The leader of the Yamai Syndicate, a gang based in Honolulu City, Hawaii, appearing in Like a Dragon 8. Born August 19, 1973. Blood type O. Formerly a member of the Tabata Family, a direct subsidiary of the Tojo Clan. About 30 years before the main story, he fell in love with the boss's wife. Ultimately, he took the fall for killing his patriarch and was expelled. After fleeing the country, he washed up in Hawaii. He is so sensitive to the cold that he wears a heavy coat even in tropical Hawaii, and he uses a crowbar in combat. He is always calm and collected, though he lets his guard down around the hostesses and members of his own territory. Furthermore, he holds a deep admiration for Kazuma Kiryu, who was once a legendary figure in the yakuza world, and displays a tremendous obsession with him up to a certain point. He refers to Kiryu as "Kiryu-san." His first impression is poor due to his treatment of his subordinate, Eric Tomizawa, but contrary to this outward personality, he is popular with his organization and the local community. When Tomizawa tried to attack him, the hostesses (who seem to be older women, suggesting his preference) shielded him, saying, "We won't forgive anyone who lays a hand on Yamai." When he tried to leave Hawaii, his subordinates sent him off in tears, shouting, "We'll be waiting for you to come back, Boss!" He possesses a charismatic side, and his soft-hearted nature occasionally peeks through, such as when he replies, "Don't die until I get back." However, he is the type to go all out when harassing someone he dislikes, disregarding profit or logic, showing a rather nasty side to his personality. Also, since he is technically no longer a yakuza, his group is the "Yamai Syndicate" rather than a "Yamai Family," but his members call him "Boss" anyway and refer to themselves as "family members." At first, he corrected them every time, but since they never stopped calling him Boss, he eventually found it too bothersome and has recently left it alone. While in the Tabata Family, he was in love with the boss's wife, Yui Tabata, but she was also having secret meetings with the young head. At one point, to hide her relationship with the young head, Yui asked Yamai to kill her husband, the patriarch, making it look like self-defense. Yamai accepted the request with a faint hope that it might win her heart. Things went according to plan, but immediately after the murder, Yui betrayed him, claiming he killed the boss and then tried to attack her, forcing Yamai to flee. While on the run, he worried about Yui and went to check on her in secret, only to be devastated by the sight of her being intimate with the young head in public. This incident caused him to suffer from uncontrollable "chills" (the reason he wears a coat at all times). He subsequently fled to Hawaii to escape the Tabata Family and the police, where he formed the Yamai Syndicate with local Japanese-Americans.

Originally an honest taxi driver with a pregnant girlfriend named Mary. However, Dwight Mendez, the leader of the Barracudas, framed the innocent Tomizawa for a crime they committed. The Barracudas had ties to the local police and judiciary, and Tomizawa, framed and helpless, accepted a five-year prison sentence. As a result, Mary suffered a miscarriage due to the stress and disappeared after visiting him once. He doesn't resent Mary for vanishing; instead, he says it was his own fault for putting her through so much. However, he held a deep-seated hatred for the Barracudas, who ruined his life and, above all, killed his unborn child and made Mary miserable. He went as far as obtaining a gun to seek revenge and found Dwight, but he let his guard down. Despite getting close enough to kill him at the cost of his own life, he lost his nerve at the last second, leading him to become completely cynical and delinquent. The debt he incurred at that time was held by the Yamai Syndicate, and he has been acting as one of Yamai's henchmen ever since.