The Hangure are Japanese, quasi-yakuza street gangs that were formed from former bosozoku teenagers and former yanki juvenile delinquents who refused to join the yakuza because of its outdated code or the general decline of yakuza organizations in the wake of anti-gang laws passed in the 2010s.
Adult hoodlums used to join yakuza organizations, but the erosion of major yakuza organizations due to the passage of anti-gang laws (which excluded yakuza from society, including preventing them from renting rooms, opening bank accounts, signing property contracts, entering golf courses, ordering pizzas, or even traveling on state roads) disincentivized recruitment into the clans. The journalist Atsushi Mizoguchi coined the term hangure, meaning "half-grey", in 2011, as the hangure occupied a gray area between katagi (law-abiding citizens) and full-fledged yakuza members. The hangure were classified into four distinct patterns: the hardened hangure (long-standing members of groups like the former Kanto Union), perpetrators of fraud, hangure who maintained legitimate jobs alongside their illicit activities, and former outlaw bikers and delinquents who transitioned into hangure organizations. The hangure were not only involved in specialized scams and underground lending, but also the poverty business, demolition work, waste disposal, club and entertainment production management, and even the operation of online dating sites.
By 2021, the number of officially registered yakuza had dropped from 70,000 to 24,100. The ranks of hangure, who flew under the radar of the police and racketeering laws, grew as a result. Remaining members of the Kanto Union became affiliated with the remaining Sumiyoshi-kai, while remnants of the Tojo-kai became members of the Red Knife gang in Kabukicho and the Keihin Gang brought together four Kabukicho gangs under a single banner.