Yoshio Kodama | |
|---|---|
児玉 誉士夫 | |
.png) Mug shot of Kodama while he was held as a suspected war criminal inSugamo Prison, 1946 | |
| Born | (1911-02-18)February 18, 1911 |
| Died | January 17, 1984(1984-01-17) (aged 72) Tokyo, Japan |
| Occupations | Politicalfixer, smuggler, businessman,spy |
| Spouse | Sayoko (1940–1958)[1] |
| Children | Hagiwara Kichitaro (eldest son) (児玉博隆), Morihiro Kodama (third son) (児玉守弘)[citation needed] |
| Criminal charge | Conspiracy to commit murder, tax evasion |
| Penalty | A total of six and half years in prisons |
Yoshio Kodama (児玉 誉士夫,Kodama Yoshio; February 18, 1911 – January 17, 1984)[2] was a Japanese right-wingultranationalist and a prominent figure in the rise of organized crime inJapan.[citation needed] The most famouskuromaku, or behind-the-scenes power broker, of the 20th century, he was active in Japan's political arena and criminal underworld from the 1930s to the 1970s, and became enormously wealthy through his involvement in smuggling operations.[3]
Yoshio Kodama was born on February 18, 1911, inNihonmatsu,Fukushima, Japan, to a family formerly ofsamurai status.[4] Kodama was the fifth son of a bankrupt Nihonmatsu businessman. Due to his family's straitened circumstances, in 1920, Kodama was sent to live with a married older sister inKorea and lived there for three years.[4] He was treated badly, suffered from isolation, and had to work in a steel mill.[5]
Returning to Japan as a teenager, Kodama joined a variety of right-wing nationalist groups. At the end of the 1920s he joined the secret societyGen'yōsha.[6] In 1929, he joined theNational Foundation Society (建国会,Kenkokukai), founded byAkao Bin andUesugi Shinkichi.[6] In 1929, during a parade, he tried to give EmperorHirohito a self-written appeal for increased patriotism. However, he was intercepted by the security forces and arrested for his role in the "Direct Appeal to the Emperor Incident" (天皇直訴事件,Tennō Jikiso Jiken). He was imprisoned for six months.[6] During this time in prison, he wrote his first book, a primer for Japanese nationalists. After his release from prison, he joinedTatsuo Tsukui's Radical Patriotic Party (急進愛国党,Kyūshin Aikokutō).Tōyama Mitsuru from theGen'yōsha (Dark Ocean Society), a secret society founded in the late 19th century that first grouped extreme rightists andyakuza together, sent him toManchuria. There he was involved in the suppression of the anti-Japanese resistance working under the chief of Japanese military intelligence in the region, ColonelKenji Doihara.[citation needed] A few months later, Kodama returned to Japan. In 1931, Kodama was imprisoned again for his role in the "Diet Pamphlet Distribution Case" (国会ビラ撒き事件,Kokkai Biramaki Jiken). He was released in 1932.
In 1932, Kodama formed his own ultranationalist group called the Independent Youth Society (独立青年社,Dokuritsu Seinensha), which planned to assassinate various Japanese politicians.[6] Its main activity wasopium export from Japan to Korea and Manchuria to break the resistance of the local population against the Japanese rule.[7] Kodama's group, in collaboration with the group Tenkōkai (天行会, "Society for Heavenly Action") was responsible for the murder of three Japanese politicians who advocated the peaceful coexistence of Japan, Korea, andChina, and made abortive plans to assassinate Prime MinisterSaito Makoto.[7][6] Kodama himself was detained in October 1932, when explosives he stored at his home for use in assassinating politicians accidentally exploded, leading to his arrest, a trial, and a prison term of three and half years. He was released from Fuchū prison at the instigation of Doihara,[citation needed] by this time promoted to major general, just prior to the outbreak of theSecond Sino-Japanese War in April 1937.
In 1937, theSecond Sino-Japanese War broke out following a clash between Japanese and Chinese troops in theMarco Polo Bridge incident, which precipitated a full-scale invasion ofChina proper by Japanese forces. After the conquest ofShanghai by Japanese troops, Kodama was summoned there by his old mentor Doihara.[8] Among other things, he served in 1939 as abodyguard for the ChinesecollaboratorWang Jingwei.[citation needed] During his work he met thevice admiral and later founder of theKamikaze unitsTakijirō Ōnishi, with whom he became friends.[citation needed]
From 1939 to 1941 he traveled through China as a Japanesespy and built up a network that included varioustriads collaborating with the Japanese.[6] Like other Japanese secret service agents, he founded his own "Kodama Organization" (Kodama Kikan), which, thanks to his relationship with Admiral Ōnishi, had an exclusive contract as a purchasing agent in China for theaviation forces of theImperial Japanese Navy.[citation needed]
With these resources, Kodama was able to use what he described as "self-sacrificing youth"[9] to engage in large-scale plunder in Manchuria and China and sell the stolen goods at a high profit in Japan.[citation needed] He is also said to have distributedopium and narcotics.[10] Kodama publicly regarded this activity as purely idealistic and patriotic.[11][page needed] By 1945, Kodama had become one of the richest men in Asia with assets equivalent to $175 millionUS dollars.[citation needed]
At the end ofWorld War II, the defeat of Japan initially represented an enormous setback for Kodama. Shortly after the announcement of the unconditionalsurrender of Japan on August 15, 1945, he witnessed theritual suicide ofAdmiral Ōnishi, but was subsequently unable to bring himself to commit seppuku.[12] A little later he acted as an advisor to the Japanese interim government ofPrince Naruhiko Higashikuni.[13] Since Kodama feared the confiscation of his property by theUS occupation authorities, he gave parts of it to theyakuza chief Karoku Tsuji.[14] Other possessions were kept on the grounds of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.[citation needed]
In March 1946, Kodama was arrested by theUnited States as a suspected Class Awar criminal.[15][4][7] He was held inSugamo Prison withRyōichi Sasakawa, where the two formed a long friendship.[15] Kodama also formed a close relationship with fellow suspected Class-A war criminal (and future prime minister)Nobusuke Kishi.[16][7] Since he had a lot of time, Kodama was able to keep himself up to date on current events and far-reaching political changes in East Asia in all available daily newspapers. He realized that the new democratic forces in Japan were weak, observing that "in the midst of all this rapid change, there is one thing which is lagging behind. This is parliamentary power."[17] While imprisoned, Kodama wroteSugamo Diary (a chronicle of his experience in prison) andI Was Defeated (an autobiographical work).[18]
Like many other alleged Japanese war criminals, Kodama was recruited by theUS G-2 (Intelligence) underCharles A. Willoughby while in custody.[19][page needed] In 1948, the US intelligence community was able to drop all charges against him on the condition that he would support allanti-communist activities of the G-2 CIC division in Asia.[19][page needed] On December 24, 1948, he left Sugamo Prison as a free man and was never imprisoned again for the rest of his life. Kodama spent a total of six and a half years of his life in prisons. Kodama, being a right-wing ultranationalist, eagerly fulfilled his end of the bargain, using his fortune and network of contacts to quell labor disputes, root out Communist sympathizers and otherwise fight socialist activities in Japan. In 1949, theCIA paid him to smuggle a shipment oftungsten out of China.[20] The shipment never arrived but Kodama kept his money.[20]
In 1949 Kodama led the Meiraki-gumigang againstlabor unions at theHokutan coal mine.[21] He began to use the fortune he had accumulated in China and subsequently hidden, which supposedly amounted to 70 million yen (not including the platinum and diamonds he spirited away),[22] to covertly influence electoral politics in postwar Japan.
In 1955, Kodama's Sugamo Prison acquaintanceNobusuke Kishi, with the covert backing of the CIA, engineered the formation of the conservativeLiberal Democratic Party (LDP) via the merger of the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party.[23] In the 1950s and 1960s, the CIA spent millions to support the LDP, for intelligence gathering and to make Japan a bulwark againstcommunism in Asia.[3] Using his preexisting connections to the CIA, Kodama served as apolitical fixer (kuromaku) who secretly funneled funds to conservatives.[3]
In his role as fixer, conservative politicians turned to Kodama if they had problems. An example of his role as fixer was the planned state visit by US PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower in 1960, in connection with the revision ofU.S.-Japan Security Treaty (known asAnpo in Japanese), intended to cement theU.S.-Japan alliance.[16] In an effort to prevent the ratification of the treaty and prevent Eisenhower's visit, a coalition of left-leaning opposition groups and civic organizations carried out the massive1960 Anpo Protests.[24] As the protests dramatically escalated in June 1960, now-Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi asked his old friend Kodama to organize right-wing thugs and yakuza gangsters as a private police force to secure the streets for Eisenhower's visit.[16] Kodama obliged, using his right-wing connections to prepare a "Welcoming Ike to Japan Mobilization Plan" which he claimed would be able to put nearly 150,000 young rightists on the streets in order to "protect" President Eisenhower from left-wing protesters.[16] Kodama's detailed plan promised to mobilize exactly 146,879 men, whereas Japan'sNational Police Agency later estimated that he could realistically mobilize at most 120,506.[25] As a result, around 28,000 yakuza from different gangs organized asecurity service on their own and in cooperation with the police.[26] Right-wing groups also staged counter-protests in favor of the Treaty.[27] However, due to the violentJune 15th Incident, in which female university studentMichiko Kanba was killed, Kishi was forced to cancel Eisenhower's visit and Kodama's force was not needed.[28]
In response to the Anpo protests, Kodama and other right-wing leaders established the All-Japanese Conference of Patriotic Associations (全日本愛国者団体会議,Zen Nihon Aikokusha Dantai Kaigi; abbreviated "Zen'ai Kaigi"), an umbrella organization of 80 right-wing groups and yakuza groups.[29][30] Zen'ai Kaigi carried out a variety of counter-protest activities in support of the conservative Kishi government, and by the end of the protests had grown to include more than 100 organizations.[30] In this way, the 1960 Anpo protests helped cement the interlocking relationships between right-wing nationalists, yakuza gangsters, and conservative political interests, with Kodama playing a starring role.[16]
In April 1961, Kodama formed his own sub-faction within the Zen'ai Kaigi calledSeinen Shiso Kenkyukai (Society for the Study of Youth Ideology), which represented a hard core within the umbrella organization, mainly yakuza.[citation needed] At the end of the 1960s, theShiso Kenkyukai split from Zen'ai Kaigi . Its members received military training and were used to intimidate unpopular journalists and book authors.[citation needed] One of the victims of this organization was the journalist Hisatomo Takemori (久友竹森), whose book entitledBlack Money was not published after multiple threats.[31]
In 1963, Kodama attempted to form a coalition of Japan's organized crime groups. However,Kazuo Taoka withdrew theYamaguchi-gumi early on in talks, leaving Kodama with a Tokyo-centered group that would become known as theKanto-kai. The organization was formed of seven yakuza groups (including theSumiyoshi-kai andMatsuba-kai), with the purpose of fostering relations between the groups and promoting rightist goals. With Kodama unable to smooth over its internal conflicts, the Kanto-kai dissolved in January 1965.[32][33]
Kodama was able to grow his fortune until the mid-1970s.[citation needed] He owned shares in Hisayuki Machii's Ginza nightclub empire, a shipping company, a baseball team, a film studio, and several sports magazines.[34]
Kodama maintained close relations with LDP politicians, such as the yakuza-connected LDP Vice PresidentBanboku Ōno,[35][36] and his influence did not suffer until he was identified as the keykuromaku in the Lockheed Corporation bribery scandal. Kodama had been a paid agent of Lockheed since 1958 and received $U.S.7 million for his help in arranging the TriStar aircraft deal.[37][38][39]
In the 1970s, it came to light that Kodama had played a role in theLockheed L-1011 bribery scandal, which effectively ended his career as a right-wing fixer.[2][40]
After the Lockheed scandal, disillusioned ultranationalistRoman Porno film actorMitsuyasu Maeno attempted to assassinate Kodama by flying aPiper PA-28 Cherokee planekamikaze-style into his mansion inSetagaya Ward's Todoroki.[41] The attempt failed.[42] Maeno hit the second floor of Kodama's mansion and died in the plane crash, but Kodama was unharmed in a different room. Kodama was recovering from a stroke at the time.[41]
In June 1977, charges were brought against Kodama for tax evasion related to the scandal, but the trial was never completed before he died.[2][43] Kodama died in his sleep of a stroke inTokyo on January 17, 1984.[2]
Kodama was married twice. A brief 1935 marriage ended in divorce. In 1940, Kodama married his second wife, Sayoko, with whom he had two children, a son and a daughter.[4] Sayoko was her registered legal name, but she preferred to be called "Atsuko". Sayoko died in June 1960 of injuries suffered in a May 1960 car accident.[44]
The main character in 1979 Japanese filmNihon no Fixer, also known in its English titleThe Fixer, Yamaoka, was heavily based on Yoshio Kodama.[45] The film itself centered the story of Yamaoka and his connection withJapanese Prime Minister Hirayama, who was loosely based onKakuei Tanaka and his connection to theLockheed bribery scandals in the early 1970s.[45]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| International | |
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