.
• The Chessmaster: A heroic variation. The entirety of 0 is him using Tachibana, Sera and Kiryu to prevent Dojima from taking over the Tojo Clan. He accounted for everything... except for Majima.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: He dies in Kiryu's after revealing the truth about his parents to him.
• Didn't Think This Through: Presumably why he assigned Matsushige to Nishiki when the latter was starting off as head of his own clan was to give him a competent if unruly subordinate that would prove to be of great value if Nishiki learned to properly control him. Unfortunately he didn't and that led to him being the powerhungry villain of the first game (and thanks to Shimano, drove a serious rift between the two since Nishiki came to believe that Kazama set him up for failure).
• Dirty Business: Kashiwagi explains in the second game that he was clearly against orders from Dojima to carry out the Jingweon massacre. But as Kashiwagi puts it, for the yakuza, the boss' order is law.
• Dragon-in-Chief: In the first game, Nishik claims that Kazama's the only reason why the Dojima Family is kept afloat as one of the Tojo Clan's most powerful Families.
• Dub Name Change: His last name was changed from Kazama to Fuma (an Alternate Character Reading) in the English dub, likely to avoid confusion with our hero Kazuma.
• Easily Forgiven: As he's dying, he tells Kiryu that he was the one who killed his parents. Kiryu forgives him just before he dies, saying that he always considered Kazama to be his real father.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: While certainly far from evil, Kazama's still a yakuza hitman. He wants Kiryu and Nishiki to both have normal lives as civilians rather than follow in his footsteps as a yakuza, knowing the burden they would have to bear. In fact, a large part of his entire plan in 0 was actually trying to get Kiryu to leave the yakuza life behind by setting him up with an honest job. He's tragically proven right, especially for Nishiki...
• Give Him a Normal Life: He really didn't want Kiryu and Nishiki to join the yakuza, even if they wanted to follow in his footsteps. It was even part of his plan in 0 for Kiryu to get involved with Tachibana Real Estate so he could learn to make an honest living without the yakuza. It didn't work.
• Guns Akimbo: His method of combat as shown in flashbacks.
• Handicapped Badass: In the first game, he walks with a noticeable limp in his right leg, but is held in no lesser esteem than a fit man. It's later shown that the limp was caused by an injury.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He shields Haruka from a grenade thrown by Shimano.
• Hitman with a Heart: He doesn't just help out those he raises; Kazuki credits him for teaching him the ropes to run a business. He really tried to go out of his way to stop the Jingweon massacre, against the orders of his ruthless boss. While he was a loyal enough Yakuza to go along with countless hits, he felt enough guilt for children left parentless to construct an orphanage for them.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: By the time of the first game, it's Captain Kazama running the Dojima family while Sohei Dojima can only ruminate upon his past glories.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Subverted. When he rescued Kiryu from Lau Ka Long's torture, he was shot in the leg, causing him to wobble and kneel to the ground. Unfortunately, this was the moment when he couldn't walk properly again.
• The Mentor: Clearly the mentor figure for Kiryu, and the more sensible of the older characters.
• Mr. Exposition: He's the one who brings Kiryu up to speed about Yumi, the truth behind Mizuki, Haruka and the missing 10 billion yen.
• Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: While Kazama doesn't manipulate the events of 0 from prison over the course of the game, he effectively orchestrated the entire story. There are some hints that he planned all of this out in advance in case of his imprisonment (especially since it's rumored that he was set up by one of the Dojima lieutenants) but it's never made clear.
• Mysterious Backer: To Dr. Emoto. Kazama finances the clinic, allowing Emoto to treat people at no cost, but the doctor has never met the man directly.
• Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters: Kiryu joined the Tojo Clan in the first place largely because he was inspired by the example Kazama seemed to set of an oldschool Yakuza that was badass, highly respected, and adhered to a code of honor and morality that evidently inspired Kiryu's current set of ideals. While his past as a hitman makes it questionable if he's always been like this, from what little that's been shown, he still did the best he could in spite of his unsavory occupation.
• Number Two: He's Sohei Dojima's right-hand man, and is largely credited for the success of the Dojima Family as one of its captains.
• Parental Substitute: For Kiryu, Nishiki and Yumi. Kiryu in particular saw him as a father.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Futoshi's red.
• Say My Name: "Shimano!" "Kazuma!"
• Token Good Teammate: Of the Dojima family, the patriarch and lieutenants hated his guts for it but he was just too good at the job to not keep around even if he objects the more evil options.
• Worf Had the Flu: He's one of the best, if not the best yakuza to ever grace the Tojo Clan, and he's firmly on the side of the heroes, so he's usually handicapped in some way so that the heroes can deal with things on their own. In 0 he's in prison (though he still manages to control a great deal of the plot behind bars), and in 1 he gets wounded by a sniper early on and is eventually killed during a Heroic Sacrifice.
• Xanatos Gambit: His whole plan in Yakuza 0. According to Tachibana, Kazama predicted almost everything that happened in 0. And in case things don't go as planned, he took steps to ensure that they eventually do.

Osamu Kashiwagi

Voiced by: Shunsuke Sakuya (Japanese), John DiMaggio (Yakuza, English version), David Hayter (Yakuza, Like a Dragon, English version)

Kashiwagi as he appears in Kiwami.

^{Click here} to see Kashiwagi as he appears in Yakuza 0.

^{Click here} to see Kashiwagi as he appears in Like a Dragon.

The Kazama Family lieutenant who would eventually become its second Patriarch, Kashiwagi is Shintaro's right hand man and a very calm, controlled individual with a strong sense of duty and honor, but won't hesitate to bring the pain to those who fail to adhere to the strict codes of being a yakuza. He remains a staunch and loyal ally of Kiryu throughout the series, serving as Chief Director of the Tojo Clan in Yakuza 2 and its Interim Chairman in Yakuza 3. In Yakuza 0, he's put in charge of the Kazama family's business when its patriarch is sent to prison, and Kiwami reveals he tried to mentor Nishiki on building his own family, not realizing the growing ambitions of Kiryu's close friend.

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• Authority Equals Asskicking: While most of his appearances has him stay out of the action, 0 shows that he's no pushover in a fight, even able to throw a punch to send Majima flying at least 10 feet. Majima even lampshades if after taking him down
  Majima: "Who knew the Kazama family was breedin' monsters like this..."
• Badass in Distress: He's captured in the second game along with Daigo and Yayoi when Shindo betrays the Tojo Clan.
• The Bartender: It's implied that he's become the owner of Survive Bar in Like a Dragon.
• Berserk Button: Being disrespected by those lower-ranked than him. He beat the shit out of Kiryu and Nishiki in 0 and a new flashback scene in Kiwami for not following his orders and extorting money from his businesses respectively.
• Big Brother Mentor: His bio in Yakuza 0 describes him as being a big brother figure for Kiryu and Nishiki, and plays something of a mentor role for them while Kazama is in jail. He's also described as something of a terrifying one, demonstrated when he punches the hell out of Kiryu after the young yakuza explains his foolhardy plan to get himself expelled from the Dojima family to prove his innocence after being framed for murder.
• Big Damn Heroes: Brings the Kazama family to support Kiryu and his boss against Shimano and his men for all out battle in the first game. 0 reveals this wasn't the first time he's done this.
• Blood Knight: One of the main freasons why Majima has to fight him in 0.
  "I always wanted the chance to try you one-on-one. To be honest, the prospect's had my heart racing since you walked in... Call it a yakuza's nature."
• Call-Forward: Before fighting Majima in 0, he takes him to the roof of a nearby building that he owns via a cut. In the aftermath of the fight, Majima leaves the building and it's revealed that he just stepped out of Kamuro Castle, the castle-dungeon themed restaurant Kashiwagi owned that got converted into the headquarters of the Honest Living Association by the time of 3 where Kiryu can engage in "Hitman" missions. It also appears to be the very same rooftop in which Kiryu fights Lau Ka Long in 3 even having the same exact neon sign on one side of the rooftop.
• The Cavalry: TWICE. He rallies the Kazama family against the Shimano family in the first game and the Dojima family in 0.
• The Comically Serious:
  • In the Imagine Spot for one of the karaoke music videos in Yakuza 0, while Kiryu and Nishiki are dressed as rock stars and provide vocals and guitar, Kashiwagi is shown getting down on the keyboard and isn't any less serious about it.
  • Any scene with him chowing down on noodles in 0 also counts.
• Continuity Cameo: He makes an unvoiced appearance in Lost Judgement when Yagami visits the Survive Bar.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: He apparently dies in Kiryu's in Yakuza 3, following a helicopter attack on his office. Subverted, because as implied in Like a Dragon, he instead fell into a coma and went under a assumed identity as the Survive bar's owner..
• The Don: Of the Kazama family after the events of the first game. He also serves as the Interim Chairman of the Tojo Clan in Yakuza 3 when Daigo is shot.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Gets murdered in the third game when a helicopter shoots up his office. Also subverted, because he instead went comatose.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Introduced into the series cheerfully and nonchalantly bringing up Shintaro Kazama's past as a yakuza hitman only to be scolded by Kazama for doing so. In the rest of the series, he's much more stern and disciplined and would probably be the one scolding another yakuza for acting like he did initially. Then again, he's a lot more relaxed and friendly as the bartender in Like a Dragon suggesting that there may truly be a more casual side to him seperate from what his position as a high-ranking yakuza demands of him.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: His shorter slicked back hair in Yakuza 0 matches his harsher personality in the prequel, compared to his more level-headed demeanor in the chronologically later games where his hair is longer and looser while still being neat and professional-looking.
• Flat Character: He doesn't receive much character development in the first two games, which is perhaps lampshaded in the third game. Downplayed in 0 and in the new scenes in the Kiwami remakes of the first two games in which we saw how disciplinarian and even rather violent he can be at times while still being a valuable ally.
• Foreshadowing: He's one of the apparitions summoned by Daigo as a Poundmate in Like A Dragon, noted by the ethereal blue glow he has on his body, shared with Kazama, Sohei Dojima and Shimano — all of whom have been long dead. However, notice that Kashiwagi lacks the miasma surrounding his feet that the other three have. The only other person in that shot to not have it? Daigo, who we know for a fact to still be alive. This further serves as a hint that Kashiwagi had survived his death at the end of 3.
• Good Is Not Soft: One of the more benevolent figures of authority within the Tojo Clan and a strong ally of Kiryu's, 0 and Kiwami show a harsher side of his personality in which both Kiryu and Nishiki get a nasty punch to the face for acting insubordinate.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: His face is very scarred, but we've yet to discover how he received it.
• Hidden Badass: In the first three games, Kashiwagi operates behind the scenes and usually from a distance. In Yakuza 0, not only is he fought as a boss, showing that he's no pushover, but he has a special attack where he sends Majima flying across the roof with a single punch.
• Jerkass Ball: Kashiwagi's upfront comments on how Nishiki is a "piece of shit leader" and that the robbery he committed with Matsushige wouldn't happen if Kiryu was leader may seem extremely harsh to viewers. However, this can be alternatively interpreted as Kashiwagi telling it as it is, given his naturally stern nature.
• The Lancer: While he isn't exactly accompanying Majima the whole time, he's probably Majima's most valuable ally during the events of the "Majima Saga" in Kiwami 2 giving him advice and leading him in the right direction when conflict arises with Majima at the center of it all.
• Mighty Glacier: Despite having very similar fighting prowess to other karate-based fighters in the series, he's less aggressive in comparison and is more prone to waiting for Majima to approach him rather than being on the offensive. He gets more evasive when he heats up and gains some Super Armor on his attacks, but he still fights pretty defensively.
• Moveset Clone: Downplayed. he's a karateka like Joji Kazama in Yakuza 3 and they share an attack on downed enemies, a combo, and a block-counter combo, but they also have several unique moves and characteristics as well.
• Mr. Exposition: He serves as one in the second game, informing the cast about the Jingweon massacre that happened several years before, and Kazama's role in it.
• Number Two: He's Kazama's right hand man and takes charge of the business in his absence. He also becomes the Patriarch of the family following Kazama's death, and by the events of 2 has become the Captain of the Tojo Clan.
• No One Should Survive That!: Heavily implied to be the Survive bar's owner in Like a Dragon, despite the fact that he took a entire burst from a minigun.
  • However, given that we aren't shown the full extent of his injuries, Kiryu doesn't check his pulse or stick around, and the cops immediately show up, it's possible he simply passed out from the pain and was comatose for awhile, only to wake up later and use the opportunity to disappear.
• Posthumous Character: Continues to influence certain side content past his death in 3 such as being the founder of the Honest Living Association, dedicated to helping ex-yakuza reintergrate back into society which ties into the Hitman series of sidequests.
  • In 4, it's revealed that he was the primary benefactor of the Kamurocho Guard, a non-profit group of vigiliantes dedicated to keeping the streets of Kamurocho as safe as possible. It's also headed by Akaishi, a Tojo Clan ex-yakuza whom Kashiwagi assisted when he was badly injured in a yakuza dispute. You learn all this as Tanimura when engaging in the Police Scanner group of side challenges enough times.
• Punched Across the Room: The consequence of failing his QTE in 0 is being knocked at least 10 ft away with a single punch. He also makes usage of a heavy side kick that can knock send Majima flying and reeling from the blow in pain.
  • It even seems to be featured in cutscenes in 0 and Kiwami where Kiryu and Nishiki respectively end up getting slammed against a shelf by a punch when they make him lose his temper by acting insubordinate.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Perhaps the most level-headed and reasonable of Kiryu's yakuza allies though apparently he didn't fully settle into this role until after the Time Skip in the first game.
• Sacrificial Lion: In Yakuza 3, he's seemingly killed when a helicopter opens fire on his office, showing just how serious and high the stakes are regarding the whole Okinawa resort deal.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Often presented as an extremely harsh and authoritarian figure who tolerates no wrongdoing and foolery, Kashiwagi is actually resourceful and is willing to help his subordinates and allies like Majima if the situation calls for it. He also rehabilitates young men who were expelled from the yakuza and if you look closely, you can see tears welling up in his eyes after he disciplines Nishiki for his underling's robbery in Yakuza Kiwami.
  • His very first scene in the series as well as the bartender's attitude in Like a Dragon implies that he's capable of being pretty warm and friendly despite his usual cold demeanor.
• Superboss: In the Climax Battles in Kiwami unlocked after beating the game, Melee Battle 10 features a unique Long Battle at Tojo Clan Headquarters with Kashiwagi as a mini-boss after the first group of enemies. He's got lower health than he did in 0 but he still uses the same powerful moveset from said prequel while Kiryu is restricted to being level 1 so he's fairly difficult.
• Took a Level in Badass: In Yakuza 0, after being absent from the series for years, he's given a much rougher personality and is shown for the first time that he was a force to be reckoned with. Technically inversed considering 0 is a prequel, meaning that Kashiwagi Took a Level in Kindness by the time the early games came around and depicted him as being far more calm and level-headed.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He really likes his cold ramen, as can be seen in 3, 0, Online and Like a Dragon.
  • The Survive bar menu in Lost Judgement notes that a customer saw the Bartender prepare a bowl of cold noodles for himself, and it was then added to the menu. A subtle nod that Kashiwagi is indeed the Bartender of Survive.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: One of several at least. When he was beating the crap out of Nishiki over Matsushige's actions, he mutters that such an incident wouldn't have happened if Kiryu was in charge instead of Nishiki. This only serves to further Nishiki's growing inferiority complex and drives him further towards becoming the game's Ambitious Big Bad.