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Weekly publications start talking
By Zach Arnold | March 10, 2006
By Zach Arnold
Shukan (Weekly) Taishu, one of the various weekly Japanese publications, has published an article about the recent yakuza arrests in relation to the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 show. I read the Japanese article and at first glance, a picture of Antonio Inoki was shown along with the question about morals at Nippon TV (the TV network that backed the Inoki event).
Here is a summary of the Taishu article and my response to various parts of it.
The title of the article is “A big headache for Nippon TV – popular fight programming and the yakuza.” The sub-title asks what is the moral responsibility of the TV networks.
According to a journalist from a major national newspaper, the current investigation into the threats and extortion made to the promoter (Seiya Kawamata of K-Confidence) of the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 show could change the current structure and climate of the Japanese fight industry. The police are vigorously investigating all leads in this case and are intending on performing a major operation into the relationships between the fight industry and the Yakuza. As this happens, the TV broadcasters who have enjoyed great ratings from fight programming will not escape unscathed.
Just to lay everything out, here are the networks involved in fight programming: Tokyo Broadcasting System (K-1), TV-Asahi (New Japan), Nippon TV (NOAH), Fuji TV (PRIDE & K-1).
Fight programming has become so established in Japan that is now traditional to have fight programming on New Year’s Eve which challenges NHK’s Kohaku (Red & White music festival) program. However, in the background, there is a problem which is causing major headaches for the TV networks.
It was Inoki (who worked with both DSE & K-1) for a show at the Osaka Dome in 2000 that was the first event to go head-to-head against the Kohaku show, and then in 2001 was the famous show on TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) with Tadao Yasuda vs. Jerome Le Banner and Mirko Cro Cop vs. Yuji Nagata.
Kanagawa and Shizuoka police received a criminal complaint in the Autumn of 2004 and they aggressively investigated this complaint, culminating in the arrests made on February 24, 2006 of three high-ranking yakuza members (of Yamaguchi-gumi) for holding and threatening the promoter of the Inoki fight event and attempting to extort 200 million yen from him. The victim was Seiya Kawamata, the president of the company (K-Confidence) which promoted the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 event which was broadcasted by Nippon TV. According to a reporter who is close to the Kanagawa police, “We are all watching whether the arrested suspects will be formally charged or released.”
According to a fight reporter for a sports newspaper, “Everybody has heard the stories of yakuza involvement in pro-wrestling during the times of Rikidozan. However, if it is true that even now the yakuza are involved in the fight game, then this is shocking news. Up until now, according to teh rumors, the relationship between the yakuza and the fight industry which up until now were hidden underground, are going to come to the light of day. Nippon TV’s event will be used as the reason and even though the TV networks are saying that they don’t know anything about this, the big question will become the moral responsibility of the TV networks for letting this situation occur. This problem is a massive problem for all of the TV networks.”
To understand just how deep the relationship is between the TV networks and the fight promotions (PRIDE & K-1), you have to understand how business works. In the case of Fuji TV, they have two TV producers (Kunio Kiyohara and another one named Sato) who work almost as liaisons between the fight companies. They are at the shows, and they control how certain things are done. It would almost be fair to say that the producers are part of the “office” in terms of their role.
For this fight reporter to try to make it seem like the yakuza have been gone from the Japanese fight industry is laughable. How many scandals have there been recently in the pro-wrestling industry? Let’s not forget, DSE managed to rebuild itself after the death of former President Naoto Morishita. During Morishita’s tenure, the boss was Hiromichi Momose, a famous ex-Yakuza leader from the night club scene in Tokyo. Momose, during his child hood, went to school with a man named Tatsuo Kawamura. Kawamura ended up being the backer of prominent people in the fight industry, including Antonio Inoki & Naoya Ogawa.
The problem arises out of the broadcast of Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 on New Year’s Eve. On the same evening, Tokyo Broadcasting System broadcasted Dynamite which featured the fight between Bob Sapp and Akebono and Fuji TV which broadcasted PRIDE’s Otoko Matsui 2003, which resulted in a war for ratings amongst the networks. According to a TV magazine reporter, “N-TV only got an average of 5.1% ratings. On the other hand, TBS & Fuji TV were able to break NHK’s traditional stronghold on the ratings by at certain moments beating NHK in the ratings. The reason for N-TV being beaten in the ratings is now becoming clear.”
According to a fight industry journalist, “The reason for N-TV being beaten so badly in the ratings was as a result of Yoshida and Ogawa not appearing on this event, and finally due to Mirko Cro Cop suddenly cancelling his appearance at this event. As a result, the fight card for this event could not be announced until the day before New Year’s Eve. Furthermore, the reason behind the current criminal incident, which is the appearance of Fedor at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 was a source of a major dispute between PRIDE & Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye, which the dispute continued until the day before the event.”
It’s important to note in this section of text that people in the fight industry are blaming the failure of the Inoki show on the fact that Mirko did not appear (along with Yoshida & Ogawa). The reasons that Mirko didn’t appear will be a major focus of the investigation, especially as to why it happened (if there were any financial payoffs) and what PRIDE’s role may have been. The connection between Ken Imai (the ex-K-1 boss who became Mirko’s agent) and PRIDE will be investigated to see if there was any involvement from the yakuza in the booking cancellation.
Also, the article text shifts the focus onto PRIDE’s reaction when Fedor was booked for the Inoki show and why there was never a public resolution announced (as opposed to the dispute Sakakibara had with Royce Gracie in 2004-2005).
Fedor is a fighter who is a headline fighter for DSE which promotes the PRIDE events. Kawamata knew this and even so, proceeded to procure the rights for Fedor fights for Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye. At that time, it was understandable that DSE would react in a furious fashion to this. However, it is mysterious that finally DSE agreed on undisclosed conditions to let Fedor fight on the Inoki event.
According to a reporter close to the Kanagawa police, “This criminal incident has confirmed that even though Fedor fought at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003, the whole issue of his appearance at that event has not been finally solved. From the beginning of 2004, the arrested yakuza summoned Kawamata to lonely location (restaurant) in Shizuoka and claimed that they were the reason that Fedor was able to fight at the event and criticized Kawamata for not making payment of their fee. “With whose power do you think Fedor was able to fight?” they asked, and demanded a payment of 200 million yen. It appears that the yakuza were able to maneuver skillfully in between PRIDE & Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye. As a result, it is said that Fedor was eventually able to fight at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye.”
On the other hand, what sort of person is Kawamata, who is claiming he was threatened by the yakuza? He did manage famous singer Akina Nakamori and for the last few years, he was active in the fight industry.
As the article continues, the focus is shifted towards the TV networks, Kawamata himself (address the question of whether he’s part of the yakuza or not), what and who may have threatened him, and what may happen if there is evidence that the Japanese TV networks had relations with the yakuza for programming.
Topics: All Topics, Japan, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
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