Boxing: Yakuza get ringside seats at Kameda title fight

TOKYO (majirox news) — Kameda Gym was issued with a severe reprimand from the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) after members of a designated crime syndicate had ringside seats Aug. 31 for a double world title fight at the Tokyo Budokan.

Yakuza members were confirmed to have watched the two world title fights at the Budokan, including one bout in which Koki Kameda defended his WBA bantamweight title.

Kameda Gym, which ran the event and is the home gym of the world champion, denied any prior knowledge or involvement with the designated crime syndicate members being in attendance, but has checked ticket records to try and determine how the yakuza members gained the prime seating.

The JBC has, under the guidance of the Metropolitan Police Department, been conducting a campaign against yakuza involvement in boxing since 2007, banning group viewing, ticket sales, distribution of parking tickets and ID passes. The JBC also refused all cash prizes from unauthorized individuals or organizations.

Japan’s sports and entertainment worlds have been rocked by disclosure of organized crime involvement during this year. Apart from the Kameda case, the ancient sport of sumo has been rocked by betting and match-fixing scandals that resulted in the cancellation of a major tournament.

Shinsuke Shimada, once an almost ubiquitous presence on Japanese TV, abruptly retired in August after it was revealed he had ties to underworld figures. The yakuza are long rumored to have strong links in the sports and entertainment worlds.

Also on Oct. 1, a Tokyo Metropolitan Government ordinance cracking down on the yakuza came into effect, giving police powers to monitor those who have regular connections with members of designated crime syndicates.

Tags: Japan Boxing Comission, JBC, Kameda Gym, Metropolitian Police Department, Tokyo Budokan

This entry was posted on 10/02/2011 at 9:02 am and is filed under NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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Noda: Peacemaker, orator, fight fan

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Yoshihiko Noda became a Cabinet member for the first time in June last year when he was made finance minister in Prime Minister Naoto Kan's administration. Noda took on the task of rebuilding the nation's finances and curbing the yen's sharp rise.

Noda has been dubbed a puppet of the Finance Ministry by some, but is also rated highly for his peaceful and stable demeanor.

Noda was one of the first people to graduate from the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, the leadership development institute established by Konosuke Matsushita (1894-1989), founder of what is today known as the Panasonic Group. Noda will be the first graduate from the institute to become prime minister.

Noda was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1993 on a Japan New Party ticket, having earlier served as a member of the Chiba prefectural assembly.

He later left the JNP to join the New Frontier Party (Shinshinto), and then moved to the Democratic Party of Japan.

Noda ran in the DPJ presidential election in 2002 as "a representative of young politicians," but was defeated by Yukio Hatoyama.

In 2006, Noda resigned as chair of the DPJ Diet Affairs Committee to take responsibility for a scandal over a fake e-mail involving then lower house DPJ member Hisayasu Nagata. At the time, he was criticized for the weakness of his defense.

During the three-day campaign for Monday's DPJ presidential election, Noda appealed to his colleagues, "We have to get past politics driven by deep grudges."

Noda tried to reconcile with former DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa's intraparty group, the largest group in the DPJ.

Noda is known as a good speaker, and for more than 20 years has honed his oratorial skills by making morning visits to Chiba Prefecture railway stations to speak about his policies to commuters. He began the practice in 1986 before he ran in the Chiba prefectural assembly election in 1987.

Noda's first thoughts about becoming a politician were inspired by something his parents said when he was a child. Noda saw a news report about the 1960 assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, then the Japan Socialist Party's president, and Noda's parents said, "Politicians risk their lives."

Noda likes watching combat sports, including professional wrestling. He has a second-degree belt in judo and loves drinking sake.

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Japan's tsunami-hit towns fight to sustain folk arts

OFUNATO, Japan (Reuters) – The Urahama district of this northeastern Japanese coastal city had for centuries marked religious ceremonies, and mourned their dead, with a dynamic sword dance by masked men, accompanied by drums and flutes.

But everything changed after the March 11 tsunami tore into Japan's northeastern coast, sweeping away homes, performers and precious equipment in coastal areas, like Urahama, that had long treasured their traditional performing folk arts.

Now, people in many of the tightly-knit coastal communities fear the disaster may prove to be the final blow for some 100 troupes that had already been struggling to survive as the towns where they were based aged and young people left to seek work.

"There certainly will be some arts that are bound to disappear," said Shutaro Koiwa of Japan Folk Performing Arts Association in Tokyo.

Many performers are determined to go on despite the steep odds, cherishing their centuries-old traditions.

"In our area, it is a given," said 65-year-old Chikara Furumizu of the Urahama Nenbutsu Kenbai, a group of men and children that performs the sword dance to mourn the deceased in Ofunato, a city some 450 km northeast of Tokyo.

"Without it, we would not know what to do."

The dance had always been especially important during Obon, a period in August marked by Buddhist ceremonies to honor the ancestors. In Urahama, performances were staged in front of homes where a family member had died the previous year.

The magnitude 9 quake and massive tsunami that struck the northeast coast on March 11 left more than 20,400 dead or missing and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at Fukushima, some 211 km south of Ofunato.

Little remained in the area around Urahama, where more than 100 people were swept away, along with homes and stores.

Though the roughly 40 dance group members all survived, many lost family members and their homes. Costumes, the swords used in performances, masks and musical instruments were either lost or damaged after the tidal wave engulfed their storehouse.

GIVING HOPE

But at Obon, eight men, wearing the usual stern masks and warrior-like outfits -- donated or rented this year -- swung damaged swords and danced to taiko drums and flutes in front of a nursing home where more than 50 people perished.

Amid the dynamic, whirling movements of the dance, the men in their 20s and 30s each paused somberly before a makeshift altar to mourn the dead, pinching a bit of incense ash from a box and bringing it to their forehead before returning it.

Haruka Kariya, a 23-year-old member who fled the tsunami from the fisheries co-op where he worked, said he will stay in Ofunato and continue dancing to give hope to survivors.

"Under this situation in which everything was washed away, we are gathering together. We all know each other for a long time, we have good teamwork, and when we go around homes, our feeling for dancing has been stronger than last year," said Kariya, who lost his grandparents and his home.

"Some people shed tears when they watch us dance and I hope that we can help them, even if it's just a little bit."

Koiwa of Japan Folk Performing Arts Association said the disaster has changed the way that young performers, tasked to carry on the tradition, feel about their art.

"Young people up to now may have somewhat thought they were just dancing and singing what they have learned. But teachers and older people have been saying that now, they are trying to communicate from their heart," he said.

It will take time to recover from the disaster and many things may never be the same. But that won't stop the dancers.

"There are just too many victims. We cannot rest," Furumizu of the Urahama Nenbutsu Kenbai said.

"The most important thing is to look forward."

(Editing by Elaine Lies)

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