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Japan’s hottest political scandal
By Zach Arnold | March 24, 2006
By Zach Arnold
For the last month, the biggest political story in Japan has revolved around a phony e-mail. Liberal Democratic Party politician Hisayasu Nagata made the claim that he had an e-mail implicating a financial link between the son of an LDP politician and former Livedoor President Takafumi Horie. See the reports in The Japan Times, Yomiuri Shimbun, and Mainichi Daily News for more information.
Nagata claims that he received the phony e-mail from a magazine editor named Takashi Nishizawa. Nishizawa has a background in MMA & pro-wrestling in the past. According to the Black Eye 2 web site (which I can’t find the direct archive link to the story), Nishizawa worked in a match in Shooto. In addition, Nishizawa has also reportedly had some run-ins with pro-wrestling people and dojo owners in the Japanese fight game.
So what is the intriguing tie-in with Nishizawa in this story? Nishizawa’s attorney is a man by the name of Mr. Wakuda. If you recognize the name. it’s because Mr. Wakuda is also the attorney for Seiya Kawamata, the yakuza-linked promoter of the 2003 Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye show who filed a police complaint, claiming that DSE boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara threatened him.
As one source in a Japanese office put it, “Coincidences never cease in this country (Japan).”
There is expected to be a political investigation into Mr. Nishizawa shortly, and it will be interesting to see if: a) there is notable fall-out because of Nishizawa’s background in the fight game, b) if the Kanagawa & Shizuoka police who are investigating the links between organized crime & the fight game will be interested in finding out more details about Mr. Nishizawa’s past.
In a Livedoor article (via Yomiuri Sports), the article talks about Nishizawa’s background and ties to America. He supposedly went to Oregon university (Eugene, Oregon) and went to college to earn a degree in journalism. However, Nishizawa didn’t keep steady employment with magazines, as there were often troubles in accuracies of stories he had written. That’s the claim of the Yomiuri article. They point to a story in Shukan Post in the year 2000 about baseball player Kazuhiro Kiyohara and how it caused big problems. The term “gaseneta” (fake information) is used in the article.
Throughout the Yomiuri article, there is discussion of Nishizawa’s martial arts background. This includes discussion of encounters with Satoru Sayama (Super Tiger Gym) and Akira Maeda. Nishizawa’s MMA record was 1-2 in three fights. The article claims that Nishizawa had a scheme in which he was going to run a “RINGS Oregon” promotion, without getting permission from Akira Maeda to use the RINGS name.
An unnamed person in the Yomiuri article is quoted as saying that Nishizawa’s first appearance is one of politeness and sociability, with the ability to create a good first impression. Quick-witted and good at coaxing answers out of people. The person talked about Nishizawa’s ability to establish “closeness” with people he wanted answers out of.
The article tries to come up with a potential motive for the phony e-mail charge. They note that the phony e-mail to Nagata was a way for Nishizawa to establish himself into the Japanese political scene.
When contacted for a response by the press, Yomiuri notes that Nishizawa did not respond to any telephone calls.
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