English follows the Japanese. 結局、後藤は絶縁処分を免れたとはいえ、除籍処分となりました。後藤組も存続しません。その代わり、後藤組長の部下である良知と塚本の二人が直参昇格となって旧後藤組が半分に割れてしまいます。力も分散されるはずです。

一方、山口組執行部が後藤組長の独立運動に賛同した大門会、井奥会、会津角定などに厳しい処分を下しました。後藤組長が詫びを入れた途端、賛同者が貧乏くじを引いてしまいました。そもそも後藤忠政組長と賛同することこそ危険な賭けでした。彼は忠実知らず裏切り上手の人間ですから。

結論は後藤忠政組長の完敗です。「後藤組長は力を失っておらず院政の始まり」という見方もありますが、筆者はそう思いません。

The End of Goto-Gumi: After several days of turmoil, starting on October 14th, things have settled down. The conclusion to all this is that Goto Tadamasa abandoned any attempt to take his organization solo and made an appearance at the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters in Kobe to apologize on the 17th or 18th of October. His organization will be split between his two chief executives, Mr. Rachi and Mr. Tsukamoto. Of the two, Mr. Tsukamoto has a slightly better reputation as a human being and someone who upholds “traditional” yakuza values which are supposed to be “helping the weak and taking on the powerful” and “never causing problems to civilians.” Good news for me, since I have a personal interest in all this. Continue reading →

IMPORTANT UPDATE: As a result of Goto’s birthday party and other factors, including my articles in the Washington Post and the Japanese press–Goto Tadamasa was excommunicated from the Yamaguchi-gumi on the 14th of October, 2008. 

  NHK, the BBC of Japan, banned from their programming several singers who had taken part in a birthday party (September 17th) for Tadamasa Goto, one of the most powerful bosses in the Yamaguchi-gumi. The ban was made and announced after the weekly newsmagazine, Shukan Shincho wrote an article about the birthday party and those attending. NHK checked with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and the singers before making their decision. Continue reading →