Tokyo Police Arrest Ex-Ceo For Stock Market Manipulation; Yakuza Links

Tokyo Stock Exchange listed companies in collusion with yakuza? Shocking.

OLYMPUS: Bringing It Into Focus–A Special Breach Of Trust? UPDATE

In the last week, the New York Times, the Financial Times(article in Japanese)  and Reuters have reported heavily on suspicious transactions at Olympus Corporation, one of Japan’s oldest and most distinguished camera and optical equipment makers. The board forced out acting CEO,  Michael Woodford, after he became too diligent in doing his due diligence on questionable [...]

Yakuza Friendly Hotels–on the way out. Goodbye Nine-Fingered Discount!

As a part of broader initiatives to expel organized crime from business, new “yakuza exclusion” provisions by the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) go into effect today. The JTA maintains a “Model Accommodation Contract”, which serves as a widely-accepted set of guidelines recommended for hotels, ryokans, and other lodging facilities. The agency explains on its website: [...]

NISA Needs To Take Evil Lessons

Sneaky attempts to manipulate public opinion meltdown

People Who Eat Darkness (闇を食う人々）An amazing book and a tissue sample of Japan’s social pathological elements

People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman* By Richard Lloyd Parry (Jonathan Cape 404pp £17.99) When the disappearance of Lucie Blackman made the news, I was covering it as a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper. By necessity rather than by choice, I was already familiar with the darker side of [...]