The Black Monday crisis was an international crisis, with political and underworld ramifications, that developed from 2007 to 2009 as the Japanese and United States governments and their intelligence agencies worked to expose and destroy an American arms trafficking syndicate calling itself "Black Monday".
Led by the corrupt CIA agent Andre Richardson, Black Monday consisted of rogue CIA operatives who engaged in international arms trafficking, terrorism, and espionage with the singular goal of making a profit for themselves. In 2007, the CIA and the Japanese National Police Agency - with the Japanese-born CIA agent Joji Kazama as a liaison - collaborated with Japanese Defense Minister Ryuzo Tamiya to lure Black Monday out of the shadows by having Tamiya introduce a bill into the Japanese Diet to expand the US base on Okinawa to serve as an experimental weapons development facility, whose plans and weapons Black Monday intended to steal. The yakuza became involved when Tamiya's rival Yoshinobu Suzuki attached a bill creating a new tourist resort on Okinawa to Tamiya's bill, attracting both the Tojo-kai and the Snake Flower Triad to the project.
Ultimately, the CIA's plan to destroy Black Monday created a whirlwind of yakuza and triad murders, a helicopter attack in Tokyo, a brawl in front of the Diet Building, and the near-destruction of both the Tojo Clan and the Snake Flower Triad. The operation resulted in Richardson's death and the arrest of all of his organization's leaders, putting an end to Black Monday.
Likewise, the Tojo-kai was torn asunder by civil war after its Chairman, Daigo Dojima, was shot by the CIA after they failed to persuade him to end his opposition to the resort deal. With Daigo in a comatose state, his officers Yoshitaka Mine, Tsuyoshi Kanda, and Goh Hamazaki each jockeyed for power, with Kanda taking over most of Kabukicho's shops, Hamazaki allying with the Snake Flower Triad to take over Yokohama in exchange for cutting them in on the resort deal, and Mine executing a defeated Kanda and using Black Monday's attack helicopter to gun down Kashiwagi at his office. Kazama and Tamiya were forced to reach out to the ex-Chairman of the Tojo Clan and Okinawa orphanage owner Kazuma Kiryu for help, as Kiryu's investigation of the shootings of Daigo and Shigeru Nakahara brought him back to the center of Tojo Clan affairs. Joji and Kiryu defeated the Snake Flower Triad, leading to the death of Lau Ka Long and the triad's retaliatory destruction of Hamazaki's family. With his rivals mostly dealt with, Mine destroyed Kiryu's Morning Glory Orphanage to clear the way for the resort and planned to kill Daigo, but Joji killed Mine's ally Tetsuo Tamashiro on Okinawa, enabling Kiryu to return to Tokyo and prevent Mine and Richardson from killing Daigo. Ultimately, Mine had a change of heart and threw himself and Richardson from a rooftop, killing the two of them and putting an end to their conspiracy. The Japanese government duly canceled the military base bill, having destroyed Black Monday, while Tamiya, out of gratitude to Kiryu, also blocked the resort bill, allowing Kiryu to return to his rebuilt orphanage in peace.
Background[]
Formation of Black Monday[]
During the Cold War, the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) secretly formed alliances of convenience with drug traffickers around the world in the name of anti-communism. The CIA knowingly involved itself in the Southeast Asia heroin trade in Burma, Thailand, and Laos during the 1970s, doing so in exchange for intelligence and the military support of Laos' Hmong population during the Laotian Civil War. During the 1980s, the CIA used Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport in Arkansas to traffic weapons and ammunition to the Contras in Nicaragua. As the CIA grew increasingly involved in illicit activities during Ronald Reagan's administration, a cadre of rogue agents led by Andre Richardson conspired to manipulate the American stock market, triggering the 1987 Wall Street crash that was nicknamed "Black Monday," and which created a worldwide depression. Richardson's group assumed the name "Black Monday" as their identifier, and they utilized the CIA's international connections to engage in arms trafficking, terrorism, and espionage for hire.
Kazama's plan[]
By the 2000s, Black Monday was one of the biggest illegal arms smugglers in Japan. In 2007, the Japanese-born CIA agent Joji Kazama approached his former National Police Agency colleague and Japanese Defense Minister Ryuzo Tamiya to concoct a plan to bring an end to Black Monday's reign of terror. Tamiya would introduce a bill into the Japanese Diet to authorize the expansion of the US Marine Corps base on Okinawa to serve as an experimental weapons development facility. The state-of-the-art ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems to be deployed on Okinawa would make Japan the safest country in the world, as they could prevent China or other hostile nations from launching warheads at the Japanese islands. The Japanese government had already spent trillions on the system, making its plans all the more valuable. The plan succeeded in catching Black Monday's attention, and they conspired to infiltrate the base and steal the experimental weapons within; this would allow Kazama and his CIA handlers a chance to capture them.
The base and resort bills[]

Coverage of Tamiya and Suzuki's visits to Okinawa
Because the idea of an expanded American military presence on their island was widely unpopular among Okinawans, Tamiya turned to his political rival, Land Minister Yoshinobu Suzuki, and had him tack on a proposal that would be a rider to his bill. Suzuki proposed the creation of a resort on Okinawa, and the Diet agreed to wed that bill to the base expansion bill to make it more palatable to the Okinawans, who would be promised economic benefit from the increased tourism and business opportunities created by the resort. However, Tamiya secretly had no intention of actually going through with the base expansion, as the bill's announcement was only intended to draw out Black Monday. This political move complicated the CIA's plan, as the creation of a resort required a lot more land acquisition by the government than the base bill would have, and civilian holdouts who did not want to sell their land would surely stall the project. In order to prevent that, Kazama and his partner Andre Richardson (who was secretly Black Monday's leader and was unaware that the experimental weapons facility was a trap) were sent to Japan to ensure both bills were passed.
Tojo Clan affairs[]

Kiryu at the Morning Glory Orphanage
Meanwhile, the yakuza criminal Daigo Dojima rose to become the Sixth Chairman of the Tojo-kai, a Tokyo-based crime syndicate that had just emerged from a bloody war with the Omi Alliance in December 2006. In January 2007, Daigo's mentor and predecessor Kazuma Kiryu left Tokyo for Okinawa to take over the Morning Glory Orphanage and devote his life to raising orphans like himself. Kiryu left Goro Majima behind to take his place as Daigo's right-hand man, sensing that the young and inexperienced Daigo would not be easily accepted as the new chairman. At the same time, Tsuyoshi Kanda was released from prison and took over the Nishikiyama-gumi following Koji Shindo's death. Kanda's underling Yoshitaka Mine, a talented financial criminal, caught Daigo's attention due to his less-violent and smarter approach towards money-making, and Mine rose through the ranks of the family until he was given his own family, the Hakuho-kai, and made lieutenant advisor to the Tojo Clan.
Gang violence on Okinawa[]

Kiryu leaving Nakahara's office
Kiryu lived a peaceful life as owner of the Morning Glory Orphanage for some time, unaware of the value of the ground on which it sat. Once the resort proposal was put in motion, Minister Suzuki used his connections with the yakuza to contact Ryudo-ikka boss Shigeru Nakahara, offering him a great deal of money to evict Kiryu and the children from Morning Glory to make way for the new resort. In March 2008, Nakahara, on whose land the orphanage was located, issued an eviction notice to Kiryu and the orphanage, as he was concerned for Okinawa's economy and believed that selling the orphanage's land for a new resort would help financially. When Kiryu came to Nakahara's headquarters and asked him to let the kids stay where they were, Nakahara grew conflicted about his own motives. Kiryu soon won the support of Naha city councilman Tokimune Akasaka, who agreed to ask the City Council to help fund the orphanage. It soon appeared as if the orphanage was safe, and that Nakahara would leave the kids alone.

Kiryu entering Tamashiro's office
After Nakahara failed to obtain Morning Glory's land peaceably, Suzuki reached out to Tojo-kai's Okinawan affiliate, the Tamashiro-gumi, to have its boss Tetsuo Tamashiro intimidate landowners into handing over the deeds to their property. Tamashiro would then sell the stolen land to the government to enable the resort proposal to proceed. Tamashiro proceeded to kidnap Saki Shoji, the adoptive daughter of Nakahara, in an attempt to force Nakahara to hand over the deed to Morning Glory. Nakahara's captain Rikiya Shimabukuro, who had taken a liking to Kiryu, persuaded him to help, and Kiryu battled his way through the Tamashiro Family headquarters before rescuing Saki, who ran back into Nakahara's arms. With Tamashiro defeated and Saki rescued, Nakahara asked Kiryu to become his sworn brother, and the two swore an oath with Daigo Dojima - who had come to Okinawa from Tokyo to help resolve the escalating violence on the island - as their witness. Tamiya had sent his secretary Shoyo Toma to accompany Daigo to prevent the Ryudo-Tamashiro war from escalating, as increased police scrutiny would reveal Suzuki and Tamiya's ties to the yakuza and would create a political scandal. While Daigo and Nakahara both agreed that they would not allow Kiryu to be kicked off his land, Toma said that he would continue to try and negotiate with locals to obtain the resort deal land peacefully, even as Daigo said that Toma's dream could wait until he was prime minister.
CIA involvement[]
With the military base and resort deals in jeopardy now that the Tojo Clan's chairman had turned against them, new actors began to step into the fray. Yoshitaka Mine doubted the prudence of passing up on such a lucrative business opportunity and began to covet the Tojo chairmanship for himself, while Hamazaki-gumi leader Goh Hamazaki secretly conspired with the Snake Flower Triad to acquire the resort for themselves and create a secret casino from which they could profit.
Meanwhile, the CIA was forced to directly intervene in order to speed up the land's acquisition. In March 2009, Kazama and Richardson visited Nakahara's office and demanded that he hand over the deed to Morning Glory. When he refused, Richardson shot and critically wounded him before stealing the deed. The two agents then traveled to Tokyo by an ultra-speed CIA jet, arriving at Daigo's office two hours after Nakahara's shooting. The two men attempted to persuade Daigo to help them with the military base bill, but, when Kazama reached for the deed in his coat pocket, Daigo panicked, thinking that he was about to be shot. When Daigo drew his gun, Richardson shot Daigo, leaving him in a comatose state. Daigo was secretly taken to the Touto Hospital while unconscious, leaving a power vacuum within his family.
Tojo civil war[]
The Tojo Clan convened an urgent meeting of its officers to appoint a replacement for Daigo, with Mine proposing that Kiryu be brought back into the clan to serve as a stopgap chairman. Kanda, whose Nishikiyama-gumi had since taken over most of Kabukicho from other Tojo crews by force, protested this, seeking the chairmanship for himself. Likewise, Hamazaki suggested that the captains wait until Daigo's shooter was identified before a successor could be emplaced. Osamu Kashiwagi protested that it was inappropriate to talk of succession while Daigo was still alive, while Goro Majima remained neutral, telling the others to go on their ghost chase of Daigo's shooter (known to resemble Shintaro Kazama, the estranged brother of the secretive Joji and a late yakuza boss) as long as they did not interfere with his turf. In the aftermath of that meeting, the Nishikiyama-gumi grew more forceful as it tried to seize every last shop in Kabukicho, doing so through force or bribery. Kashiwagi attempted to avoid internal conflict by withholding his potential responses, even as most people began to believe that a yakuza war was coming.

The helicopter attack on the Kazama-gumi offices
Kiryu soon returned to Kabukicho, intending on discovering who had shot Nakahara and Daigo. He foiled Nishikiyama-gumi captain Kazuya Hasebe's attempt to take control of Club Stardust as a base for a war to take over Kabukicho from the Kazama-gumi, and Hasebe was forced to warn Kiryu that Kashiwagi was going to die. Kashiwagi arranged a meeting with Kiryu at the Millennium Tower, but Kiryu was forced to fight his way past several black-clad CIA agents as they attempted to prevent him from making it to Kashiwagi. At the tower, Kashiwagi warned Kiryu about Kanda and the volatile situation in the Tojo Clan. Kashiwagi also revealed that the Tojo had aided Suzuki in acquiring the land necessary to build Suzuki's resort, and that Daigo's backing out from the plan likely caused his shooting. Shortly after, however, a helicopter arrived and opened fire on the Kazama-gumi offices with its minigun, killing Kashiwagi. Kiryu was forced to flee from the police after he exited the tower, as he was mistaken for Kashiwagi's killer. Kiryu reconnected with the policeman Makoto Date, who - along with his information broker Hyosuke Wakazo - agreed to help Kiryu solve the crisis.

Date and Kiryu reviewing the photos of the Tojo officers
Kiryu and Date figured that Kanda's ultimate goal was the Tojo chairmanship, and that he stood to gain the most from Daigo's incapacitation. Likewise, Mine was determined to be loyal to the chairman, as he had distanced himself from Kanda. Hamazaki, meanwhile, made Yokohama his own scene after the Snake Flower Triad got pushed out of town in 2006. Hamazaki had only ten men in his family, using the Chinese for muscle, and he was likely first in line drafting the blueprints for the Okinawa resort deal. Suspicious that someone in the Tojo Clan was trying to push the resort deal through, Kiryu decided to investigate Kanda, whom he was told was a frequent user of love hotels. With Serena as his base of operations, Kiryu - who was soon joined by Rikiya - set out to investigate Kanda.
As Kiryu and Rikiya began their investigation, Mine was also scheming from the shadows. After Tamiya's underling Toma found out that the military base bill was all a fraud, he defected to Suzuki, telling him that both of them had been deceived about the resort proposal. Suzuki proceeded to forge an alliance with Mine to take Kiryu, Daigo, and Nakahara out of the picture so that his plans could go ahead. Suzuki also upgraded the resort proposal to a bill, meaning that the resort could go ahead even if the military bill - to which it was no longer a rider - failed. Mine also allied himself with Black Monday in a bid to prevent Kiryu from interfering with his plans.

Kanda sneaking up on Kiryu
Ultimately, Kiryu and Rikiya tracked Kanda down to the Red Brick love hotel, where they fought their way through his bodyguards and confronted the defeated Nishikiyama Family patriarch. While Kiryu initially accused Kanda of killing Kashiwagi in order to become the new chairman, Kanda revealed that Goh Hamazaki was responsible for Kashiwagi's murder, and that he was aiming to control all of Kabukichio with the help of his Chinese army in Kabukicho. Kiryu then knocked Kanda out as he and Rikiya met with Date at Serena.

Kiryu being surrounded by Majima's goons
Shortly after, Kiryu visited Majima at Sai no Kawara and, after defeating Majima in a prize fight, persuaded Majima to tell him more about the resort deal. Majima revealed that he had worked with Suzuki to secure the land deal, only for Hamazaki to photograph the two men in a handshake. Hamazaki threatened to let the photo slip unless he could be given the land deal, forcing Majima to back away from the scheme. Hamazaki and his ally Lau Ka Long, boss of the Snake Flower Triad, planned to build a secret mega-casino under the resort, and the triad would be granted control over it as repayment for their help in Hamazaki's takeover of Yokohama.

Kiryu watching Lau invade Kabukicho
While Kiryu met with the Florist of Sai to learn about Hamazaki and Lau's alliance, events moved on in the background. Kanda met up with Mine at his penthouse and demanded that Mine loan him more money to hire assassins to kill Kiryu, but Mine refused. This caused Kanda to lash out at Mine, who, in turn, beat him down and had his men behead him, intending on delivering his head to Kiryu as a peace offering. At the same time, Lau Ka Long and his army of Snake Flower henchmen moved into Kabukicho, taking advantage of Kanda's downfall and planning on conquering Kabukicho for Hamazaki. They succeeded in kidnapping Rikiya and using his capture to lure Kiryu into a confrontation with Lau, his enemy since the 1990s. Kiryu proceeded to emerge from Purgatory and battle his way through nearly 100 triads until he confronted Lau on the rooftop of a building on Nakamichi Alley. There, Lau challenged Kiryu to a final battle, and, though Kiryu defeated him, Lau was nearly able to recover and kill Kiryu before Joji Kazama arrived and shot Lau in the head. Joji killed the rest of Lau's guards, enabling Kiryu to rescue Rikiya, although Kiryu was confused about why Kazama had helped him.

Mine preparing to display Kanda's head
On returning to Purgatory, Kiryu and Rikiya met with the Florist of Sai and Majima and learned that the Snake Flower Triad had wiped out Hamazaki's family as revenge for the death of their leader in Japan, and that Hamazaki was in hiding. Not long after, Mine paid them a visit and delivered Kanda's head, while warning Kiryu that he intended on moving forward with the resort bill in the way he saw most fit, and that anyone who stood in his way would be eliminate. After Mine left, Kiryu asked Majima to take control of the Tojo-kai's day-to-day operations as he continued his investigation. Kiryu had Rikiya return to Okinawa before Minister Tamiya gave him a call and asked for a meeting.

Kiryu and Date meeting with Tamiya
Kiryu brought Date with him to the Diet Building, where Tamiya told Kiryu all about the CIA-Japanese joint operation, the fraudulence of the military base and resort bills, the threat of Black Monday, and Joji Kazama's identity. He also asked Kiryu for his help with saving Toma's life from Joji before the latter killed him to prevent the scandal surrounding the bills from becoming public knowledge, while Tamiya also asked Kiryu to ensure that Joji survived as well. Tamiya promised that, in exchange, he would ensure that neither bill passed the Diet, even though their failures would prevent him from ever becoming Prime Minister, a position for which he had no interest. Kiryu agreed, but he soon found his exit from the building blocked by an army of security personnel dispatched by Suzuki, who intended for his resort bill to continue. Kiryu had Date escape while using his press credentials, while Kiryu fought off the security guards until Majima plowed through them with his truck and escaped with Kiryu. Kiryu returned to Serena, where he determined to go to Okinawa by himself and join up with local allies to stop Joji from killing Toma. Majima agreed to help run the Tojo Clan while Kiryu was away.

Kiryu standing over a defeated Joji
Back on Okinawa, Kiryu - with the help of one of Tamiya's informants - located Toma at the Canal Grande Cabaret Club after he met with the Prefectural Assembly. There, Kiryu prevented Joji from shooting the drunk Toma, and he defeated Joji in a hand-to-hand fight. Joji, whose decision to try and kill Toma came from his own preferred methods rather than from direct CIA orders, relented after realizing that Toma - on learning of Tamiya's sending of Kiryu to save him - would no longer pose a threat now that Toma intended to reconcile with his old boss. Joji then told Kiryu that Nakahara and Daigo had been shot by a colleague of his, and explained why the two men had been shot. He then warned Kiryu about Mine, the prime mover behind the events, as Mine would likely murder Daigo and take his place as chairman if he discovered that Daigo was still alive and at the Touto Hospital. As Mine was allied with Black Monday and had access to their information network, it was only a matter of hours before he would find out Daigo's location.

The Tamashiro goons demolishing Morning Glory
Before Kiryu could take action against Mine, he learned from his ward Taichi Miyasaka that Tamashiro, Mine, and Tamashiro's henchmen had wrecked the Morning Glory Orphanage and taken Nakahara hostage. Kiryu tracked Tamashiro down to the bullring on the outskirts of Naha, where Tamashiro attempted to have his men kill Kiryu as he loosed bulls on the weakened Nakahara. Rikiya and Saki arrived in the nick of time, with Saki's presence emboldening Nakahara to defeat the bulls as Kiryu took out Tamashiro's henchmen and beat down the boss himself. The friends' reunion was interrupted when Tamashiro recovered and attempted to shoot Kiryu, only for Rikiya to take the bullet to his chest after standing in the way. Joji arrived just in time to shoot Tamashiro dead before he could harm Kiryu, and a grieving Kiryu was forced to deal with his emotions and accompany Joji to the airport in order to fulfill his last promise to Rikiya, to stop Mine.

Kiryu departing on the superjet
Joji had Kiryu fly to Tokyo on the CIA's ultra-speed jet, and Kiryu brought his adoptive niece Haruka Sawamura with him, anticipating that he might never see her again after he entered the hospital. After bidding farewell to Haruka and leaving her in the care of Date at Serena, Kiryu learned from CIA agent Rick Langley that Joji would be on his way soon enough, and from Joji (over the phone) that the CIA was also en route to the hospital, and they might see Kiryu as an obstacle in their path if he got in the way.
Kiryu proceeded to take a taxi to the Touto Hospital, where he found the Hakuho Clan waiting for him. Kiryu fought his way through legions of Hakuho-kai yakuza, as well as pushing through heavily-armored CIA personnel, Black Monday henchmen, and Richardson himself before he reached the roof. There, Kiryu confronted Mine, who was preparing to kill the resting Daigo and seize power for himself. Kiryu defeated Mine in a final battle on the rooftop, after which he attempted to convince Mine that Daigo would not want him to resort to ruthless means like the ones he had been using to fulfill his dream. Mine soon experienced remorse for his betrayals, recalling how Daigo had taken him in when he had nothing going for him. Shortly after, Richardson arrived with several henchmen and attempted to kill Kiryu, Daigo, and Mine to wipe the slate clean and find somebody else to aid in passing the military base bill. Unfortunately for him, Daigo drew a gun and shot Richardson's henchmen, allowing for Mine to put Richardson in a chokehold and drag himself and Richardson off the roof, atoning for his betrayal even as Kiryu begged him not to kill himself. Mine and Richardson's deaths ended the resort conspiracy, and the Japanese authorities proceeded to arrest all the other Black Monday leaders who were with him in Japan, dealing a fatal blow to the organization. Joji and Haruka arrived with a rescue chopper and lifted Kiryu and Daigo off of the roof and towards safety.
Afterwards, Daigo Dojima made a full recovery and resumed his position as the clan's chairman. Tamiya exercised his political power to halt the resort's construction, just as the military base expansion was cancelled as according to plan. As Kiryu took his leave of his friends in Kabukicho, he was confronted by a vengeful and forlorn Hamazaki, who publicly stabbed him after telling Kiryu that he had ruined his life. While Kiryu's wounds were initially thought to be fatal, he eventually recovered and was able to return to his rebuilt orphanage. Over the next few years, even as Kiryu was drawn back into the affairs of the Tojo Clan and went into hiding in Fukuoka, Kiryu continued to fund the orphanage, and Haruka and her husband Yuta Usami eventually took over the orphanage's management, followed by the Daidoji-ippa political organization.