Kyokuryū-kai
The is a yakuza criminal organization based on the Okinawa island of Japan, with an estimated membership of 210–270. Headquartered in Naha, Okinawa, the Kyokuryu-kai is one of the two designated yakuza groups in Okinawa Prefecture along with its splinter group Okinawa Kyokuryu-kai, and had been Okinawa's largest organized crime group since 1983 until 1990 when the Okinawa Kyokuryu-kai broke away. History The Kyokuryu-kai was formed in 1970 as the by two gangs, the Naha Clan and the Koza Clan. These two gangs were practically not "yakuza" groups descended from the yakuza tradition (Okinawa was originally not part of Japan's territory) but were just a bunch of primitive bandits whose activities consisted of mugging United States military servicemen and smuggling valuables from nearby wealthier places such as Taiwan and Hong Kong , and they had originally opposed each other until that merger. They formed the union in the year of 1970, shortly before the return of Okinawa to Japan, with the alleged purpose of preventing yakuza's invasion from the mainland. From 1973 to 1981, the Kyokuryu-kai was in fierce conflict with the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest known yakuza syndicate attempting to expand its influence into Okinawa at that time. Later dubbed