It may sound like a cliché, but Nishimura Mako’s life seems straight out of a Hollywood script. As far as we know, she is the only woman to have ever become a full member of the notorious Japanese criminal organization, the yakuza. Now almost 60 years old, Nishimura lives a very different life than she did in the 80s: she works in a demolition business, lives in a modest house, and collaborates with an association that helps ex-criminals.

But the phalanges of the little finger on his left hand are missing, and his body is still covered in the colorful tattoos that once identified him as a yakuza member — ancient markings from the past that make him a unique figure.

Discovering NishimuraIf we know the life story of Nishimura Mako, we owe it to Martina Baradel, a postdoctoral researcher at Oxford University who devoted years and effort to researching the yakuza and other criminal groups in Japan. Her efforts allowed her to establish connections with notorious Japanese criminal organizations and gain insight into the Nishimura case.

He used the material he had collected at the beginning of the year to publish an article in the journal. Speech Nishimura claims that Mako is the “only woman” to have officially joined the yakuza as a full member.

Returning to the originsIn her article, Baradel looks back to Nishimura’s roots as the daughter of civil servants, growing up in an authoritarian household that subjected her to strict discipline. While still a student, Nishimura began associating with motorcycle gangs to escape this environment. Bosozoku, especially popular in the 80s. He began to fight with his lasso.

This was the first chapter of his eventful new life journey. The second came when he met a young yakuza who introduced him to the world of Japanese organized crime, extortion and prostitution. It didn’t take long for him to break the mold of a secular organization and become fully involved.

“Her life changed one night when she got a call from a friend who was in a fight and needed help,” Baradel says. The young woman grabbed a stick and put up a fight so skillfully that it caught the attention of a yakuza boss. “He called her into his office,” says the expert, who claims to have heard the story of that meeting from Nishimura himself. “She told me that she still remembers his words to this day: ‘Even if you’re a woman, you’re a yakuza.'”

Passionate about violence. Nishimura accepted the outstretched hand to join the yakuza ranks. It didn’t matter that hers was an unusual case, or that the rest of the soldiers she joined were male. “She began living the meticulous life of a yakuza apprentice,” Baradel notes. The young woman took on duties, indulged in criminal activities, participated in loyalty rituals, and took responsibility for prostitution, drugs, or debt collection.

“He confessed to me that from a very young age he had a passion for violence and enjoyed fights. He started hanging out with motorcycle gangs and had violent encounters, which fascinated him. He realized that he had extraordinary strength for his build. He was just over 1.5 meters tall and weighed 45 kg”.

“Finger cutting master”While still in his twenties, Nishimura had a “problem” that he felt responsible for, so he decided to enforce the strict discipline prevalent in the yakuza and resort to yubitsume, a self-mutilation ritual that involves cutting off part of one’s finger.

He did this again, to the attention of the rest of the group. For his composure and expertise. So much so that Baradel revealed in an interview with the BBC a few months ago that Nishimura had no qualms about using the technique on colleagues who were not skilled enough to mutilate themselves. “His skill in the ritual earned him the nickname ‘the finger-cutting master’,” the Oxford expert recalls.

But… how do we know it’s the only one? The same question was asked in the BBC’s interview with Baradel: How can we confirm that Nishimura is the only woman who managed to become an official member of the yakuza, especially considering that its origins go back centuries and its members are dedicated to crime? There is little doubt for the researcher.

“If it was anyone else, it would have been known. The police have records of yakuza members. Many women have unofficially helped or supported the mafia, but there is none like her,” Baradel insists. “It was because of her boss . . . that she made the unprecedented decision to make herself a member of the group. And it was proven that she was a full member, as she has photos of the sakazuki ceremony, which symbolizes loyalty and devotion to the Japanese mafia.”

Are there no more women? No and yes. Nishimura’s case is an exception, because according to Baradel’s research, the fact that she was the only woman to attend the sakuziki ceremony does not mean that there are no more women in the yakuza environment. There are. Some were even very important, like Fumiko Taoka, who gained a significant role after the death of her husband, the group leader. However, the role of women is generally different from that of men.

The bond between them is usually that of a couple or spouse. “Even if they are not officially members, they usually do some kind of work,” says an expert on the Japanese mafia. “If you are the wife of a boss, you can’t limit yourself to living a ostentatious life. You have to mediate between the boss and the younger members.”

Income and expense. Although his case was exceptional, Nishimura did not remain associated with the yakuza for long. In the article he wrote for him SpeechThe Oxford researcher explains that when she was in her 30s, she decided to run away and devote herself to methamphetamine. She was eventually expelled from school. When she got pregnant, she wanted to look for work, but her past was not easy for her.

“She first left the yakuza when she got pregnant. She had a nursing degree and wanted to get a normal job, but Japanese society rejected her because of her tattoos, which made them think she belonged to the mafia,” she adds. Wearing long sleeves to cover her tattoos didn’t help. “Eventually, her colleagues found out and she was fired from two jobs.”

“He surrendered to his fate”Seeing how “the doors were closing” and the possibility of finding work outside the criminal world, Nishimura “resigned herself to her fate”, in the words of Baradel, who assured that the young woman “became even more radicalized”. She continued her former activities, expanding her tattoos.

The couple he married also became heads of the yakuza, so he also experienced that role. However, Nishimura’s connection to the mafia would not last long; he eventually abandoned it.

Life after YakuzaThere is not much information about Nishimura beyond the brushstrokes provided by Baradel, who writes about yakuza women on the website of the Oxford University Department of Sociology.

Thanks to this, we can see photos of Nishimura in his learning phase and much more recent photos. The researcher also gives some clues about the life the woman, who is already retired, lives now. The woman works in the demolition business, lives alone in a modest house, and joins an organization that tries to help other former yakuza members, ex-convicts, and addicts.

A unique figureBaradel insists that Nishimura is a unique figure in Japanese mafia history. “There have been other women who have had significant influence over the yakuza, even if they were not formally affiliated, but none of them went as far as Nishimura, who had her little finger cut off to become a full member.” Her story, he says, “redefines the boundaries of gender roles and loyalty” in Japanese organized crime networks.

Image | Elmimmo (Flickr)

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