A Yakuza Who Became a Lawyer About His Dark Past

Morohashi Yoshitomo, born in 1976 in the blessed prefecture of Fukushima, once renowned as an excellent student, left with a consciousness full of hopes but suddenly overwhelmed by vague aspirations. He exhausted himself unsuccessfully for two years, yearning to attain knowledge and receive the coveted diploma from Seikei University. However, at the moment when his soul, consumed by melancholy, decided that higher education was not for him, he turned his steps toward the abyss of organized crime, becoming part of the shadow world.

In 2005, riding the wave of passions and addiction to stimulants, he was forcibly dragged into hospital walls by a sad fate. Shortly after, the cruel hand of the law bent him toward arrest for drug trafficking violations; he was destined to receive a suspended sentence, which seemingly deprived him of his former life. However, despite all the vicissitudes, he opened a new page in his life, turning to the study of various professional qualifications.

Having mastered the art and holding to the covenants of reason, he successfully passed exams to become a real estate broker and judicial scrivener, and in 2013 completed his path of becoming by passing the bar exam. Oh, how amazing human fate can be sometimes! He became the author of a book about his life journey, published under the title "Motoyakuza bengōshi" — "Former Yakuza Lawyer" — which undoubtedly became a reflection of his trials and inner struggle.

The Fall of an Excellent Student
Morohashi Yoshitomo became the sole heir to a family engaged in noodle production. The loss of his father in junior high school left a scar, but his childhood was not darkened by worries. With pride, he remembered himself as an excellent student who aspired to become a tax investigator at the National Tax Agency after watching Itami Juzo's film "A Taxing Woman."

However, what could so alter the fate of this young man, driven by a thirst for justice? Having entered a prestigious high school, he remained alone with his mother and soon began wandering the nights with friends. This led to failure on entrance exams, forcing him to leave his native land for Tokyo and purposeful study.

There, amid the temptations of the big city, he opened the doors to the world of methamphetamines. At that time, drugs such as marijuana became a cult among youth. Friends persuaded him to try, and he, yielding to pressure, accepted them. Strange pleasures together with his studies soon distracted him from his pursuit of knowledge.

Having completed two years at school, Yoshitomo entered Seikei University, but life was already populated with bad company. Soon he drowned in the world of mahjong and yakuza, finally forgetting about his ambitions.

Arrest, Placement in Treatment Facility, and Expulsion
His natural talents soon flourished, and he became not only his mentor's right hand but also an integral pillar of his gang. The group's funds came from dark sources: selling methamphetamine, loan sharking. They lent for ten days at thirty percent — an insane rate, but they had enough borrowers. Each of them fell into a debt abyss. At the same time, they sold methamphetamine to those same punks who worked in the debt growth sphere.

However, his personal dependence on methamphetamine only worsened. He fixated on the amount of drugs taken — their "taste," which dragged him even deeper into the abyss. Loud hallucinations perhaps frightened him more and more. On one fateful day in 2005, when he found himself at a crossroads in front of Shibuya Station, the police grabbed him. Forced treatment in a psychiatric hospital and arrest for violating the law became his fate, and an eighteen-month sentence was suspended for three years.

This incident became the beginning of his expulsion from the gang. In the environment of organized crime, there were rules: public and intimate, tatemae and honne. A direct violation of the rules proved impermissible. The tattoos symbolizing his affiliation never got completed. He lost his yakuza status, and the future represented only a bottomless abyss.

But this fall became a harbinger of a new change. In confinement, his mother did not abandon him, sending him a book — "Dakara, anata mo ikinuite," written by lawyer Ohira Mitsuyo. This was the story of one who overcame bullying and criminal temptations, finding values. The shock of what he read awakened in him a desire to change his fate. He decided to follow the path that this remarkable woman had laid.

Seven Years of Working on Books
He returned to Iwaki, where, like a primitive seeker, he began to study. "I spent so long in the embrace of yakuza that sitting at a desk, I couldn't find my place, not to mention studying," — such were the words of the former scholar for whom studying at school had never been difficult. Penetrated by the dark thread of drug addiction, he suffered from the fact that his thoughts, barely warmed by the desire to concentrate, ultimately led only to overexertion. And so he, on his winding path, established elementary rules: study for thirty minutes, then go for a thirty-minute walk, which gave him the opportunity to continue this burdensome activity.

His studies were frenzied, like the endless roar of the ocean. Following Ohira, he stepped along the branches of real estate agent certification, then overcame the ominous examination for the title of judicial scrivener and, ultimately, headed to Osaka, entering the law faculty of Kansai University. In 2013, having overcome the thorny path of legal qualification, which required countless hours of effort, he successfully passed the bar exam. Seven years had passed from the moment of his fall into the pit of drug addiction to the moment of triumph.

During these years, he waged a terrible struggle with the consequences of methamphetamine. "There were moments when I experienced an irresistible desire to shoot," he reflected. His mind, once subjected to destruction, did not always work properly; sharp pains still tormented him, which he tried to drown out with tranquilizers.

Having successfully graduated from law school, he began working in law offices in Osaka and Tokyo, specializing in criminal cases. Those around him, including Ohira herself, often warned him against revealing his past, warning of the possibility of misunderstanding and prejudice. Some of his clients also had connections with yakuza. He worked to inspire them onto a new path, but alas, most of them confidently stated their desire to leave this dark life, for their existence was full of suffering and deprivation.

Nevertheless, the multiple difficulties arising when returning to normal society for former yakuza cannot be ignored by them. According to certain "ordinances on yakuza exclusion," even after leaving the gang, an individual remains part of an "anti-social force" for at least five years. This circumstance condemns such people to the impossibility of opening a bank account.

The absence of an account, in turn, creates insurmountable obstacles to renting housing and finding work. So many former members, striving for rehabilitation and wishing to restore their lives, ultimately face hopelessness and turn again to the embrace of their former organization.

"I cannot explain why some fail to open a bank account even five years after leaving. In my case, fortunately, this succeeded, but when I tried to buy a house, my loan application was stopped at the consideration stage. The difficulties seem endless, and hope melts like morning fog."