The Saio-Tojo war was a turf war fought between the Chinese Saio Triad and the Tojo-kai yakuza clan in the Kabukicho nightlife district of Tokyo in 2016. The war, which consisted of tit-for-tat gangland murders, resulted in the temporary decline of Tokyo's adult entertainment industry as even civilians were dragged into the conflict. While the war principally involved the Tojo Clan and the Saio Triad, the Tojo were backed by the Yomei Alliance as part of Tsuneo Iwami's plot to make the Tojo his vassals, while the Korean Jingweon Mafia and the remnants of the Chinese Snake Flower Triad also attempted to fan the flames of violence in order to re-establish themselves in Tokyo. The war ultimately resulted in the Saio Triad's defeat, the end of its operations abroad, and the burning down of Little Asia.
Background[]
During the waning days of World War II, the Japanese shipbuilding magnate and Yomei Alliance founder Heizo Iwami - with the help of the Saio Triad on mainland China - smuggled Chinese cheap laborers into Japan to work on the construction of an Imperial Japanese Navy warship, tentatively called the Yamato Mark II. This massive warship's construction was financed by war funds misappropriated by Admiral Minoru Daidoji, and, with Japan's surrender in September 1945, Iwami was forced to hide the ship to cover up Daidoji's corruption and to prevent it from being scuttled by the Americans. The warship was nicknamed the "Secret of Onomichi", as revelations of the ship's existence would implicate Daidoji in embezzlement and thus cause the downfall of his influential faction within the LDP. Iwami and the leader of the Saio Triad used the secret to blackmail Daidoji, securing massive hush money payments from his faction. In 1975, when Daidoji asked Iwami to destroy the ship, Iwami instead chose to eliminate the members of his organization who were aware of the secret, choosing to maintain his leverage over the elderly admiral.
The Saio Triad was initially content to remain in China, but, in 1986, Big Lo became the Saio's new leader, and he decided to use the "Secret of Onomichi" to obtain new benefits from his father's Japanese accomplices. Lo used the Yomei Alliance to smuggle heihaizi (undocumented, second-born children) into Japan to spare them from the communists' oppressive "one-child policy," and Iwami used his government contacts to forge Japanese citizenship papers for them. One such heihaizi was Yuta Usami, the second son of Big Lo, who was sent to Japan to serve as Lo's backup heir if his older son, Jimmy Lo, died first. Big Lo had the heihaizi Koji Masuzoe and Shu Tatsukawa infiltrate the Hiroshima Prefecture-based Masuzoe-gumi to keep tabs on Yuta, who became a member of the Masuzoe's Hirose-gumi subsidiary at Tatsukawa's behest (thus making him easier to keep track of).
Jimmy Lo grew up constantly in search of his father's affection and approval, which he did not find. As a result, he decided to make deals behind his father's back to prove himself worthy of the Saio leadership. In 2015, while Japan's yakuza organizations were weakened by anti-gang legislation, and as the Chinese government began to crack down on the Saio Triad, Jimmy Lo suggested that the Saio expand into Japan and seize control of Tokyo's Kabukicho district through moving into Little Asia. To this end, he negotiated a partnership with Heizo Iwami's treacherous son Tsuneo Iwami, who was similarly neglected by his father and who also desired to strike out on his own.
The conspirators watching the Little Asia fire
Jimmy Lo, Iwami, and Iwami's ally in the Tojo-kai - the ambitious advisor Katsumi Sugai - conceived a plan to start a fire in Little Asia that would destroy the community and enable the Saio Triad to move in. Likewise, the Tojo chairman Daigo Dojima and his lieutenants Goro Majima and Taiga Saejima would be framed for the arson and imprisoned, enabling Sugai to assume the chairmanship as Iwami's vassal and for the up-and-coming Tojo officer Takumi Someya to become the Tojo's heir. The 2015 Little Asia fire resulted in the destruction of the densely-populated neighborhood, and Iwami, Sugai, Jimmy Lo, and Big Lo - reluctantly roped into the plot - watched the fire from a suite in the Kabukicho Hills, with Sugai celebrating their success. It was there that Tsuneo Iwami revealed that he knew that Big Lo was unaware of the true nature of the "Secret of Onomichi", as Jimmy Lo had drunkenly admitted that his father's blackmail had been an empty threat. While Big Lo disapproved of Jimmy Lo's actions, Tsuneo forced Big Lo to stay on board, lest he reveal Big Lo's cluelessness about the secret to his powerful father, whom he wished to overthrow.
War[]
Start of the war[]
The rebuilt Little Asia, December 2016
The Saio Triad proceeded to move into Little Asia and use their vast wealth to rebuild the former ghetto into a lavishly-decorated Chinatown. The Saio then moved into a large, castle-like building that doubled as a gang headquarters and as an upscale Chinese restaurant.
Dojima, Majima, and Saejima were promptly imprisoned after being blamed for the fire, enabling Sugai to take over the leadership of the Tojo and grant Someya control over his own family, the Someya-gumi. With his puppet now in charge of the Tojo, Tsuneo Iwami saw no further use in the Saio Triad, causing him to approach Joongi Han of the resurrected Jingweon Mafia with a deal. The Jingweon, looking to re-establish themselves in Tokyo, would assassinate Big Lo and Jimmy Lo to decaptitate the Saio Triad; in exchange, they would be given millions of yen so they could buy several businesses across Kabukicho. The Jingweon assassinated Jimmy Lo in a Kabukicho alleyway, but they failed to kill Big Lo, who had suspected that Iwami would betray him. The Saio thus went to war with the Tojo over their role in Iwami's conspiracy, while the Jingweon tried to assassinate Big Lo multiple times; however, the triad leader constantly kept on the move, avoiding multiple attempts.
The site of a Chinese immigrant's shooting of a Tojo-kai yakuza
The ensuing war between the Saio and Tojo consumed Kabukicho's streets as yakuza who failed to travel in groups were murdered by Chinese hatchet men and civilians were targeted by both sides for shopping at businesses paying protection to either of the feuding factions. The Jingweon took advantage of the war to buy up several properties for cheap, including Club Stardust, which Han transformed into a male striptease establishment.
Kiryu's intervention[]
In March 2016, the Jingweon finally had an opportunity to kill Lo after learning that the Stardust host Shu Tatsukawa, a former member of the Saio who had abandoned them after failing a job, was an acquaintance of Big Lo's second son, Yuta Usami, who was completely unaware of his heritage. The Jingweon recruited Tatsukawa to to kidnap Yuta's ex-lover Haruka Sawamura and her infant child Haruto Sawamura and then use them to blackmail Yuta into using his blood link to Lo to get a meeting with him and then assassinate him. In December 2016, Haruka caught onto her former acquaintance Tatsukawa's true intentions after meeting with him and fled, leading to Tatsukawa accidentally striking her with his car while pursuing her down Senryo Avenue.
Haruka's accident led to her adoptive father Kazuma Kiryu, fresh out of prison, traveling up from Okinawa to investigate the circumstances behind her accident. This caused Sugai to fear that Dojima's right-hand man would learn of his treachery and try to overthrow him, so he had Someya surveil Kiryu under the pretense of keeping him safe from the triads. Kiryu involved himself in the Saio-Tojo war while searching for his old friend Shun Akiyama, whom he believed would know Haruka's location, and who was also on the Saio's hit list for his ties to Daigo Dojima and for his interest-free loans undercutting the Saio's loansharking. The Saio officer Ed Zhang was defeated by Kiryu while trying to hunt down Akiyama. At the same time, Ed was responsible for the shooting of two Tojo bodyguards at an unsuccessful peace meeting in Little Asia, with the Saio rejecting a cessation of hostilities.
Kiryu and his friends battling the Jingweon
Kiryu later came up against the Saio when he attempted to find Tatsukawa, whom his Hiroshima friend Kiyomi Kasahara mistakenly believed was Haruto's father. The Saio tracked Tatsukawa down to the Ouka Building, where Ed murdered him and his lover to punish his treason. Kiryu butted heads with the Jingweon Mafia after he approached Joongi Han for help with finding Tatsukawa, defeating several Jingweon assassins on his way to meet with Han at Stardust. Kiryu was too late to interrogate Tatsukawa, discovering his crime scene.
Kiryu was forced to resort to infiltrating Little Asia to interrogate Ed about Tatsukawa, and, accompanied by friends from Onomichi's Hirose-gumi (including a clueless Yuta Usami), he snuck into the Saio headquarters with Akiyama's help. There, the intruders took down several Saio hatchet men before interrogating Ed and learning that Tatsukawa was one of the heihaizi the Saio had smuggled into Japan, and that he had been killed for his treason. Masuzoe-gumi patriarch Koji Masuzoe and several guards encircled Kiryu and his Hirose friends, the latter of whom were surprised to learn that their superior was Chinese-born and a Saio infiltrator. Big Lo arrived in time to prevent Masuzoe from massacring the men (recognizing Yuta as his son), and he mentioned the "Secret of Onomichi" while speaking Chinese to Masuzoe. Yuta, who had been taught Chinese by Tatsukawa, later relayed the secret's existence to Kiryu and his other friends, eventually enabling them to defeat Tsuneo back in Hiroshima. Later, Big Lo requested a meeting with Kiryu at the ruins of Shangri-La, and, on learning of this from his spies in the Saio, Takumi Someya persuaded Kiryu to take him with him, ostensibly to make peace with Big Lo. While Someya initially planned on murdering Big Lo, he ultimately decided to take Lo prisoner so that the Saio could be bent to his will. Kiryu foiled Someya's plan, earning the respect of Big Lo in the process. Big Lo then informed Kiryu that Tatsukawa was not Haruto's father, and that the child had great value to the war going on in Kabukicho.
Kiryu and his friends returned to Onomichi on learning that their patriarch Toru Hirose had absconded with Haruto as the Jingweon searched for him. Masuzoe also returned to Onomichi, where, horrified at Tatsukawa's fate, he decided to turn against the triad and work with Hirose. In a meeting with Hirose, Kiryu, and the Hirose-gumi at the Ryunan Shrine, he revealed that Yuta was Haruto's father. The meeting was interrupted when Joongi Han and the Jingweon attacked, seeking to kidnap Haruto and force Yuta to kill his own father. During the ensuing chaos, Hirose stealthily murdered Masuzoe for his Saio affiliation (which meant that he would be aware of the "Secret of Onomichi", which Heizo Iwami tasked him with protecting) and shot Joongi Han before he could reveal the secret to Kiryu as Kiryu and his friends rescued Haruto from an island freight depot.
Destruction of the Saio[]
The burning of the Saio headquarters
On learning that he was the heir to the Saio Triad and the father of Haruto, Yuta decided to return to Kabukicho to make things right by talking to his father. Kiryu accompanied him there while the rest of the Hirose Family remained in Hiroshima, and, while Kiryu and Yuta met with Kiryu's friend Makoto Date at New Serena, Yuta excused himself to take a phone call, only to get himself drunk, fill an alcohol bottle with gasoline, and enter the Saio headquarters in Little Asia while inebriated. One of the Saio guards took a swig of Yuta's open bottle, determining that it was not poison, enabling Yuta to sneak his other, gasoline-filled bottle into the building. Yuta then confronted his estranged father in his office and proceeded to set fire to the building with his Molotov cocktail. The fire soon spread to the rest of Little Asia, which was once again gutted by arson. Kiryu discovered Yuta's will from Nagumo, who called him from Hiroshima, causing Kiryu to run to Little Asia, fight his way through the Saio (including defeating Ed Zhang one last time), and prevent Yuta from murdering his father. Yuta reluctantly helped carry his father to safety, where he revealed the Saio's role in Tsuneo Iwami's plot to take over Hiroshima. Big Lo, remorseful for his past cruelty, decided to disinherit Yuta Usami from the Saio to save him from further involvement with the triad, thus ending his bloodline and forcing him to resign as Saio leader. This meant that the Saio would send an assassin to kill him in order to prevent him from attempting to retake control of the triad in the future, but he decided to get a head-start by fleeing abroad.
Aftermath[]
After Big Lo's abdication, the Saio officers in mainland China recalled all Saio members in Japan back to their home country and ended all operations abroad. Little Asia would be closed-off to the public for over seven years as the neighborhood was renovated. Joongi Han's death effectively ended the third iteration of the Jingweon Mafia in Japan, leaving the Tojo firmly in control of Kabukicho. Sugai and Iwami's defeat in Hiroshima at Kiryu's hands was followed by Kiryu making a deal with the Daidoji Faction to free Dojima, Majima, and Saejima from prison in exchange for the faction faking Kiryu's death to cover up his knowledge of the "Secret of Onomichi." Daigo Dojima resumed control of the Tojo Clan, and, while the Tojo blamed Kiryu's supposed death on the Yomei, he obeyed Kiryu's will by keeping the peace with the Yomei's new leader, Kanji Koshimizu.
However, the Saio-Tojo war, the deaths of Sugai and Someya, and the disappearance of Kiryu left the Tojo critically weakened. Within a few months, in 2017, LDP politician Ryo Aoki was elected Governor of Tokyo and enacted the Kabukicho 3K Plan to crack down on crime, driving the Tojo out of Kabukicho and enabling the Omi Alliance to conquer the city.