Yakuza and Like a Dragon — Nine Games

Yakuza 0

=== Characters and settings ===
Yakuza 0 takes place from December 1988 to January 1989, during the bubble era of Japan, in which real estate and stock market prices were greatly inflated. The two central protagonists of the game are Kazuma Kiryu (Takaya Kuroda/Yong Yea), a junior Tojo Clan yakuza in Kamurochō who is forced out of the clan due to a murder accusation, and Goro Majima (Hidenari Ugaki/Matthew Mercer), a disgraced former Tojo Clan yakuza who works as a cabaret manager in Sotenbori to earn his way back into the clan. Both protagonists are drawn into a conflict surrounding the "Empty Lot", a small piece of land in Kamurochō that the Tojo Clan wishes to acquire for redevelopment of the area. At the center of the controversy is Makoto Makimura (Miyuki Sawashiro/Risa Mei), a psychogenically induced blind woman who inherited ownership of the Lot.
Throughout the story, Kiryu and Majima are supported by several allies, including: Akira Nishikiyama (Kazuhiro Nakaya/Kaiji Tang), Kiryu's oath brother; Osamu Kashiwagi (Shunsuke Sakuya/David Hayter), captain of the Kazama Family; Shintaro Kazama (Tetsuya Watari/Paul Nakauchi), patriarch of the Kazama Family and a father figure to Kiryu and Nishikiyama; Tetsu Tachibana (Arata Iura/Howard Wang), president of a real estate company who offers to shelter Kiryu from the wrath of the Tojo Clan; Jun Oda (Katsuyuki Konishi/Alejandro Saab), Tachibana's right-hand man; Reina (Hiromi Tsuru/Michelle Wong), proprietor of the bar Serena and a friend of Nishikiyama; Wen Hai Lee (Kazunari Tanaka/Bill Millsap), a former assassin who owns a massage parlor in Sotenbori; Billiken (Ryohei Nakao/Adam Gold), an Osakan detective associated with Nishitani; Takashi Nihara (Hidekatsu Shibata/Frank Todaro), acting second chairman of the Tojo Clan; and Masaru Sera (Tōru Ōkawa/Nobi Nakanishi), a senior Tojo Clan officer who runs a secret black ops organization within the clan.
The primary antagonist of Yakuza 0 is the Dojima Family, a yakuza family within the Tojo Clan, whose patriarch, Sohei Dojima (Hisao Egawa/Imari Williams), seeks to become the next clan chairman and seize power. Under Dojima's command are his three lieutenants: Daisaku Kuze (Hitoshi Ozawa/Keston John), Hiroki Awano (Riki Takeuchi/Eliah Mountjoy), and Keiji Shibusawa (Hideo Nakano/Jon Ohye), who assist in Dojima's plan by tracking down the Empty Lot's owner and taking out Kiryu and Majima, who oppose them. Other antagonists include: Tsukasa Sagawa (Shingo Tsurumi/Andrew Kishino), a high-ranking Omi Alliance officer who supervises Majima in Sotenbori; Homare Nishitani (Keiji Fujiwara/Vic Chao), a sadomasochistic Omi Alliance officer who is attracted to Majima and often taunts him; Futoshi Shimano (Naomi Kusumi/Fred Tatasciore), Majima's former superior in the Tojo Clan and Sagawa's oath brother; and also Lao Gui (Koji Suzuki), a Chinese assassin hired by Dojima to frame Kiryu in the Empty Lot murder.

Synopsis

In December 1988, yakuza Kazuma Kiryu is framed for murder in an empty lot in Kamurochō, Tokyo. As the Empty Lot is the last piece of land needing to be purchased for the Tojo Clan's redevelopment plan, it becomes the target of Dojima Family patriarch Sohei Dojima, believing obtaining it will grant him enough power and influence to become Tojo Clan chairman. In order to protect his adoptive father, Shintaro Kazama, from punishment for the death, Kiryu leaves the Dojima Family after a fight with Daisaku Kuze, a lieutenant of the Dojima family.
Kiryu meets real estate agent Tetsu Tachibana, who promises to clear his name in exchange for helping him acquire the Empty Lot before Dojima. After Kiryu and Jun Oda, Tachibana's right-hand man, interfere with squatters related to the Dojima family, Kuze and other Dojima lieutenants Hiroki Awano and Keiji Shibusawa demand Kiryu turn over Tachibana. Kiryu refuses, prompting the Dojima family to hunt him down. His oath brother Akira Nishikiyama cuts ties with Kiryu to keep each other safe. Tachibana tells Kiryu that the Empty Lot's owner is his estranged sister, Makoto Makimura, who inherited it from their grandfather and lives in Sotenbori, Osaka.
In Sotenbori, ex-yakuza Goro Majima is forced to run a cabaret club, as punishment for his involvement in the Ueno-Seiwa assassination in 1985. Per the orders of his former patriarch Futoshi Shimano, Majima is under constant surveillance by Shimano's oath brother, Tsukasa Sagawa, a member of the Omi Alliance, the Tojo Clan's rivals. Following a new order from Shimano, Sagawa offers Majima a chance to rejoin the Shimano Family by assassinating Makoto, who suffers from psychogenic blindness.
Majima finds Makoto under the protection of Wen Hai Lee, a former assassin. After Majima decides to protect Makoto, Lee suggests murdering a look-alike of Makoto to fool Sagawa. Though Majima rejects the idea, Shibusawa's assistant Homare Nishitani commits the deed in his place, hoping to attract Majima's attention. Suspecting the fraud, Sagawa sends his men to kill Majima and Makoto. Sagawa sets up a trap to kill Lee, then attempts to kill Majima and Makoto, but is stopped by Masaru Sera, an ally of Kazama, who takes Makoto away. Following a lengthy investigation, Majima and Sagawa confront Sera at his headquarters and find that he turned Makoto over to Kiryu.
Kiryu and Oda escort Makoto to Kamurochō but are chased by Shibusawa's men. Oda, revealed to be a mole for Shibusawa, attempts to kill Kiryu and Makoto. After being subdued by Kiryu, Oda explains that he and Tachibana were former Chinese gangsters in Japan. At that time, Makoto migrated to Japan to find her brother, but ran afoul of Oda, who sold her to a Korean gang, where she was sexually abused, causing her to suffer from psychogenically-induced blindness. Oda discovered Makoto's identity after Tachibana saw her on a documentary, and feared his reprisal ever since. Regretting his crimes, he allows Kiryu and Makoto to flee, before being executed by Shibusawa.
Kiryu meets Tachibana, who reveals that he knew that Makoto was looking for him. He also reveals that upon learning her inheritance of the Empty Lot, he turned to Kazama, who helped him form his company to protect Makoto from Dojima, who also planned to annihilate the Kazama Family. With their interests coinciding, Kiryu and Tachibana flee but Tachibana is captured by Dojima's assassin, Lao Gui, the true perpetrator of the Empty Lot murder. Tachibana is then tortured to death by Dojima Family member Yoneda, acting on behalf of Kuze with orders, and his men, whom Kiryu and Nishikiyama defeat. Makoto discovers her brother's body and regains partial sight.
Meanwhile, Majima learns that Shimano sent the kill order so that Majima would be pressured to have Makoto willingly hand over the Empty Lot to Shimano. Majima finds Makoto in the Empty Lot, plotting revenge for Tachibana's death. Despite Majima's concerns, Makoto meets Dojima, offering the Empty Lot in exchange for the deaths of his lieutenants. Dojima declines and has her shot. Sera arrives and escorts Makoto to a hospital. However, Shibusawa finds Makoto and holds her captive on a ship. Kiryu and his allies storm the ship and save Makoto, whilst Majima battles the Dojima family in the Tojo HQ, including Awano who dies at Lao Gui's hands when trying to shield Majima from the latter's attack. Nishikiyama prevents Kiryu from killing Shibusawa, and both him and Kuze are handed over to the police. Majima defeats Lao Gui for framing up Kiryu and prepares to kill Dojima, but is stopped by Sera, who has ultimately acquired the deeds to the Empty Lot. He orders Majima to kill Shimano for his treachery, but upon confronting Shimano, Majima relents, wanting to learn the fate of his oath brother Taiga Saejima. Shimano terminates his dealings with the Omi Alliance and reinstates Majima into his family.
In January 1989, Sera becomes the Tojo Clan Captain (and later Third Chairman), with Dojima languishing after the loss of his lieutenants. Kiryu rejoins the Dojima Family under a new oath, hoping to find his own path as a yakuza. Meanwhile, Majima adopts a new persona, inspired by Lee, Nishitani and Sagawa, to empower himself, and bids Sagawa farewell, who is later executed by the Omi Alliance for his failure to secure a deal with Shimano. Majima watches Makoto enjoy a peaceful life with her new boyfriend, and later encounters Kiryu for the first time in Kamurochō.

Yakuza Kiwami

Similar to the plot of the original Yakuza, the game centers around yakuza lieutenant Kazuma Kiryu (Takaya Kuroda), who takes the blame up for the murder of his patriarch Sohei Dojima, committed by his sworn brother and best friend Akira Nishikiyama (Kazuhiro Nakaya), spending ten years in prison before being granted parole. A free man, Kiryu discovers that Nishikiyama is now a powerful but cold-hearted yakuza boss, his childhood friend and girlfriend Yumi Sawamura (Maaya Sakamoto) has gone missing, and everyone is searching for ten billion yen that was stolen from his former organization, the Tojo Clan. As war erupts throughout the streets of Kamurocho between many different factions (including government agents and the Triad), Kiryu decides to find Yumi and the missing money, and protect Haruka (Rie Kugimiya), a mysterious young girl whom everyone seems to be after. Eventually, a remorseful Nishikiyama sacrifices himself to kill Haruka's father, Kyohei Jingu (Hiroaki Yoshida), who was a corrupt politician bent on destroying the Tojo and his loved ones, while Yumi died in Kiryu's arms from a gunshot wound. Rather than give in to despair and allow himself to be arrested, Kiryu leaves the Tojo and becomes Haruka's adoptive father.
Kiwami's story introduces flashback sequences in between each chapter, focused on Nishikiyama's descent into madness. The day after Dojima's murder and Kiryu's arrest, the Dojima Family tries to figure out the real culprit while mocking Nishikiyama for his ineptitude. In 1996, the Kazama Family patriarch, Shintaro Kazama (Tetsuya Watari), decides to give Nishikiyama his own "family" to control, with the expectation that he would look out for Kiryu when the latter is released from prison. However, Nishikiyama proves to be an incompetent leader, with his family captain, Matsushige (Hitoshi Ikeda), disrespecting him and commanding more respect among his men. As Yuko, his terminally ill sister, requires a heart transplant, Nishikiyama visits a doctor, who asks him to pay 30 million yen for the operation. Nishikiyama tells Matsushige to get the money by any means, prompting him to shake down stores in the Kazama Family territory. Osamu Kashiwagi (Shunsuke Sakuya), the Kazama Family captain, violently disciplines Nishikiyama, then forgives him but tells him that Kiryu would be morally better as a leader. Nishikiyama later encounters the Shimano Family patriarch, Futoshi Shimano (Naomi Kusumi), who accuses Kazama of deliberately giving Nishikiyama men he cannot control, and advises that Nishikiyama should learn to care for himself instead of Kiryu. Eventually, Nishikiyama learns from Matsushige that the doctor was a fraud who had use the money to pay off his gambling debt. Nishikiyama rushes to confront the doctor, but discovers that he has run away, and Yuko had died from her condition. Nishikiyama prepares to commit seppuku, but is interrupted by Matsushige. Finally fed up with the disrespect and harassment, Nishikiyama stabs Matsushige and confesses to Dojima's murder before using the blood to slick back his hair.

Yakuza Kiwami 2

A year after leaving his former life in the Tojo Clan behind, ex-yakuza Kazuma Kiryu (Takaya Kuroda) is called back into action when the clan's Fifth Chairman, Yukio Terada (Kenji Nomura), is murdered by assassins from a rival organization, the Omi Alliance. Returning to Kamurocho, Kiryu must find a new chairman for the Tojo Clan and prevent an all-out war between the Tojo and the Omi, bringing him into conflict with Ryuji Goda (Masami Iwasaki), the legendary "Dragon of Kansai" of the Omi Alliance. Kiryu also comes into contact with several new allies and enemies, including: Daigo Dojima (Satoshi Tokushige), the son of the late Dojima Family patriarch whose death was blamed on Kiryu; Kaoru Sayama (Aya Hisakawa), an Osakan police detective who has disdain for the yakuza; Jiro Kawara (Susumu Terajima), a veteran detective who is investigating the resurgence of the Korean syndicate Jingweon Mafia; Ryo Takashima (Hakuryu), an ambitious Omi Alliance lieutenant; and Wataru Kurahashi (Houka Kinoshita), the chief of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Foreign Affairs Division.
A new scenario, entitled "The Majima Saga", is centered around Goro Majima (Hidenari Ugaki) and explains how he came to leave the Tojo Clan following the death of his patriarch, Futoshi Shimano, a year earlier and form a legitimate enterprise, "Majima Construction", between the events of Yakuza and Yakuza 2.

Majima Saga

In February 2006, the Tojo Clan's Fifth Chairman Yukio Terada announces a reformation plan for the organization, which requires a replacement for the clan captain position. In the running for the position are newcomers, Akinobu Uematsu (Miou Tanaka) and Kei Ibuchi (Takehito Koyasu), as well as Goro Majima, all of whom were making the most profits among the clan. Majima, however, has no interest in the position and only participated to ensure the other families can band together to keep the newcomers from seizing power. Majima later returns to Kamurocho, where he finds himself ambushed by several assassins. After quickly dealing with them, Majima returns to his family office, where he finds his men supposedly beaten up by the Uematsu Family. Majima heads to Uematsu's office, but finds Uematsu himself having been killed.
After reporting the incident to Tojo Clan members, Majima is tipped by Kazama Family patriarch Osamu Kashiwagi (Shunsuke Sakuya) to find the Florist of Sai (Yoshiaki Fujiwara), an information broker who can assist him. Upon meeting with the Florist, he agrees to help Majima in exchange for the latter taking over his old base in the secret adult entertainment hub Purgatory. Majima learns that one of his subordinates, Ryota Kawamura (Naoto Takeda), was last seen at the crime scene. He travels to Sotenbori to track down Kawamura, and eventually learns that he's a regular gambler who frequents the massage parlor Hogushi Kaiken. While at the parlor, Majima receives service from Makoto Tateyama (Miyuki Sawashiro), a woman whom Majima saved from the Tojo Clan 18 years prior. Majima, while attempting to hide his identity, learns that Makoto still keeps her old watch as a memento of her savior.
Majima later picks up a tip that Kawamura murdered an Omi Alliance officer at the Cabaret Grand. He heads there and confronts Kawamura. The latter is easily defeated, but is then killed by Ibuchi, who exploited Kawamura's debt and used him to get rid of Uematsu, in order to spark a war between the Omi Alliance and the Tojo Clan, which would lead to their eventual merging and Ibuchi seizing power from Terada. Majima defeats Ibuchi, but the latter commits suicide rather than allowing himself to be arrested to incite conflict between both sides. In the aftermath, Majima and Terada come to an agreement to disband his family, as a gesture of apology for Kawamura's action against the Omi Alliance. Majima and the remnants of his family then form Majima Construction, and begin work on the Kamurocho Hills complex. Some time later, Makoto leaves the country with her family; she receives an anonymous gift prior to her departure, which turns out to be a replacement strap for her watch. Realizing that her customer was her savior from 18 years ago, Makoto finds comfort knowing she has no regrets leaving Japan.

Yakuza 3

=== Setting ===
Yakuza 3 continues the adventures of Kazuma Kiryu, picking up after the events of Yakuza 2. The game takes place both in Kamurochō, a fictionalized version of Tokyo's red-light district Kabukicho, from the first two games, and in a brand new location called Downtown Ryukyu, located in Naha, Okinawa.
The area of Okinawa where the story takes place is a fictional area, based upon Naha's Makishi district. It includes real life landmarks such as the Ichiba Hondori (linked to Mutsumibashi Dori and Heiwa Dori) covered shopping arcade renamed "Karyushi Arcade" (かりゅしアーケード, karyushi ākēdo) in the game as well as the popular Makishi Public Market shortened "Public Market" (公設市場, Kōsetsu Ichiba), the famous entertainment strip Kokusai Street called "Ryukyu Street" (琉球通り, Ryūkyū Doori), the Okinawa Monorail Kencho-mae Station as "Ryukyugai-mae Station" (琉球街前, Ryūkyūgai Mae) or the Mitsukoshi department store (Okinawa Mitsukoshi) which kept its actual name as part of the game's tie-in policy.

Synopsis

In January 2007, after ending the war with the Omi Alliance, Kazuma Kiryu (Takaya Kuroda) and Haruka Sawamura (Rie Kugimiya) visit the cemetery where their loved ones rest. They are joined by Kaoru Sayama (Yū Daiki), who is preparing to leave for the United States. Kiryu accepts custody of an orphanage in Okinawa, hoping to raise orphans like his adoptive father, Shintaro Kazama, raised him. Before leaving, he enlists Goro Majima (Hidenari Ugaki) to assist Daigo Dojima (Satoshi Tokushige), Kiryu's successor, in his duties as Tojo Clan chairman.
A year later, Kiryu has settled into the orphanage and is dealing with eviction notices from the Ryudo Family, who owns the land the orphanage is built on. He confronts the Ryudo captain Rikiya Shimabukuro (Tatsuya Fujiwara), and meets the family's patriarch, Shigeru Nakahara (Shigeru Izumiya), who informs Kiryu that the land is wanted for a seaside resort. Kiryu refuses to close the orphanage, despite Nakahara's threats. The following week, Rikiya asks Kiryu for help in finding Nakahara's adoptive daughter, Saki (Umeka Shōji). Kiryu and Rikiya learn that Saki's mother is working with Tetsuo Tamashiro (Unshō Ishizuka), the patriarch of a rival family, who plans to use Saki as leverage to seize Nakahara's territory. Kiryu defeats Tamashiro and banishes his gang, and Saki returns to Nakahara when her mother rejects her. Nakahara pledges an oath to Kiryu in return. Daigo later meets with them and reveals that Tamashiro was recruited to secure the land in a scheme tied to Defense Minister Ryuzo Tamiya's (Akio Otsuka) "Military Base Expansion Bill". Daigo refuses to involve the Tojo Clan with the resort.
In March 2009, Daigo and Nakahara are shot in separate incidents, leaving Daigo comatose and the deed to the orphanage stolen. Kiryu learns from Saki that Nakahara's shooter is a man resembling Kazama, much to his shock. He travels to Kamurocho and meets Osamu Kashiwagi (Shunsuke Sakuya), Kazama's successor, who is assassinated. Fleeing from the scene, Kiryu is rescued by his old friend Makoto Date (Kazuhiro Yamaji), who informs him of three Tojo Clan lieutenants who are suspects in Kashiwagi's death: Yoshitaka Mine (Nakamura Shidō II), chairman of the Hakuho Clan; Goh Hamazaki (George Takahashi), a patriarch with ties to the Yokohama triads; and Tsuyoshi Kanda (Hiroyuki Miyasako), who controls Akira Nishikiyama's former gang.
Kiryu and Rikiya interrogate Kanda, and learn he is uninvolved. Kiryu later learns that Majima was contracted to build the resort, at the behest of Hamazaki who is working with Kiryu's old nemesis, Lau Ka Long (Shinichi Takizawa). Lau has Rikiya kidnapped and forces Kiryu to fight him. Rikiya is saved by Nakahara's shooter, who kills Lau. Kiryu later meets Mine, who presents him with Kanda's severed head as both a scare tactic and a peace offering. Mine also reveals that Hamazaki has disappeared, and his men have been killed, presumably by the triads.
Minister Tamiya meets with Kiryu and Date, and reveals that the Military Base Expansion Bill is part of a CIA operation to eliminate an arms smuggling group known as "Black Monday", and Nakahara's shooter is Kazama's brother Joji (Tetsuya Watari), who is a senior CIA operative. Tamiya agrees to stop the resort if Kiryu protects his former secretary from a planned hit by Joji. Kiryu intercepts Joji and defeats him. Returning home, Kiryu finds the orphanage in ruins; Mine had promised Tamashiro a share of the resort for securing the remaining land. Nakahara is attacked by bulls in Tamashiro's bullring hideout; just as he is about to be gored, Saki regains her voice and calls out to him, giving him the vigor to toss the bull away. Kiryu defeats Tamashiro, who attempts to shoot him from behind; Rikiya defends Kiryu and is fatally wounded. Joji kills Tamashiro, while the dying Rikiya asks Kiryu to stop Mine.
Joji has a jet fly Kiryu to Tokyo. Kiryu arrives at Touto University Hospital where Daigo is being treated, where he defeats the Hakuho Clan and a rogue CIA team led by Joji's colleague, Andre Richardson (Charles Glover). He locates Mine and Daigo on the hospital roof. Mine reveals that he idolizes Daigo, intending to euthanize him and take over the Tojo Clan. After Kiryu defeats Mine in combat, Richardson arrives with his team and reveals himself to be the leader of Black Monday. Before he can kill Mine and Kiryu, Daigo wakes up and kills Richardson's agents. Mine sacrifices himself to save Daigo and Kiryu by tackling Richardson off the roof to their deaths.
The next day, Kiryu bids farewell to his friends Kazuki (Hiroshi Tsuchida) and Yuya (Kenta Miyake) as he and Haruka prepare to go home. Kiryu is confronted by Hamazaki, who blames him for his misfortune and stabs Kiryu before Kazuki and Yuya subdue him. In a post-credits scene, Kiryu is revealed to have survived the stabbing as he rests at the orphanage.

Yakuza 4

=== Setting ===

Yakuza 4 takes place one year after the events of Yakuza 3. Like the original game, most of the action takes place in Kamurocho (resembling Shinjuku's red-light district, Kabukichō). Three locations have been added since Yakuza 3: a rooftop area stretching across a large portion of the town, the back streets of Kamurocho (known as Rojiura (路地裏)) and a third area known as the underground (or "chika" (地下), which includes the city's sewers, parking lot and shopping arcades). The underground area is also known as Kamuchika (カムチカ), short for Kamuro Chika (Kamuro underground).

Characters

Yakuza 4 has three new protagonists in addition to Kazuma Kiryu (Takaya Kuroda), the main character since the original Yakuza game: Masayoshi Tanimura (Hiroki Narimiya/Toshiki Masuda), Shun Akiyama (Koichi Yamadera) and Taiga Saejima (Rikiya Koyama). Other new characters include Junji Sugiuchi (Kenichi Endō), a Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department detective; Hiroaki Arai (Ikki Sawamura), a Tojo Clan yakuza; Takeshi Kido (Kenta Kiritani), Kanemura Enterprises member; Seishirō Munakata (Kinya Kitaoji), a high-ranking police officer and a woman, Lily (Maju Ozawa). Returning characters are Haruka Sawamura (Rie Kugimiya), Goro Majima (Hidenari Ugaki), Makoto Date (Kazuhiro Yamaji), Daigo Dojima (Satoshi Tokushige) and Goh Hamazaki (George Takahashi).

Plot

Loan shark Shun Akiyama learns that members of the Ueno Seiwa Clan, a Yakuza faction involved in a power struggle with the Tojo Clan since the early 1980s, are causing a disturbance. Akiyama beats them up as Tojo Clan members Hiroaki Arai and Takeshi Kido arrive. One of the men, Masaru Ihara (Takahiro Fujimoto), shoots at Arai and flees. Akiyama returns to his office only to find that Arai killed Ihara. Arai flees, and Akiyama is brought in for questioning. His secretary, Hana (Aya Hirano), gets him released, but detective Junji Sugiuchi warns Akiyama to avoid the yakuza. Akiyama reveals to Kido that he used money from the Millennium Tower explosion to start his firm, Sky Finance. Later on, a woman named Lily requests a ¥100 million loan. Akiyama learns that people involved with her are being killed, and when he confronts her, she takes the money and flees. Akiyama eventually meets Goro Majima, who reveals that he is looking for Lily.
In 1985, Majima and his blood brother, Taiga Saejima, prepare to assassinate the chairman of the Ueno Seiwa Clan. Saejima is forced to perform the hit alone, killing eighteen men, though the chairman and one other officer, Isao Katsuragi (Fumihiko Tachiki), survive. Saejima is sentenced to death. In the present, just days before his scheduled execution, Saejima is transferred to a prison off the coast of Okinawa. He meets former Tojo patriarch Goh Hamazaki, imprisoned for attempting to murder Kiryu. He reveals to Saejima that he was set up. They escape, and Hamazaki seemingly sacrifices himself to save Saejima from the prison chief, Saito (Masato Obara). Saejima washes up to shore and meets Kiryu and Haruka. With help from Kiryu, Saejima tracks down and fights Majima, who reveals that he was intercepted on the day of the hit.
Detective Masayoshi Tanimura investigates Ihara's murder. He finds Lily, who is revealed to be Saejima's sister Yasuko, and rescues her from the Shibata Family. He learns that patriarch Kazuo Shibata (Hōchū Ōtsuka) is working with Arai and organized the 1985 hit with help from Katsuragi. Arai kills Shibata under Katsuragi's orders and flees. Tanimura tells Yasuko that his father was investigating the hit, but was killed. Yasuko tells him that she was coerced into killing Shibata's men by Katsuragi, who promised to have Saejima's case reexamined if she eliminated them or gave him ¥100 million. Tanimura meets Katsuragi and hands him the money. Katsuragi then reveals that he was responsible for the eighteen murders, and orders Tanimura killed. However, Sugiuchi saves him.
Tanimura's superior, Satoshi Hisai (Hideyuki Tanaka), reveals that Sugiuchi was his father's partner. Tanimura returns the money to Akiyama, and they conclude that Katsuragi is silencing anyone involved with the hit. Yutaka Mishima (Yoshihiro Kanemitsu), Ihara's friend, contacts Tanimura, offering to inform on Katsuragi. Sugiuchi kills Mishima and reveals that he is Katsuragi's mole, and that he killed Tanimura's father. He reveals that he and Katsuragi covered up the hit with help from Deputy Commissioner Seishiro Munakata. Hisai, who was Munakata's mole, killed Sugiuchi and committed suicide out of guilt.
Hamazaki, having survived, arrives at Kiryu's orphanage. He tells Kiryu he wants to reform and reveals a ledger indicating that the police instigated the 10 billion yen incident alongside Kyohei Jingu. He links the scheme to Munakata and Katsuragi, who plan to destroy the Tojo and allow the Ueno Seiwa to take over Kamurocho. When Hamazaki is about to turn himself in, he and Kiryu find Yasuko, and offer to help her. Saito arrives with orders to kill them. Kiryu beats him and goes to Kamurocho with Yasuko; Hamazaki is wounded and later dies.
Later on, Sky Finance is raided, so Akiyama and Tanimura agree to work together. Kiryu leaves Yasuko with Date, and goes to meet Majima, who is seen being arrested. Munakata tells Daigo Dojima his plan to give the police control of organized crime, and offers to eliminate the Ueno Seiwa if Daigo promotes Arai, who is an undercover police officer.
Kiryu finds Date drugged by Yasuko, and is forced to track her down. He is confronted by Akiyama and Tanimura, but beats them, and then learns that Yasuko and Saejima have been captured by Katsuragi. Back at Serena, Akiyama tells everyone that Kido, under orders from Katsuragi, stole ¥100 billion yen from him. At Kamurocho Hills, Katsuragi tells Kiryu he will return the Saejimas and the money in return for the ledger, but Kido shoots him and gives the ledger to Arai, who shoots him and leaves. Katsuragi and Yasuko kill each other; and Arai shoots Munakata when he orders him to kidnap Haruka and Kiryu's orphans to recover the money.
Kiryu uses Hamazaki's and Yasuko's deaths to motivate Saejima, Tanimura and Akiyama. They use Akiyama's money as bait on the roof of the Millennium Tower. Daigo and Arai arrive to claim it, along with Kido, who reveals he is working for Daigo. Munakata, having faked his death, brings officers to kill the others. Akiyama, Kiryu, Saejima and Tanimura defeat Arai, Daigo, Kido, and Munakata and his men. When Munakata declares that he is untouchable, Date scatters newspapers exposing his corruption. He shoots Akiyama, but a wad of money stops the bullet. Faced with prison, Munakata commits suicide. Arai surrenders to the authorities.
Months later, the group meets outside Akiyama's office, where he intends to restart his business. Date rejoins the police and asks Kiryu what he intends to do; Kiryu, Daigo, and a newly freed Majima appoint Saejima as patriarch of his own family at Tojo Clan headquarters.

Yakuza 5

=== Setting and characters ===
The game features five main protagonists, the highest number of main protagonists of any game in the series, with the previous highest being Yakuza 4's four main protagonists. The game features series protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu (Takaya Kuroda), the main character since the original Yakuza game. There are also two returning protagonists from Yakuza 4, namely Shun Akiyama (Koichi Yamadera) and Taiga Saejima (Rikiya Koyama). One of the new main protagonists is Haruka Sawamura (Rie Kugimiya), a recurring character of the series since the original game. Though she has always been an integral part of the story, she has never been a playable main character before the game. She is also the only playable character whose gameplay is exclusively focused on rhythm. Nonetheless, her gameplay incorporates mechanics similar to her combat-based counterparts, including a Heat gauge. Lastly is Tatsuo Shinada (Toshiyuki Morikawa), a new character to the Like a Dragon series.
For the first time in the series, the game features five distinct locales across Japan. First of which, returning from previous games, is Kamurocho, a fictionalized yet realistic recreation of Shinjuku's red-light district, Kabukichō. Second is Sōtenbori, a fictional Osaka district based on Dōtonbori, returning from Yakuza 2. The three new cities in the game are: Nagasugai, the fictional red light district of Fukuoka, based on Nakasu; Tsukimino, part of the fictional Sapporo, based on Susukino; and Kin'eicho, part of the fictional Nagoya, based on Sakae. According to general director Toshihiro Nagoshi and producer/writer Masayoshi Yokoyama, it would be like the "San Andreas" of the Like a Dragon series, as a "massive expansion on the core concept that takes the franchise to new heights."

Story

In December 2012, the 7th chairman of the Omi Alliance, Tsubasa Kurosawa, is terminally ill. With his impending death, the truce between the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance deteriorates. Daigo Dojima (Satoshi Tokushige) leads delegations to negotiate with Yamagasa Family patriarch Tadashi Madarame (Kenji Utsumi). Daigo then meets Kazuma Kiryu, who is working as a taxi driver under the alias Taichi Suzuki.
After work, Kiryu meets Daigo's bodyguards, Yu Morinaga (Hiroki Tōchi) and Masato Aizawa (Hiroki Yasumoto), who inform him that Daigo is missing. Minoru Aoyama (Kenyu Horiuchi) becomes interim chairman in his absence. Kiryu meets detective Kazuhiko Serizawa (Eiji Okuda), who points out Omi Alliance Captain Masaru Watase (Rintarō Nishi) as a suspect. Watase is unaware of Daigo's whereabouts, but claims that Aoyama has been secretly giving him information. At a hotel where Madarame and Aoyama are meeting, Kiryu finds Madarame stabbed by Aoyama, who plans to take over the Tojo Clan. Afterwards, Kiryu learns from Madarame that Daigo had gone into hiding in fear of Aoyama, who looks to start a conflict with the Yamagasa. Preventing bloodshed, Kiryu defeats Aoyama's army by himself. Before Aoyama can reveal his boss's identity, Morinaga kills him, and directs Kiryu to Kamurocho. While making preparations for his return, Serizawa reveals that Goro Majima (Hidenari Ugaki) has died.
Taiga Saejima is serving his sentence at Abashiri Prison, where he learns of Majima's death. The deputy warden helps Saejima and his cellmate Shigeki Baba (Shunsuke Daito) escape. The two kidnap Taizo Kitakata (Kōzō Shioya), Majima's supposed killer, who reveals that Majima faked his death. Baba shoots Kitakata to silence him, but he survives. Baba also reveals to Saejima that he deliberately planned to have him and Saejima escape prison so that he could be lured. Saejima subdues him but decides to spare Baba. He is then directed by Serizawa to Kamurocho.
Haruka Sawamura trains to be the top J-pop idol to earn money for her family. She had been scouted by Mirei Park (Romi Park), who forced Kiryu to hide his identity and leave the orphanage to protect Haruka's reputation. Haruka and Park bond, and Park confesses she received a letter from her ex-husband, who she plans to meet. The following day, she is found dead, of apparent suicide. Her death alerts Shun Akiyama, who reunites with Haruka. They conclude Park's suicide note was forged, at the behest of Naoyuki Katsuya (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), CEO of Osaka Enterprises, a subsidiary of the Omi Alliance. Akiyama finds Haruka's trainer, Kan Ogita (Ryōta Takeuchi), who confesses to killing Park accidentally after he tried to obtain a letter from Goro Majima from her, to find his whereabouts. Ogita is killed by Kamon Kanai (Hideo Ishikawa), the Captain of Osaka Enterprises. It is revealed that Park's ex-husband was Majima. With Haruka's competitions completed and her protected from Kanai by Akiyama, she and Akiyama head to Tokyo, with Katsuya following.
Former pro-baseball player Tatsuo Shinada is hired by a disguised Daigo to investigate a match-fixing scandal that led to his wrongful banishment from professional baseball in 1997. Shinada investigates the scandal with Koichi Takasugi (Show Aikawa), his loan shark, and finds that his former manager, Fujita (Junpei Morita), is responsible for framing him, which led to the police investigation and subsequent expulsion of the local Tojo and Omi families. Daigo reveals his true identity, and the two return to Tokyo.
As Kiryu arrives in Tokyo, he learns that Baba is an accomplice in the Omi Alliance's plan, who planned to draw out Saejima and Kiryu. Serizawa tasks Saejima with finding Morinaga, but he is revealed to be dead. Akiyama and Shinada meet, and learn that Haruka may be targeted during the Princess League. Investigation into Katsuya reveals that he was Park's friend, and did not order her death.
Baba, Kiryu, Saejima and Aizawa see a broadcast claiming Haruka's concert has been canceled. Thinking Katsuya guilty, Kiryu and Saejima confront him. They, along with Watase, reach Katsuya, who intends to lure out the actual mastermind, Serizawa who is revealed to be Chairman Kurosawa. Daigo intervenes, but is shot and knocked unconscious by Kanai, who is also affiliated with Kurosawa. Kiryu refuses to cancel Haruka's concert, and the four decide to protect her. Majima is revealed to have only faked his death so that he could secretly investigate Kurosawa.
Before the plan can start, Kurosawa's men, impersonating the Majima Family, arrive at the Millennium Tower guns blazing to destroy Majima's reputation. With Haruka's concert underway, Akiyama and Kiryu fend off Kurosawa's men while Shinada fights Baba. At the top of the Millennium Tower, Saejima and Majima fight to a stalemate. Kurosawa loses his leverage when Baba refuses to shoot Haruka. Kurosawa attempts to kill Majima and Saejima, but is stopped by Daigo and Katsuya. In the streets, Akiyama defeats Kanai before being relieved by Watase, Madarame, and Kitakata.
At the Tojo Clan Headquarters, Kiryu learns that Aizawa is Kurosawa's son. Kurosawa wanted to leave the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance to Aizawa, but Aizawa desired to gain power independently. A wounded Kiryu defeats Aizawa. Regretting her sacrifices to become an idol, Haruka publicly confesses her background and retires. She reunites with Kiryu not long afterwards, who proceeds to collapse from his injuries.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

=== Characters and settings ===
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life takes place in winter 2016, and features two major settings: the Kamurochō district of Tokyo, and the Jingaicho district of Onomichi, Hiroshima. Kazuma Kiryu (Takaya Kuroda) returns as the sole playable protagonist, along with several of his allies from previous titles in supporting capacities: Shun Akiyama (Koichi Yamadera), Makoto Date (Kazuhiro Yamaji), Daigo Dojima (Satoshi Tokushige), Goro Majima (Hidenari Ugaki), and Taiga Saejima (Rikiya Koyama). The story is centered around Kiryu's adoptive daughter, Haruka Sawamura (Rie Kugimiya), who has become a mother to an infant child named Haruto. Kiryu sets out to learn the truth about Haruto and the circumstances behind his birth, while being embroiled in a massive conflict between the Tojo Clan and several other crime organizations in Kamurochō and Onomichi.
Yakuza 6 features a new supporting cast in Onomichi, including: the local yakuza group Hirose Family, consisting of Patriarch Toru Hirose (Beat Takeshi), family captain Tsuyoshi Nagumo (Hiroyuki Miyasako), and members Yuta Usami (Tatsuya Fujiwara), Takaaki Matsunaga (Doronzu Ishimoto), and Naoto Tagashira (Yoshimasa Hosoya); and Kiyomi Kasahara (Yōko Maki), owner of a local snack bar. Opposing Kiryu and his allies are: Takeru Kurusu (Masane Tsukayama), real name Heizo Iwami, chairman of the Yomei Alliance, a Hiroshima-based yakuza organization; Tsuneo Iwami (Nao Ōmori), Kurusu's son and CEO of Iwami Shipbuilding; Kanji Koshimizu (Ayumi Tanida), captain of the Yomei Alliance; Katsumi Sugai (Ryūsei Nakao), acting chairman of the Tojo Clan; Takumi Someya (Shun Oguri), an aspiring Tojo Clan patriarch and Sugai's right-hand man, as well as Kiyomi's ex-husband; Big Lo (Junpei Morita), leader of the Chinese Saio Triad; and Joongi Han (Yuichi Nakamura), leader of the Korean Jingweon Mafia.

Plot

After recovering from injuries sustained in his fight with Masato Aizawa, Kazuma Kiryu is arrested for his past crimes, and willingly spends three years in prison, hoping for a peaceful life with his fostered children. In his absence, an arson attack in Kamurocho's Little Asia district skews the criminal underworld's power balance: the Tojo Clan's chairman Daigo Dojima is framed for the arson and imprisoned alongside Goro Majima. Taiga Saejima also returns to jail for his actions in Hokkaido. Katsumi Sugai and Takumi Someya usurp the Tojo Clan; the Chinese Saio Triad, specializing in heihaizi human trafficking, rises to power in the area; and the Korean Jingweon Mafia resurfaces, occupying most of Kamurochō.
Upon release in 2016, Kiryu discovers that Haruka Sawamura hid herself in Onomichi, Hiroshima from the paparazzi after her controversial retirement, and is currently in a coma after a hit and run accident in Kamurochō. Learning that she has an infant son, Haruto, Kiryu travels with the baby to Onomichi. Upon arrival, Kiryu befriends the local Hirose family, its patriarch Toru Hirose, and members Tsuyoshi Nagumo, Naoto Tagashira, Takaaki Matsunaga and Yuta Usami. He also becomes acquainted with a local snack bar owner, Kiyomi Kasahara, who frequently takes care of Haruto.
Searching for Haruto's father, he meets prominent figures of the Onomichi yakuza world: Takeru Kurusu, real name Heizo Iwami, chairman of the powerful Yomei alliance, and his son Tsuneo Iwami, CEO of his front company, Iwami Shipbuilding. Kiryu also learns that Sugai and Someya initially provoked the war with the Saio Triad in the Tojo Clan's name, which included burning Little Asia, so that Daigo could be framed and arrested. However, the hostility between the gangs became genuine after Iwami empowered the Saio Triad. Iwami later betrayed them and dispatched the Jingweon Mafia to murder Jimmy Lo, the eldest son of their leader, Big Lo. Iwami and the Saio Triad also share the "secret of Onomichi". Likewise, Sugai and Someya want the Saio Triad suppressed, with the latter requesting support from Kiryu. Kiryu rejects the offer because of his role in framing Daigo.
Hirose eventually reveals that Yuta is Haruto's father, and the youngest son of Big Lo. From birth, Lo's subordinates secretly manipulated Yuta into learning Chinese culture in case his elder brother died, so that he could replace him and reign over the triad, per hereditary succession. After Jimmy's murder, the Saio Triad attempted to kill Haruto because of his mixed bloodline. However, Saio member Shu Tatsukawa and his Jingweon allies decided to sell Haruto to Iwami, who wanted to prove that he has the final authority over them by keeping the child. Tatsukawa convinced Haruka of the plan in Kamurochō but accidentally ran her over during the process. Tatsukawa would later be killed by the Saio for his treachery.
Iwami later orders the Jingweon Mafia to kidnap Haruto, who is saved by Kiryu and his allies. The Jingweon Mafia's leader, Joongi Han, attempts to reveal Onomichi's secret to Kiryu, but is killed by an unknown assailant. Yuta, disgusted by his father's actions, attempts to commit murder-suicide by burning down Little Asia, but Kiryu saves them both. Big Lo recovers and tells Kiryu that Hirose deliberately told Yuta about his background to provoke him into killing Lo, as he failed to obey Hirose's command to leave Japan, because of his knowledge of the "secret of Onomichi". Realizing that Hirose had been killing anyone connected to the "secret", including Han, Kiryu returns to Onomichi to confront him; the secret is revealed to be a third Yamato-class battleship, intended for use against the American occupation forces and built illegally by Iwami Shipbuilding who hired illegal Chinese immigrants in collusion with the Saio Triad. The project was funded by Minoru Daidoji, nicknamed the Fixer, a politician who embezzled taxpayer money from Hiroshima citizens. Kurusu appears and reveals himself as the mastermind behind the murders. He orders Hirose to kill Kiryu and the Hirose Family for exposing the secret but Hirose refuses, resulting in his execution. Daidoji later names Iwami as his new right-hand man and orders him to execute Kurusu, since he failed to execute Kiryu and his allies. Iwami also announces his plan to fully dominate the Yomei Alliance and Tojo Clan.
Kiryu and his allies assault the Millennium Tower to confront Iwami and Sugai, but Kiryu is forced to fight Someya. Kiryu defeats Someya but quickly learns that Kiyomi, Someya's ex-wife, is being held hostage at gunpoint by Iwami and Sugai. In an attempt to save Kiyomi, Someya commits suicide by stabbing himself in the stomach, but Kiyomi is seemingly killed. Mourning Someya and Kiyomi, Kiryu and the Hirose Family mount a full-scale invasion of the Yomei Alliance. In anticipation, Iwami and Sugai kidnap the awoken Haruka and Haruto. The Hirose Family rescues the two, and a heavily wounded Kiryu defeats Iwami, but is shot by Sugai. Kiryu seemingly dies before Sugai takes his own life. Iwami is imprisoned, Daidoji dies of old age, and the Hirose family and Haruka mourn Kiryu's death. It is revealed that Kiyomi survived and she is reunited with her daughter.
By January 2017, a politician serving as Daidoji's successor attempts to bribe an alive and recovering Kiryu into silence regarding Daidoji's crimes, which would jeopardize several high-profile politicians. In exchange for his silence, Kiryu demands Daigo's release from imprisonment to prevent a war between the Tojo Clan and Yomei Alliance, and has the politician fake his death to ensure that Haruka and her family can live in peace. After Daigo's release from prison, Daigo, Saejima, and Majima regroup and pledge to create an alliance with the Yomei in honor of Kiryu's will.
Returning to Okinawa one last time, Kiryu observes the Morning Glory orphanage from a distance, and sees that Haruka, Yuta, Haruto, and the other adopted children are living peacefully. As Haruto takes his first steps, he sees Kiryu, who walks away before anyone else can spot him.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

=== Setting and characters ===

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is set in 2019, three years after the events of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. For the first time in the Yakuza series, the focus shifts away from Tokyo and the game's fictional recreation of Kabukichō, called Kamurochō. Instead, most of the gameplay takes place in the Yokohama district of Isezaki Ijincho, which is based on Yokohama's real-life Isezakichō district. However, Kamurochō and the Osaka district Sotenbori (another area from previous Yakuza games, based on the real-life Dōtonbori district) are featured in the game. Yokohama's criminal underworld consists of three interconnected factions known as the Ijin Three: the Chinese-Japanese gang Yokohama Liumang, the Korean-Japanese Geomijul mafia, an offshoot of the Jingweon Mafia, and the local yakuza organization, the Seiryu Clan.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is also the first main series game not to have Kazuma Kiryu (Takaya Kuroda/Darryl Kurylo) as its protagonist, though he appears in a supporting capacity. Its lead character is Ichiban Kasuga (Kazuhiro Nakaya/Kaiji Tang), a low-ranking member of the Arakawa Family, a subsidiary of the Kanto-based Tojo Clan. Mandatory playable characters who join Kasuga's party include Yu Nanba (Ken Yasuda/Greg Chun), a homeless ex-nurse; Koichi Adachi (Akio Otsuka/Andrew Morgado), a former police officer; Saeko Mukoda (Sumire Uesaka/Elizabeth Maxwell), a hostess bar manager; Joongi Han (Yuichi Nakamura/Keong Sim), a Geomijul operative and the body double of the Jingweon Mafia leader of the same name from Yakuza 6; and Tianyou Zhao (Nobuhiko Okamoto/Robbie Daymond), leader of the Liumang. A fictionalized version of Japanese actress Eri Kamataki appears as a character of the same name (voiced in Japanese by herself and in English by Eden Riegel), as the chief executive officer of Ichiban Confections who recruits Kasuga to help turn her company around as part of the business management minigame. She may be recruited as an optional party member once the player reaches the first milestone objective within the minigame.
Important non-player characters include Masumi Arakawa (Kiichi Nakai/George Takei), the patriarch of the Arakawa Family; Masato Arakawa (Kohsuke Toriumi/Will Yun Lee), Arakawa's son who falsified his identity to become Ryo Aoki, the upstart Governor of Tokyo; Jo Sawashiro (Shinichi Tsutsumi/Brian Bloom), Arakawa's long serving right-hand man and the captain of the Arakawa Family; Sota Kume (Daisuke Hirakawa/Zach Aguilar), a fanatical member of Bleach Japan, a political movement that seeks to cleanse Japan of its 'grey zones' (e.g. prostitution, illegal immigration, organized crime etc.) and protégé of Aoki; Seonhee (Hana Takeda/Fiona Rene), the head of the Geomijul; Ryuhei Hoshino (Tetsuo Kanao/JB Blanc), chairman of the Seiryu Clan; Akira Mabuchi (Masanori Takeda/Ed Bosco), the second-in-command of the Liumang; Reiji Ishioda (Show Hayami/Rino Romano), a lieutenant of the Osaka-based Omi Alliance; and Yosuke Tendo (Miou Tanaka/John Eric Bentley), an opportunistic Omi Alliance member and disgraced former professional boxer. Other characters include: Mitsuo Yasumura (Satoshi Tsuruoka/SungWon Cho), Kasuga's oath brother in the Arakawa Family; Nick Ogata (Kazumasa Nakamura/Ray Chase), a wealthy businessman who befriends Kasuga and occasionally provides him financial support; Isao Nonomiya (Yōhei Tadano/William Salyers), the owner of a soapland in Ijincho who hires Kasuga and his party to investigate a conspiracy involving his employee; and Mamoru Takabe (Daichi Endo/Darin De Paul), captain of the Seiryu Clan.
In addition to Kiryu, several characters from previous Yakuza titles also return in supporting roles: Osamu Kashiwagi (Shunsuke Sakuya/David Hayter), a former senior Tojo Clan member who survived the events of Yakuza 3 and became proprietor of the Survive bar in Ijincho; Daigo Dojima (Satoshi Tokushige/Roger Craig Smith), sixth chairman of the Tojo Clan; Goro Majima (Hidenari Ugaki/Matthew Mercer) and Taiga Saejima (Rikiya Koyama/Ron Yuan), senior Tojo Clan members who accompany Daigo; Masaru Watase (Rintarō Nishi/James C. Burns), captain of the Omi Alliance; and Makoto Date (Kazuhiro Yamaji/Bill Farmer), a Kamurochō police detective and long-time friend of Adachi.

Plot

In 2001, Masumi Arakawa persuades Ichiban Kasuga to confess to a murder that his captain, Jo Sawashiro, allegedly committed, to protect the latter's reputation. Kasuga, feeling indebted to Arakawa, agrees to shoulder the blame for the crime. Arakawa promises to greet Kasuga upon his release. 18 years later, after serving his sentencing, Kasuga is released from jail, but Arakawa is nowhere to be seen. He is picked up by police officer Koichi Adachi, who reveals that the Tojo Clan has perished, and in its place, Kamurocho has become the territory of its rival, the Omi Alliance. Adachi also informs Kasuga that Arakawa was responsible as he betrayed the clan to join the Omi, while Arakawa's son Masato, whom Kasuga once chauffeured, has died due to his deteriorating health. Seeking to expose the truth together, they crash an Omi Alliance meeting held by Arakawa. Adachi is arrested for trespassing whilst Arakawa shoots Kasuga.
Three days later, a homeless man named Yu Nanba heals Kasuga's wounds after discovering his body in Isezaki Ijincho. Nanba sees a counterfeit bill in Kasuga's pocket and tells him that he is safe from the Omi Alliance because Ijincho is hostile territory. Kasuga and Nanba meet Adachi, where they agree to work for soapland owner Isao Nonomiya to make extra money. After uncovering a conspiracy plot at the city's retirement home, the gang discovers that Nonomiya is murdered, which alerts Saeko Mukoda, one of his employees. Determined to find Nonomiya's murderer, Saeko joins Kasuga's team. The party discovers that his killer is Akira Mabuchi, a lieutenant of the Yokohama Liumang. They also uncover the Liumang's collaboration with the Geomijul Mafia and Seiryu Clan in running a money counterfeiting scheme. This money is used by Yutaka Ogikubo, a high-profile politician, to bribe the local police into effectively preserving peace.
The Liumang catch the group investigating the scheme and turns them over to Mabuchi. Mabuchi reveals that he deliberately engineered the prior events so that he could frame the party as warmongering Seiryu Clan members. Joongi Han, the second-in-command of the Geomijul, saves the party from Mabuchi. Mabuchi nonetheless executes two Seiryu Clan members to provoke further retaliation. Kasuga's party heads to the Geomijul HQ so that they can find proof of Mabuchi's guilt and convince the other Ijincho gangs to not war against each other. Seonhee, the leader of Geomijul, reveals to everyone that Nanba pretended to be homeless so that he could investigate his brother's disappearance after the latter tried to expose the money counterfeiting scheme. She rallies the Geomijul and the Liumang into executing Nanba, prompting him to seek refuge in the HQ of Bleach Japan, co-founded by Tokyo's governor Ryo Aoki. Kasuga eventually deduces that Aoki is Masato, who took on a new identity and used Bleach Japan to cleanse Kamurocho of the Tojo Clan's influence. However, as the police were afraid of a power vacuum, Aoki ordered the Omi Alliance to take over Kamurocho with Arakawa's help. Aoki seeks to win the support of Ijincho by undermining the Yokohama underworld by bribing Mabuchi into provoking a civil war.
The Omi Alliance, under the guise of Bleach Japan, and Nanba invade the Geomijul HQ, though they are defeated by Kasuga's party. The Geomijul burns evidence of the entire money counterfeiting scheme so that Ogikubo's reputation is not damaged during the election season. Tianyou Zhao, the leader of the Liumang, enraged by Mabuchi's betrayal, vows to spare Nanba if they can save the Geomijul from the Omi. Touched by Zhao's solidarity, the Geomijul warm up to Kasuga's party, with Han and Zhao joining them, the latter also relinquishing his leadership of the Liumang to Seonhee. Nanba, having realized the error of his ways, rejoins the team to expose Aoki.
Meanwhile, Aoki employs his right-hand man Sota Kume to run for candidacy as Yokohama's regional representative. At the advice of Seiryu Clan chairman Ryuhei Hoshino, Kasuga runs as an independent candidate to stop Aoki's plans. Hoshino also tells Kasuga that Arakawa never intended to kill him; after the shooting, Arakawa placed the counterfeit bill in his pocket, given to him by Hoshino, so that Kasuga could visit Hoshino on his behalf. Hoshino had previously killed Arakawa's father for stealing the counterfeit money, with Arakawa eventually forgiving him; his decision to hand the bill back to Hoshino even though Arakawa had the power to expose it was evidence.
Tipped off by his former oath brother Mitsuo Yasumura, Kasuga learns that Arakawa pretended to work for the Omi Alliance the entire time. Kasuga and his party travel to Sotenbori, Osaka, and attend an Omi Alliance meeting, where Arakawa, along with Tojo Clan's sixth chairman Daigo Dojima, and Omi Alliance Captain Masaru Watase, formally disband both organizations to stop Aoki from using them as pawns. Kasuga and his party, joined by Omi lieutenant Yosuke Tendo and Tojo officers Goro Majima and Taiga Saejima, battle the rioting Omi members; they are later joined by former Tojo Clan chairman Kazuma Kiryu, who reveals himself as Watase's anonymous bodyguard. After the battle, Kasuga reconciles with Arakawa and learns that Aoki was the one who committed the murder 18 years ago. The next day, however, Arakawa is assassinated on Aoki's orders. Aoki also discovers the circumstances behind Kasuga's candidacy and, as such, orders Sawashiro to kill Hoshino.
Kasuga arrives at the Seiryu Clan HQ, albeit too late as Hoshino is killed. Kasuga defeats Sawashiro, prompting him to reveal the truth: Aoki is actually Sawashiro's biological son, while Kasuga is Arakawa's legitimate son; As Arakawa's girlfriend Akane was hunted down by the yakuza, Arakawa told Akane to put the baby inside one of the coin lockers to ensure the baby's safety. At the same time, Sawashiro and his confidante, having birthed a son, decided to abandon their baby at the coin lockers. Arakawa eventually took Sawashiro's baby, while his actual baby was adopted by Kasuga's father, Jiro. Sawashiro eventually turned himself in to the police.
Kiryu later meets Kasuga's party and reveals to them, based on intel provided by the Daidoji faction, that Aoki has dispatched assassins after Sawashiro as the latter planned to expose Aoki's guilt. Kasuga's party stops the assassins and then returns to Kamurocho, where they arrange a hoax using incriminating evidence to lure out both Aoki and Tendo, the latter being responsible for Arakawa's murder. Kasuga defeats Tendo in combat, then the group secretly feigns defeat to trick Aoki into verbally revealing his intent to murder. Kasuga's party publicly leaks the video as Aoki escapes. Kasuga eventually finds him at the coin lockers. As Kasuga tearfully begs Aoki to turn himself in, Kume fatally stabs Aoki, outraged by his hypocrisy.
Sometime later, the evidence found in Arakawa's headquarters leads to the arrest of all Kamurochō officials who accepted his bribe money. Kasuga attends the funeral for Arakawa and Aoki, and decides to remain in Ijincho after turning down Daigo's job offer for a security firm staffed by ex-yakuza in Osaka.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

=== Premise ===

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth primarily takes place in 2023, and follows former Tojo Clan yakuza members Ichiban Kasuga (Kazuhiro Nakaya/Kaiji Tang) and Kazuma Kiryu (Takaya Kuroda/Yong Yea) as they embark on an adventure in Isezaki Ijincho, Yokohama and Honolulu, Hawaii. Following a tip from a former ally, Kasuga travels to Honolulu in search of his biological mother, Akane Kishida (Yoshiko Sakakibara/Patti Yasutake), who he thought had died many years ago. Also looking for Akane for different reasons, Kiryu teams up with Kasuga to find and protect her from various local criminal organizations as a larger, international conspiracy unearths.
Kasuga's party members from Yakuza: Like a Dragon return, including: Yu Nanba (Ken Yasuda/Greg Chun), Koichi Adachi (Akio Otsuka/Andrew Morgado), Saeko Mukoda (Sumire Uesaka/Elizabeth Maxwell), Tianyou Zhao (Nobuhiko Okamoto/Robbie Daymond), and Joongi Han (Yuichi Nakamura/Keong Sim). New party members in Infinite Wealth include Seonhee (Hana Takeda/Fiona Rene), leader of the Ijincho-based Geomijul syndicate and Yokohama Liumang gang, and a supporting character from the previous game; Eric Tomizawa (Satoru Iguchi/Matthew Yang King), a local taxi driver in Hawaii; and Chitose Fujinomiya (Anju Inami/Suzie Yeung), the heiress of a wealthy family who works part-time as Akane's personal maid.
Other major characters include: Jo Sawashiro (Shinichi Tsutsumi/Brian Bloom), the former captain of the Tojo Clan's Arakawa Family and one of Kasuga's adversaries from the previous game; Eiji Mitamura (Ryo Narita/Aleks Le), a wheelchair-using engineer who Kasuga meets and befriends at Honolulu; Masataka Ebina (Hiroki Hasegawa/Daniel Dae Kim), captain and acting chairman of the Ijincho-based Seiryu Clan; Yutaka Yamai (Takehito Koyasu/Andrew Kishino), a disgraced Tojo Clan yakuza who forms his own group, the Yamai Syndicate, in Hawaii; Dwight Méndez (Shuhei Matsuda/Danny Trejo), leader of the Hawaiian Barracudas gang; Wong Tou (Takuya Matsumoto/Rich Ting), commander of the Chinese Ganzhe Mafia; Bryce Fairchild (Tōru Furuya/Chris Parson), the head of Palekana, a Hawaiian religious group; and Lani Mililani (Atsumi Tanezaki/Justine Lee), a young Hawaiian girl who is also targeted by the various gangs, and sheltered by Akane.
Infinite Wealth features a variety of returning characters introduced prior to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, appearing either in the main story or as part of Kiryu's "Bucket List" side story content. Returning major characters from the series include: Goro Majima (Hidenari Ugaki/Matthew Mercer), Taiga Saejima (Rikiya Koyama/Ron Yuan), Daigo Dojima (Satoshi Tokushige/Tim Friedlander), Osamu Kashiwagi (Shunsuke Sakuya/David Hayter), Makoto Date (Kazuhiro Yamaji/Bill Farmer), Shun Akiyama (Koichi Yamadera/Stephen Fu), and Haruka Sawamura (Rie Kugimiya/Xanthe Huynh).

Plot

In 2022, three years after the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance's joint dissolution, ex-yakuza Ichiban Kasuga is an employee at Hello Work, an employment agency in Isezaki Ijincho, Yokohama, determined to carry on his father Masumi Arakawa's legacy by helping ex-yakuza find legitimate work. By 2023, VTuber Hisoka Tatara spreads false rumors of Kasuga building his own crime ring, which causes Kasuga and his friends Yu Nanba and Koichi Adachi to become unemployed. A month later, they learn that the Seiryu Clan has been recruiting ex-yakuza en masse. They infiltrate the Seiryu Clan HQ and meet their Acting Chairman, Masataka Ebina, who reveals that he is hiring ex-yakuza into a legitimate waste management business and that he is organizing a "Second Great Dissolution" to disband the remaining yakuza clans across Japan. Ebina informs them that he is working with Jo Sawashiro, who has been released from prison after being proven innocent, with the former's help, in the murder of the previous Seiryu Clan Chairman Ryuhei Hoshino. Sawashiro reveals to Kasuga that his biological mother, Akane Kishida, is alive and has been living in Honolulu, Hawaii, and asks Kasuga to meet her.
Upon arriving in Hawaii, Kasuga befriends the wheelchair-using engineer Eiji Mitamura. Kasuga has run-ins with taxi driver Eric Tomizawa, who attempts to rob him, and later with Akane's maid and exchange student Chitose Fujinomiya, who strips him naked and steals his passport. Kasuga is arrested by police and escapes; he is then saved by Kazuma Kiryu, who is looking for Akane per the Daidoji faction's orders. While investigating Akane's house, Kasuga and Kiryu are confronted by the Yamai Syndicate and their patriarch, Yutaka Yamai, who is also searching for Akane. Tomizawa, who is coerced to work for Yamai, defects to Kasuga's side. Kasuga's group discovers that Chitose used Kasuga's passport to hide within District Five, home of the Barracudas gang. Kiryu reveals that he has cancer, contracted from an accident at a nuclear waste disposal plant in 2020, and he has only six months left to live.
The party infiltrates District Five and finds Chitose, who joins them to confront the Barracudas leader Dwight Méndez. Gaining intel from Chitose, the party discovers that Akane was part of a religious charity group called Palekana and that two of Hawaii's largest gangs, the Barracudas and the Chinese Ganzhe Mafia, are also after Akane. With assistance from Kiryu's handler Kihei Hanawa, Kasuga confronts Wong Tou, the Ganzhe's commander, and learns that the Barracudas and the Ganzhe are secretly controlled by Bryce Fairchild, the Sage of Palekana and "the Overseer" of Hawaii's underworld. Bryce is hunting down Akane to find Lani, a young girl currently under her protection. Wong is then betrayed by a spy, forcing Kasuga's group to escort Wong to safety, while Kiryu is captured by Yamai. Nanba and Adachi, having arrived in Hawaii, join Kasuga to confront Yamai, who was providing medical care to Kiryu out of respect. Learning of Bryce's true objective, Yamai calls off pursuing Akane. Kiryu returns to Japan with Nanba for recovery, while Kasuga confronts Bryce, who escapes.
Returning to Kasuga's apartment in Ijincho, Nanba is joined by Geomijul and Yokohama Liumang leader Seonhee, and hostess club owner Saeko Mukoda in helping Kiryu recover and manage his condition. Seonhee is later informed that the Seiryu Clan is planning to expand its waste management operations to Hawaii. Kiryu meets Ebina and Sawashiro at the former Tojo Clan Headquarters, where Ebina reveals he got the idea for his waste management business from Palekana, who runs a similar business on Nele Island and plans to partner with them. However, they claim they have no knowledge of Palekana hunting Akane. Later, Tatara publicly exposes Kiryu's survival and claims he plans to resurrect the Tojo Clan, seemingly corroborated by Ebina and Sawashiro.
Kasuga tracks Akane and Lani hiding in a yacht offshore. En route to a Daidoji safehouse, Akane reveals that Lani is the last surviving member of the Mililani family, the true successor to the title of Sage of Palekana, and that Bryce usurped the position by murdering the previous Sage. Upon reaching the safehouse, Chitose reveals that Eiji is a Seiryu Clan spy, who faked his disability to gain Kasuga's trust. The Barracudas raid the safehouse, killing Hanawa and Wong, while Eiji escapes with Lani. Chitose then confesses that she is Tatara, having been blackmailed by Eiji to spread online accusations against ex-yakuza across the country and serve as a spy on Kasuga's party. Kasuga focuses on rescuing Lani, while Kiryu focuses on Sawashiro.
Former Liumang leader Tianyou Zhao allies with Kiryu as they confront Sawashiro, who reveals that he has been secretly working behind Ebina's back to actually carry out the dissolution. Sawashiro realizes that Ebina's plan is a ruse after sending Kasuga to Hawaii, in order to expose Akane as a favor for Bryce. Ebina plans to make a deal with Bryce to store all of Japan's accumulated nuclear waste on Nele Island, allowing the government to resume Japan's nuclear industry. Sawashiro and Kiryu, however, share the belief that there's an ulterior motive behind Ebina's plans. Kasuga learns from surviving Daidoji agents that Eiji used to be a reporter who was framed by the Arakawa family for a hit-and-run and previously joined non-profit organization Bleach Japan to enact vengeance on the yakuza. Chitose makes amends with the party as they attempt to rescue Lani, but fail as Eiji flees with her.
Sawashiro sends Kiryu to Tojo Clan leaders Daigo Dojima, Taiga Saejima, and Goro Majima to expedite the dissolution. Kiryu meets them, where they reveal that a prior Tatara Channel exposé on their ex-yakuza employees shut down their security company. Daigo also reveals that Ebina may be Arakawa's illegitimate son and Kasuga's half-brother. Fearing another failure, Daigo, Saejima, and Majima refuse to help Sawashiro. Tatara, replaced with a substitute by Eiji, exposes the meeting, causing public backlash and a manhunt for Kiryu. That night, Tatara holds a live stream at the former Tojo HQ with Ebina and Sawashiro, where Ebina announces his deal with Palekana, the dissolution of the Seiryu Clan, the reformation of Bleach Japan, and his plan to pass their yakuza rehabilitation program to the government. Kiryu's team raids the former Tojo HQ, but find that the live stream was pre-recorded.
Joongi Han, Seonhee's right-hand man, arrives in Hawaii to help Kasuga infiltrate Nele Island. Kasuga's party investigates a secret passage within District Five, which leads to a hidden port heading to Nele Island. Lani is rescued from the Barracudas, and with Yamai's help, the party, Lani and Akane escape to Japan. Having failed Bryce, Dwight attempts to escape but is eaten by a shark. Upon arriving in Japan, the party is greeted by Kiryu's friend, Detective Makoto Date, who reveals that in exchange for a passage back to Japan, Yamai would confess to the murder of Shuji Tabata, Yamai's former patriarch. Yamai bids the clan's matriarch farewell and turns himself in.
With Lani and Akane safe in Japan, Kasuga and Kiryu regroup in Ijincho, where Ebina contacts them, saying that the rehabilitation program has been approved by the government, then reveals that he has Sawashiro hostage at the Millennium Tower in Kamurocho, Tokyo. The group then splits up: Kasuga's group returns to Hawaii to stop Bryce, while Kiryu's group assaults the Millennium Tower with Daigo, Saejima, and Majima's assistance. In Hawaii, Kasuga's team assaults Nele Island and discover a natural cave filled with barrels of nuclear waste, revealing Palekana's waste disposal facility as a lie. Kasuga confronts Bryce, who reveals his plan to use the island to store many nations' darkest secrets and gain global influence. Kasuga defeats him, and Chitose livestreams the entire facility's nuclear waste and confesses to being Tatara.
Kiryu's team confronts Ebina and find a barely living Sawashiro. Having a grudge against Arakawa and the entire yakuza, Ebina reveals his actual plan behind the Palekana deal: to force the yakuza to work on Nele Island's nuclear waste disposal, slowly torturing and killing them with radiation poisoning. Kiryu defeats Ebina, and as he sympathizes with his anger, begs him to give the yakuza a chance to atone. Kiryu then falls unconscious and is evacuated to a hospital. Meanwhile, Kasuga tracks down an injured Eiji hiding in Kamurocho, and convinces him to turn himself in.
A month later, the public has largely moved on from the Seiryu/Palekana controversy. Tomizawa devotes more time to helping the homeless in Hawaii, Chitose becomes the chairwoman of her family business, and Lani assumes her role as Sage to rebuild Palekana with Akane's assistance. Kasuga attempts to properly confess his feelings for Saeko, but inadvertently embarrasses her by wearing a t-shirt celebrating their relationship. Meanwhile, Kiryu's adopted daughter Haruka Sawamura and her son Haruto visit Kiryu at the hospital just as he's about to receive treatment. When the doctor asks to confirm his name, Kiryu answers with his real name.