Indirect threats, vulnerable sources and family members, and inadequate support from law enforcement in the form of programs like witness protection, are all factors that make the yakuza danger intangible and hard to combat. Adelstein identifies the yakuza's preferred form of retaliation, which, he says, is usually a disappearance or apparent suicide. He tells me of his survival strategy: "You make it clear you won't kill yourself."In Tokyo Vice, Adelstein's source tells him the story of Japanese director Juzo Itami, whose 1992 film Minbo no onna satirized organized crime. Itami was apparently planning a new movie about Goto's yakuza faction and its relationship with the religious group Soka Gakkai.
"Goto wasn't happy about that," Adelstein's source told him. "A gang of five of his people grabbed Itami and made him jump off a rooftop at gunpoint. That's how he committed suicide."
Anyone surprised to see Soka Gakkai linked to organized crime and forced "suicide"?
5 comments
The nature of many organizations, once it is deemed more valuable than than the people who compose it by the people who control it, seems to be one of self preservation at the cost of those who support it. Democratic Senator Evan Bayhhttp://www.channel4.com/news/a... and Republican Senator Jim Campellhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/...both recently expressed frustration over the systems' failure to address issues other than partisanship. And it's not a new thing to view congress as broken;http://www.washingtonpost.com/...http://www.washingtonpost.com/...http://www.futurecasts.com/boo...That being said, without any knowledge of specific deeds, I've read the article. Your statement not up to your usual quality. It is a supposition, invoking a presumed response from a faction of readers, and hyperbole. The article does connect one organization to another. You yourself, however, made the leap and connected the Soka Gakkai with Japanese mafia style murder, which the article does not. I have a continuing relationship with the SGI-USA, which is in turn run by the Soka Gakkai in Japan. I have not had any relationship with the Japanese mafia. I hope I never do. But from what I've read, they seem the more straightforward of the two.As far as I can tell, that passage you indicated in bold pertains to Adelstein's book Tokyo Vice, which is a novel if I am not mistaken. (??) It's fictional.I have heard conspiracy theories linking SGI and yakuza -- just google it -- but as we know, that doesn't make it factual.Speaking of conspiracy theories, there were some in SGI who claimed that Nichiren Shoshu functionaries had hired yakuza to kill Ikeda for millions of yen. I found a reference to this accusation here, but the link is very slow:www.sokaspirit.com/content/darkness-before-dawn/part_02.htmlThe SGI-yakuza thing is one of those conspiracy theories that I'm inclined to believe based absolutely no proof. Why? Because I do honestly think that SGI is ruthless in pursuing "enemies" -- witness their endless war on Nichiren Shoshu.Every now and then I get a "friendly" phone call or e-mail from someone I used to practice with in SGI. I have made it known to all that I am no longer interested in any kind of involvement with SGI, but members still call me "just to check in." No, this is not violent or anything close to it, but it is incredibly creepy to me. It's like they never stop keeping tabs on members and ex-members. It's like they're saying, "We know where you live."Shudder.
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