The word yakuza itself comes from a losing hand in gambling. 893 ya-ku-za.    From Wordnik.com.  [The periodic table of super heroes (link roundup)] Reference

The yakuza are the members of traditional organised crime gangs in Japan.    From Wordnik.com.  [Top stories from Times Online] Reference

Japan author sues police over ban on 'yakuza' publications.    From Wordnik.com.  [nst online] Reference

NST Online Japan author sues police over ban on 'yakuza' publications.    From Wordnik.com.  [記事 - livedoor ニュース] Reference

The gambling is said to be a funding source for Japan's "yakuza" gangsters.    From Wordnik.com.  [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition] Reference

Ennis House was the darkly elegant residence of the head of Tokyo's "yakuza," or mob, in.    From Wordnik.com.  [NPR Topics: News] Reference

Like a traditional yakuza, he hated confrontation.    From Wordnik.com.  [December 6]

He'd never seen a yakuza thug back down from a bird.    From Wordnik.com.  [Time Scout]

Everyone had expected Goro to become a yakuza like Tetsu.    From Wordnik.com.  [December 6]

You will look like a yakuza with a total upper body tattoo.    From Wordnik.com.  [Who's on Third?] Reference

At the ballroom card game, she would be protected by the yakuza.    From Wordnik.com.  [December 6]

"He spoke slowly and softly, like a big yakuza boss in the movies.".    From Wordnik.com.  [Periscope] Reference

Once there, he gets caught up in the violent world of Japan's yakuza.    From Wordnik.com.  [The New Wave, Still Rolling] Reference

Big-bosomed women from Paris with guns fight yakuza ninjas on a Pacific island.    From Wordnik.com.  [ART’S APPRECIATION by Tom Doyle | Fiction | Futurismic] Reference

So when they refer to themselves as yakuza, they're referring to themselves as losers.    From Wordnik.com.  [The periodic table of super heroes (link roundup)] Reference

As the assailants paused, Jinguji shoved aside the third yakuza and moved quickly forward.    From Wordnik.com.  [Static] Reference

JA: One terrible miscalculation was that I named all of the yakuza who got liver transplants.    From Wordnik.com.  [Christal Smith: JAKE ADELSTEIN: TOKYO VICE FALLOUT] Reference

Most adults, let alone fans, were aware on some level of the links between sumo and the yakuza.    From Wordnik.com.  [Néojaponisme » Blog Archive » The Jimusho System: Part Two] Reference

I'm fond of the menko cards I found at a flea market in Nagoya years ago of sumo rikishi and yakuza.    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2009-03-01] Reference

This chapter was about Tadamasa Goto and reaction to this book in the yakuza world was hot and heavy.    From Wordnik.com.  [Christal Smith: Jake Adelstein: Gaijin Justice] Reference

There is a bit of a resurgence in smaller, non-yakuza style tattoos amongst the youth these days as well.    From Wordnik.com.  [Tattoo in Japan Boing Boing] Reference

Late Update: Going through old email, I found this McNeill Adelstein report on the current state of yakuza.    From Wordnik.com.  [Only in Japan: Yakuza Sued] Reference

It's where the pleasure-houses are, and the fugu joints, and the clubs where yakuza gamble with flower cards.    From Wordnik.com.  [If You Knew Sushi] Reference

The book's author, Shoko Tendo, tells a chilling and tawdry tale about family life and romance among the yakuza.    From Wordnik.com.  [Aging Gangsters] Reference

I make a point of saying he didn't make a deal with FBI because I don't need another yakuza boss to be angry at me.    From Wordnik.com.  [Christal Smith: JAKE ADELSTEIN: TOKYO VICE FALLOUT] Reference

That one's about the wakagashira of a yakuza group, whose father pressures him into completing highschool incognito.    From Wordnik.com.  [meli Diary Entry] Reference

The first poster pointed this out but as cool as yakuza Japanese tattoos are they are just that, a mark of organized crime.    From Wordnik.com.  [Tattoo in Japan Boing Boing] Reference

Black and White are two orphans who roam the streets of Treasure Town, beating down any thug or yakuza who gets in their way.    From Wordnik.com.  [Viewing Journal: Tekkon Kinkreet] Reference

Perhaps you noticed that the expert on yakuza, a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbum, Japan's largest newspaper, is an American.    From Wordnik.com.  [Christal Smith: Jake Adelstein: Gaijin Justice] Reference

Perhaps you noticed that the expert on yakuza, a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbum, Japan\'s largest newspaper, is an American.    From Wordnik.com.  [Christal Smith: Jake Adelstein: Gaijin Justice] Reference

In other major departures from yakuza tradition, they never confess to their crimes and have been accused of targeting civilians.    From Wordnik.com.  [Yakuza chief arrested in Japan] Reference

I also heard from booksellers that yakuza were buying all the copies within Tokyo as it was embarrassing for them to have this in print.    From Wordnik.com.  [Christal Smith: Jake Adelstein: Gaijin Justice] Reference