October 20th, 2008.
Japan’s top two newspapers covered the end of Goto Tadamasa’s reign as head of the Goto-gumi today. Probably, they didn’t feel this was the most pressing of stories.
Maybe they didn’t have the resources to stay on top of the story. Who knows?
The Mainichi Shinbun has done some good coverage. All of it in Japanese. Sankei Shinbun 産経新聞 probably did the best job of reporting on Goto’s fall from power and what it meant in terms of Japan’s social-cultural and economic landscape. Trust me, forty-thousand gangsters have an impact on the Japanese economy, and Goto Tadamasa, one of the richest of all the Yamaguchi-gumi gang lords, has his hand in many pockets and many financial markets. He’s also the biggest stockholder of Japan airlines, if my memory is correct.
The articles are below. No english translations available.
The Asashi Shinbun also had a decently detailed account of events as well. Neither newspaper has reported on this in English–although unlike Sankei Shinbun, both the Mainichi and the Asahi have English language versions of their paper. There has always been an unwritten policy not to focus in the English media on Japan’s yakuza problem. Bad for the country’s image.