one of the guys pulled out a sword and slashed -- >> jake agelstein was a reporter for japan's largestuthored a memoir of his reporting days called "tokyo vice." he says there is a dark side to the rising sun, but it seldom leads to shots fired. >> i have not met a cop who has fired his gun in the course of duty. and i know a lot of cops. i mean, since 1993, i have been working as a reporter in japan, mostly on the police beat. >> in fact, guns are so rare and tightly regulated here that even mobsters avoid using guns. known as the yakuza and often recognized for their full-body tattoos, japanese organized crime doesn't lack for muscle. they have trotteredly had enormous reach in business and politics, once described as the largest private equity group in japan by morgan stanley, but many don't like conducting business with a gun. >> translator: guns are like nuclear weapons. weapons that the yakuza has, but won't use. >> a former yakuza boss sat down with us to give us his take on the mob's attitude. he insisted on wearing a mask, but showed us his tattoos and his partially missing fi