Ex-Goto-gumi member wanted for murder killed in Thailand. Dead men have no mouths. 死人に口なし

According to several sources, on April 27th,  a Thai tour guide was arrested after he confessed to shooting to death one Japanese tourist and wounding another while they were trekking in northern Thailand. The two “tourists” are believed to be former yakuza members. Apichart Inphisak, the 41-year-old guide, was arrested Tuesday at a friend’s house 30 kilometers from Chiang Rai. The pistol he said he used to shoot the two Japanese was confiscated, according to... Read More

Someone had to do it: Man arrested for telling politician to STFU

Doing a bit of asa-dachi?! An English teacher was arrested this Easter Sunday after he did what many Japan residents dream of doing: Telling those pesky campaigning politicians that they’re loud and obnoxious. English citizen Edward Jones, 34, was in Tokorozawa, Saitama, and had been having a few drinks with friends when the group happened upon a local politician campaigning with microphone and loud speaker outside of JR Higashi-Tokorozawa Station. Jones grabbed the mic... Read More

Reports of sexual violence remain a rarity in disaster zones as both women and the media keep quiet

FNN news is reporting on the arrest of one Kyo Matsunaga, a 28-year-old man who is accused of raping a woman in her Iwate home during a blackout following a major aftershock. The case has caught media attention because Matsunaga’s DNA matches DNA left at the scenes of two other rapes in Tokyo’s Musashino area back in 2005. Police plan to transfer the suspect back to Tokyo and press additional charges. This report is a rarity. It’s a known fact that rape and other... Read More

Kobe neighbours once again regret living near those pesky Yamaguchi's

Police prepare to raid the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters April 11. Photo from Jiji Tsushin There goes the neighbourhood.. again. Kobe authorities led a raid on the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters April 22, bringing a mass of 100 officers as backup for a quick in-and-out of the premises. The 30-minute search was ordered in connection with the April 11 arrest of second-level gang boss Noriaki Imura. Imura was picked up for attempted blackmail after, back in November 2010, he and an associate... Read More

Shiga: What's a few tons of paper to spread the word against yakuza?

The Shiga prefectural government knows no limits in their dedication to fight crime, printing a whopping 100,000 fliers to spread information on new anti-organised crime regulations that will come into effect this summer. Government officials cited how local citizen’s co-operation would be vital in ensuring the regulations come to fruit, printing the adverts in hopes of reaching a large portion of the prefecture’s 1.4 million people. The fliers are flashy, printed... Read More

The 8th International Conference on Asian Organized Crime and Terrorism

The FBI, the DEA, and the The International Organization of Asian Crime Investigators and Specialists (IOASIS) were kind enough to invite me to speak at their 8th conference, in Las Vegas, and allow me to attend the lectures with other law enforcement officers. I will be spending most of this week learning about areas of asian organized crime that I know nothing about in hopes of expanding my knowledge a little bit beyond the yakuza. (Not that I claim to be a living dictionary... Read More

Yakuza members in Japan lowest since 1992 anti-organized laws went in to effect; National Police Agency announces 2010 figures

At end of 2010, the number of yakuza members in Japan, including full-members and associate members was an estimated 78,600 members, 2300 less than the year before, the lowest number since the anti-organized crime laws went into effect. The National Police Agency, which is an administrative body overseeing all 47 Police Department in Japan, announces the gang member totals every year. This is the second year in a row that the numbers have declined. It could be considered a success... Read More

Ladies going under the laser and razor in anticipation of a sweaty summer

As electricity conservation remains a grudgingly important fact of life in post-disaster Japan, many urbanites dread what this eco-friendly movement will inevitably lead to: a summer with no air conditioning. With Tokyo’s concrete covered streets, lack of trees and summer temperatures that often reach above 30 degrees Celsius with 80 percent-plus humidity, one can understand why the thought strikes fear into the hearts of city-dwellers. But one industry in particular... Read More

Fashion model exodus from Tokyo! Many flee to a different runway

Over the past few weeks, foreign models working in Japan have been gracing a different runway– the one that leads directly out of the country. According to a recent article in the Asahi Shinbun(朝日新聞), models for major names like Louis Vuitton and Gucci are leaving in great numbers due to panic over the nuclear situation in Fukushima. The parents of one 19-year old Belgian model, while crying on the phone to their son, begged him to come home; “We don’t... Read More

Why Japan's Mainstream Media Can't Be Trusted To Report Objectively On TEPCO (東京電力）

When the earthquake struck Japan on March 11th and knocked out TEPCO’s Fukushima nuclear reactor, setting off a chain reaction of disasters–TEPCO’s chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata was nowhere to be found.  Where was he? He was on a tour of China with members of some of Japan’s largest media outlets–and TEPCO was footing the bill. On March 30th, not only did TEPCO admit that the chairman had been taking Japanese mass media power brokers on the trip to... Read More