OKINAWA (TR) – An emergency meeting was convened by top executives of the prefecture’s only designated yakuza syndicate following a fierce blaze that completely gutted their chairman’s residence and office early Sunday morning, reports the Ryukyu Shimpo (Apr. 19).
The fire broke out around 4:15 a.m. in a four-story apartment building in the Moromizato district of Okinawa City. Firefighters managed to extinguish the flames about three hours later, but the fourth floor was destroyed. Inside the charred remains, authorities discovered an unidentified body.
According to investigative sources, the fourth floor served as both the residence and office of Makoto Itokazu, the 70-something-year-old chairman of the Kyokuryu-kai syndicate. Police have been unable to contact Itokazu since the fire, and it is highly likely the deceased is the missing yakuza boss.
Following the incident, the Kyokuryu-kai hastily convened an emergency meeting of senior gang members on Sunday at their headquarters in the village of Kitanakagusuku. The top brass reportedly gathered to discuss future operations and coordinate the syndicate’s response to the sudden crisis.
“The flames were so intense, and I could hear ‘bang, bang’ popping noises,” a male witness at the scene recalled while looking up at the blackened apartment. “It was in a state where no one could get close to the building.”
The Kyokuryu-kai headquarters caught fire in Okinawa City on Sunday (X)Bloody history
The Kyokuryu-kai has a bloody history of internal splits and violent succession wars. Past gangland conflicts famously claimed the lives of an innocent high school student and two police officers who were caught in the crossfire — incidents that became a major social issue and spurred the creation of the Anti-Organized Crime Law in 1992. However, since the unification of rival factions into the current Kyokuryu-kai in 2011, the prefecture has seen no major gang warfare.
Itokazu, originally from Kumejima, took over as the second-generation chairman of the unified group in 2025, filling a leadership void left by the 2019 death of charismatic founder Kiyoshi Tominaga.
“Model for the Okinawa yakuza”
A syndicate associate described Itokazu as a highly respected figure who dedicated himself to resolving grievances between the formerly fractured factions. “He worked hard to eliminate the old grudges between the unified groups. He was a man of great character, loved by many — like a model for the Okinawa yakuza,” the associate said, adding that there were no known recent disputes or troubles surrounding the chairman.
The Okinawa Prefectural Police are rushing to positively identify the remains while investigating the cause of the fire from both criminal and accidental angles.
Authorities are also closely monitoring the syndicate’s movements and its members to prevent any potential underworld unrest. An investigator stated, “While continuing the investigation from both the perspectives of a crime and an accident, we will also strive to gather information on the activities of the Kyokuryu-kai and its members.”
AloJapan.com