A mental health crisis on a busy Tokyo street set one-time dealer and debt collector Yoshitomo Morohashi on a path to redemption, and life as a lawyer
Yoshitomo Morohashi is every inch the lawyer, from his three-piece suit and designer glasses to the sunflower lapel badge identifying him as a member of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
Then, with little encouragement, he removes his shirt and turns away to reveal a tattoo of an ancient warrior, a samurai sword clenched between his teeth, covering his entire back.
Morohashi’s readiness to expose his body art is relatively recent: there was a time when he did everything possible to conceal it and the dark past it represented.
His life story is an extreme example of poacher-turned-gamekeeper. For more than two decades, Morohashi lived a life of crime as a member of a yakuza organisation before he addressed his drug addiction, with a mental health crisis on a busy Tokyo street setting him on a path of professional and personal redemption.
