Especially offensive in the list of new restrictions imposed in late 1947 was the issuance of a new SCAPIN (SCAP Instruction), ‘Fraternization without conversation is not fraternization’, which, in effect, was a bow to the impossibility of controlling the sexual urges of so many GIs. It showed Japanese that Americans could be every bit as bureaucratically ludicrous as anyone else. Under SCAP Order 3-11, an American caught talking to the Japanese girl he had just slept with could be court-martialed for violating fraternization laws. Moreover, the girl could be arrested by the Japanese police for ‘endangering the solemn mission of SCAP’. Only married couples like Nick Zappetti and his wife were immune from such prosecution.
The activities of the American Council on Japan have been documented in great detail by the late University of Maine scholar Howard Schoenberger, who published a number of articles on the subject. See, for example, ‘The Japan Lobby in American Diplomacy, 1947–1952’, Pacific Historical Review 46, no. 3, August 1977, pp. 327–59; and ‘Zaibatsu Dissolution and the American Restoration of Japan’, Bulletin of Concerned Asia Scholars, September 1, 1973. Also see Glen Davis and John G. Roberts, An Occupation without Troops. GHQ labor official Theodore Cohen had several unkind words to say about the activities of ACJ lawyer James Lee Kauffman in Remaking Japan. Sources for Rockefeller-related businesses in Japan included ‘An Untitled Essay, The Rockefellers in Japan’, a thesis submitted to John Dower in the Department of History, University of Wisconsin, 1974, and The Rockefellers, by Collier and Horowitz. On March 15, 1994, NHK aired ‘The Japan Lobby’, a documentary on the ACJ.
At the end of the Occupation, there were 3,760 American men and 453 American women employees in the GHQ, a discrepancy that helped to account for the large number of marriages between Japanese women and American men.
2. OCCUPATION HANGOVER
The two drownings and other ‘unpleasant occurrences’ (including the robbery of a Fuji Bank branch in Tokyo in 1952 by three GIs armed with shotguns and rifles) were described in the ‘Gaikokujin Makaritoru’ [The Foreigners Have Their Own Way], Shukan Yomiuri, October 10, 1954, pp. 4–11. The article ran with a two-frame cartoon: the first depicted wartime GIs dropping bombs on Tokyo; the next showed peacetime GIs terrorizing peace-loving citizens with spears and gleefully picking their pockets with fishing hooks. The Lucky Dragon incident is described in David Halberstam’s The Fifties, pp. 345–47.
Voice of America excerpts and other related material are from Ushijima, Mo Hitotsu no Showa Shi (1) (pp. 110–16).
Descriptions of Tokyo in the immediate post-Occupation era came from Hal Drake, Tom Scully and Richard Berry, who all worked in the Stars and Stripes Roppongi office at the time. Lawyer Tom Blakemore, who lived on the economy, also provided his recollections, as did Richard Roa, then an Army private.
Tokyo-based commercial lawyer Ray Bushell was a close acquaintance of Ted Lewin and provided background material on the gambling czar, including the $25,000 bribe that Lewin confided to him. Descriptions of the Mandarin were provided by Jim Blessin and Jack Dinken, who were occasional visitors. For additional material on Lewin, the author relied on interviews with Jim Phillips, a longtime Tokyo resident and aircraft consultant, who knew him, as well as ‘Gaikokujin Makari Doru’, and Shukan Yomiuri, October 10, 1954, and Mo Hitotsu no Showa Shi (1).
Longtime Tokyo entertainment columnist ‘Shig’ Fujita, who designed the logo for the first Latin Quarter, jointly owned by Lewin and Yoshio Kodama, and did public relations work for the Mandarin as well, provided background, as did acquaintance Dr Eugene Aksenoff. Aksenoff also provided a description of the time in the mid-50s he operated on one Jason Lee, a Korean-American ‘business associate’ of Lewin’s. Lee had been shot in the side and he demanded Aksenoff remove the bullet in the doctor’s Tokyo clinic without using an anesthetic; he did not want to be rendered vulnerable to enemy attack. Lee later gained notoriety when he was arrested in Monte Carlo for gambling with loaded dice at the famous casino, a crime for which he was fined $100,000 and deported. Lee was later shot four times in the chest in Chicago by mob rivals.
A NOTE ABOUT GAMBLING
Gambling has been illegal for centuries in Japan. The feudal lords of centuries past banned it because they did not want citizens making money too easily. Tough anti-gambling laws were a way of controlling the populace on the one hand and instilling a strict work ethic on the other, a philosophy followed by modern-day bureaucrats in Japan. However, the old daimyo often held private gambling sessions for their own amusement and called in the local bakuto to help organize them. Although the anti-gambling laws remained in effect into the modern era, public betting on horse racing and motorboat racing appeared after the war as municipally sanctioned activities, providing a much-needed source of income for local governments, which split the take with private entrepreneurs. (Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of this postwar phenomenon was a man named Ryoji Sasakawa, an eccentric right-wing activist and one-time Mussolini supporter who had spent time in Sugamo Prison with Yoshio Kodama and Nobusuke Kishi. His Japan Motorboat Racing Association, which put on the races, made Sasakawa a multimillionaire, enabled him to build his own private army and claim, in 1974, that he was the ‘world’s wealthiest fascist.’) The rise of this type of public gambling caused much hand-wringing among purists, who saw it as evidence that the moral fabric of Japanese society was being torn asunder.
For the police raids on the Mandarin and their aftermath, the author relied on the following newspaper reports: Yomiuri Shimbun, July 17, 1952; Asahi Shim-bun, July 18, 1952, March 17, March 31, and July 18, 1953, and August 3, 1954. The Lewin swindle was reported in Shinsuke Itakagi, Kono Jiyuto [This Liberal Party]. Vol. 2, pp. 214–15.
Descriptions of the Latin Quarter were provided by Ushijima, Blessin and Bushell.
Itagaki also reported that Lewin was being ‘manipulated’ by the FBI, under the control of a Colonel Diamond, who was representing the FBI in Tokyo, at the same time Lewin was running the Latin Quarter in a consortium with former Japanese nationalists, whom he had met during the war in Manila, agents of the GHQ’s G-2 Intelligence Unit, and agents from the CIA. Ushijima reported that during the war, when Lewin managed the Riveria Casino, he had become involved in the opium trade and had maintained a business relationship with the Japanese military – specifically, with the ultranationalist leader Yoshio Kodama, who ran one of the most effective wartime procurement machines in the Co-Prosperity Sphere.
Itagaki reported that, after the war, Lewin hooked up with US intelligence, helping agents trace money-laundering operations in Asia and uncover Communist operatives working in the region – all while he was running a gun-smuggling ring for Japanese underworld and right-wing groups. Lewin’s interpreter, Carey Yamamoto, was associated with the Tosei-kai.
Another Tokyo club Lewin owned was the Golden Gate in Azabu, which was a hangout for pilots of the CIA-run Civil Air Transport, an airline service running troops between Taiwan, Hong Kong and Tokyo, and which was famous for its backroom, high-stakes poker games.
For the history and background of Japanese pachinko, the author relied on the excellent book Winning Pachinko: The Game of Japanese Pinball, by Eric C. Sedensky.
The arrest of Vladimir Boborov and his accomplices, including Leo Yuskoff, was a major story in the Asahi Shimbun, March 17, 1953. See ‘Kokusai Tobaku’ [‘International Gambling’]. Also see the March 31, 1953, and July 18, 1953, editions for follow-up articles on the deportation. (Also Asahi Shimbun, February 3, 1954.)
GORGEOUS MAC
There is a wealth of material in Japanese on Rikidozan and the professional wrestling boom that hit Japan in the 1950s. One of the best is the biography of Rikidozan written by Eiji Oshita, Eikyu No Rikidozan [Rikidozan Forever]. Another valuable source was the 700-plus-page history of pro wrestling, Nihon Proresu Zen-shi (Baseball Magazine Co.). Also useful were Rikidozan by Noboru Kurita and Yobo No Media (Ambitious Media), by prize-winning author Inose Naoki, as well as two hour-long film documentarie
s available on videotape: Rikidozan to Sono Jidai, Bungei Shunju, and Rikidozan, Pony, Canyon.
The Indians-as-bad-guys quote is from Hidehiko Ushijima, Mo Hitotsu No Showa Shi (1); Shinso Kairyu No Otoko: Rikidozan [One More Showa History, I; Rikidozan: Man of Deep Currents].
IMPERIAL HOTEL DIAMOND ROBBERY/TOKYO JAIL
The diamond robbery at the Imperial Hotel was widely covered in the Japanese media. Magazine articles dealing with the robbery at length include ‘Nokoru Hoseki Ten No Ikikata,’ Sunday Mainichi, February 5, 1956, and ‘Hoseki Goto ‘Gomenasai,’ Sunday Mainichi, March 25, 1956.
MacFarland’s bizarre personality quirks and sexual preferences were attested to by Nick Zappetti and the Sunday Mainichi pieces. Raymond Bushell, who represented MacFarland after his arrest, also provided colorful accounts of MacFarland’s odd behavior.
MacFarland’s six-month hospitalization and insulin shock treatment were reported by the INS, March 22, 1956. His suicide attempts were reported by the INS, January 27, 1956. His indictment was covered by the Mainichi Daily News, February 8, 1956, and his confession, by AP, March 9, 1956. INS correspondent Leonard Saffir wrote several pieces on MacFarland, including the numerous suicide attempts in January and February 1956 (see ‘“I’m Crazy,” says Sick Jewel Thief’, INS, March 22, 1956).
On March 7, 1956, MacFarland issued a lengthy letter of apology to the court and sent a copy of it to the Kyodo Wire Service, which published it in full. The last paragraph is excerpted here:
I’m deeply sorry to the people I’ve wronged, to my own government for the embarrassment I’ve put upon them, and to you the Japanese people for my lack of respect for your laws and honor. I pray that the courts and you the people will allow me to stay and make my home here in Japan. I honestly feel that if this is allowed, my future actions will show that I was worthy of the consideration.
So I now ask you, the people, to have ‘Mercy on Me, a Fool.’
Humbly,
John M. MacFarland
MacFarland’s sentence was announced on May 27, 1956, in Tokyo District Court. See INS dispatch, May 27, 1956, and the AP report of May 28, 1956.
MacFarland’s apology was prompted perhaps by his learning of an interesting aspect of the Japanese criminal justice system, whereby truly repentant criminals come clean and admit guilt and get lenient treatment. (In fact, one-fourth of all criminals in any given year are sentenced merely to write ‘I’m sorry’ at the bottom of their confession.) In any event, in MacFarland’s case, it didn’t work.
MacFarland’s male paramour, who abetted MacFarland’s robbery, was identified by Zappetti and Bushell, MacFarland’s lawyer. Mori’s activities were described in the various media accounts in Japanese and English, but referred to only as ‘M’ at the time of the robbery because he was still under age. (In Japan, one reaches majority at age twenty.)
Shattuck was implicated in various news accounts (see INS, May 8, 1956, for example). Bushell was a witness to MacFarland’s face-to-face accusation of Shattuck, and Zappetti, who testified at Shattuck’s trial, maintained that Shattuck was framed. Bushell privately believed that Shattuck had really bought the jewels but then lied about it.
Dr Aksenoff, a highly respected member of the foreign community in Japan by the mid-1950s, related the story about introducing Shattuck’s wife to the judge, who was Aksenoff’s friend. Bushell told a similar story, without mentioning the judge, who, in any event, is now deceased. Doris Lee and Shattuck have long departed Japan.
The details of Zappetti’s incarceration and excursions to American Express were verified by one of the official police interpreters assigned to the case, a man who wishes to remain anonymous. Incidentally, the regimen Zappetti endured remained essentially unchanged thirty years later when ex-Beatle Paul McCartney spent a week in detention after being arrested at Narita Airport for possessing 225 grams of marijuana.
The Jimbutsu Orai article, ‘Tekikoku Hoteru Hoseki Gyangu’ (‘The Imperial Hotel Jewel Gang’), was by Yoshino Saburo (March 1956, pp. 164–67).
US Embassy official William Givens visited MacFarland every month during the six years the jewel thief was incarcerated in Fuchu Prison – a grim, unheated place with high gray walls located outside Tokyo. On each visit, Givens hand-delivered MacFarland’s lone request, a copy of Gourmet magazine. ‘He was sick of fish and rice,’ said Givens. ‘He had lost about 100 pounds. He fantasized all day about gourmet food.’
3. SUCCESS STORY
Descriptions of Roppongi in the mid-1950s are from Tom Scully, Hal Drake, Richard Pyle, Richard Roa, Minoru Sasaki, Reikichi Sumiya, Dick Berry, William Givens and Thomas Blakemore.
Crime journalist Minoru Sasaki wrote the first article about Nicola’s restaurant. He described his impressions in an interview with the author of this book. Akio ‘Frank’ Nomura, the first waiter to work at Nicola’s and a man who would work on and off there for some thirty years, provided additional information and background color on the restaurant and its clientele.
TV sales figures and ratings for the era are from Nichiroku 20 Seki, Shukan Yearbook series, Dai 38 Go, published by Kodansha, and by the wrestling encyclopedia Nihon Puro Resu Zen Shi.
All of the books on Rikidozan mentioned in the bibliography describe bizarre behavior. His antics were quite well known in Japan. Nick Zappetti and Nicola’s headwaiter Frank Nomura were also eyewitnesses.
A good description of gang life in that era is ‘Hi wo Haiita Koruto!’ [‘The Colt That Spat Fire’], Shukan Tokyo, June 28, 1958 (pp. 4–9), which describes the shooting of Hideki Yokoi.
UNDERGROUND EMPIRE
The underground empire of Yoshio Kodama has been described in many works. Foremost among them is the work of journalist Takashi Tachibana, in particular, his lengthy article, ‘Kodama Yoshio To Wa Nani Ka?’ [‘What Is Yoshio Kodama?’], for the respected monthly Bungei Shunju, May 1976, pp. 94–130. Also see the multi-part series in the weekly Shukan Bunshun, ‘CIA to Yoshio Kodama’ [‘Yoshio Kodama and the CIA’], published April 15, April 29, May 13, May 20, and May 27, 1976. Also the Shukan Asahi weekly magazine article, ‘GHQ Johobu, CIA, Soshite Uyoku To No Setten Wo Arau’ [‘Laundering the Connection between the GHQ Intelligence Wing, the CIA and the Right Wing’], April 23, 1976, pp. 173–76.
Also revealing was a report by Jinkichi Matsuda, ‘How Yoshio Kodama Behaved Himself on the Continent: History of Crime of the Shanghai Adventurer,’ IPA Case No. 194, US National Archives. And Soichi Oya, ‘Kodama Yoshio, …’ Bungei Shunju, January 1961. Another interesting source is Yoshio Kodama, Akusei, Jusei, Ransei, which describes his early years as a young nationalist.
The definitive work on the relationship of Kodama and Machii is a long (15,000-word), two-part article published by the prestigious but now defunct weekly, Asahi Journal, ‘Kodama no Kage De Odoru Aru Fuikusa’ [‘The Fixer Who Danced in Kodama’s Shadow’], published in two parts on October 1 and October 8, 1976. Authorship was credited to the magazine editorial staff. It describes the gang boss’s youth and rise to power in great detail. Also see the Shukan Bunshun series, ‘Kankoku Kara Kita Otoko’ [‘The Man from Korea’], June 23, June 30 and July 7, 1977. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department file on Machii, to which the author had access, confirmed many facts, as did crime reporter Hiroshi Sasaki and a confidential interview with a former member of the Tosei-kai.
Ushijima’s Mo Hitotsu No Showa Shi (1): Shinso Kairyu No Otoko: Rikidozan was a valuable reference in that it explored Rikidozan’s political connections, which, the author wrote, represented a map of Japan’s underground government.
There are numerous references to the Machii and Rikidozan relationship in Honda’s Kizu (a highly regarded biography of a famous Shibuya gangster who was assassinated in 1963 by a pair of Tosei-kai soldiers wielding yanagi-bo, thin but deadly willow-branch-shaped swords, in a decisive turf war) and also in Eikyu No Rikidozan, by Eiji Oshita. Ex-gang boss Norboru Ando’s three-part autobiography, Yakuza to Koso, describes how his face was slashed from ear
to chin by a West Ginza gangster. Both Honda’s and Ando’s books describe the postwar growth of crime and the gangs. So does Ninkyo Daihyakka [‘The Great Encyclopaedia of Chivalry’], an 800-page colossus on crime and gang history and culture in Japan, and Koan Hyakunenshi [‘The 100 Year History of Public Security’].
Ginza Nippo – a gang-run magazine – was just one of many, many such ‘magazines’ in Japan that were sold by the ‘direct sales’ method, so to speak, and were not available on newsstands. They represent a well-known type of extortion racket in Japan.
The CIA’s interest in Kodama as delineated in the previously referenced articles was twofold: as a string puller for the LDP, and as a quiet leader of the extreme rightist elements in Japan. ACJ co-founder and ex-State Department official Eugene Dooman carried out a covert CIA-funded operation to smuggle tons of tungsten – a strategic metal used for hardening missiles – to the Pentagon from Japanese military installations. Yoshio Kodama was the man hired to accomplish the task. (The Kyodo News Agency reported on October 16, 1994, that Kay Sugahara, an official of the OSS [the predecessor of the CIA] procured tungsten from Japan through Kodama and paid $2.8 million to the rightist; this according to Howard Schoenberger, late professor at the University of Maine, in an unpublished manuscript.)
There are numerous references to the Machii and Rikidozan relationship in Kizu and in Eikyu No Rikidozan. Machii’s real name, according to his file in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, is Cheong Geong Young.
The activities of the Tonichi trading company vis-à-vis Sukarno and Dewi were described in the weekly Shukan Gendai, February 28, 1966. Also see Yoko Kitazawa, ‘Japan-Indonesia Corruption: Bribe, It Shall Be Given You’ (part 1), by AMPO 8, no. 1, 1976.
The Diet protests against the renewal of the Security Treaty were described in detail to me by Dr Fusakazu Hayano, a chemical engineer for Asahi Chemical, who participated in them when he was a student at Tokyo University. William Givens, a US Embassy official at the time, also witnessed them and related his impressions.
Tokyo Underworld Page 31
