, also known as , is a Japanese

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

, the sixth and current ''kumicho'' (supreme kingpin, or chairman) of the

Yamaguchi-gumi is Japan's largest ''yakuza'' organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for dockworkers in Kobe before World War II. It is one of the largest criminal organizations i ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

's largest yakuza organization.

Career

Shinoda was born in Ōita,

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

."Pre-Notification For Upcoming Designation Of Transnational Organized Criminal Elements : Identifying Information : Yakuza : Entry 1 : Yamaguchi-gumi : Person 1 : Kenichはさi Shinoda"
''

Malta Financial Services Authority The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) is a financial regulator of Malta. The MFSA was founded in 2002 when it assumed the responsibilities of the Central Bank of Malta, the Malta Stock Exchange, and the Malta Financial Services Centre. ...

'' After graduating from Oita Prefectural Fisheries High School (currently Oita Prefectural High School of Marine Science), he got a job at a major local fisheries company. He began his Yakuza career in 1962 when he joined the Hirota-gumi, a

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

-based Yamaguchi-gumi affiliate. Following the disbanding of the Hirota-gumi, he founded the

Kodo-kai The Kodo-kai ( ''Kōdō-kai'', ''Koh-doh-kai'') is a yakuza criminal organization based in Nagoya, Japan. It is a secondary organization of the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest known yakuza syndicate in Japan. With an estimated membership of 4,00 ...

Jeffrey Hays
Major Yakuza groups and leaders: Yamaguchi-Gumi, Yoshio Kodama, Kenichi Shinoda, Tadamasa Goto
''Factsanddetails.com'', 2009 (accessed on 18 July 2019) with

Kiyoshi Takayama is a yakuza best known as the second-in-command (''wakagashira'') of the 6th-generation Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest known yakuza syndicate in Japan, and the president of its ruling affiliate, Kodo-kai, based in Nagoya. Takayama has been consider ...

among others in 1984 as the successor to the Hirota-gumi. Under Shinoda and his long-term partner Takayama, the Kodo-kai was a successful branch of the Yamaguchi-Gumi, establishing branches in 18 prefectures—including expansion into the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

, traditionally not Yamaguchi territory. Shinoda took control of the 40,000-strong gang on July 29, 2005 after the retirement of previous don

Yoshinori Watanabe was a yakuza, the fifth ''kumicho'' (chairman or Godfather) of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest yakuza organization. He became kumicho in 1989. He was known for a more low-key approach than his predecessors, partly due to an anti-gang law pas ...

. Under Shinoda, the

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

-based Yamaguchi-gumi is expected to continue that expansion into

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and Eastern Japan. According to both yakuza and police, this movement would inevitably create conflict between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Kanto-Hatsukakai, a federation of Tokyo-based yakuza groups including the

Inagawa-kai The is the third largest of Japan's yakuza groups, with approximately 3,100 members. It is based in the Kantō region, and was one of the first yakuza organizations to begin operating overseas. History The Inagawa-kai was founded in Atami, Shiz ...

and the

Sumiyoshi-kai The , sometimes referred to as the , is the second-largest yakuza group in Japan with an estimated 4,000 members. Outline Their territories mainly consist of upscale districts such as Kabukichō and Ginza. Shops operating in these territories ...

. Shinoda is the first Yamaguchi-gumi ''kumicho'' not to hail from the

Kansai The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...

region. He also eschews the "supreme Godfather" image, at least in public; after his appointment as ''kumicho'', he insisted on taking the

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

to his induction ceremony instead of a chauffeured

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a prof ...

. He also reportedly stopped in a street

ramen is a Japanese dish, Japanese noodle dish. It consists of served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in Chinese ...

noodle restaurant on the way to the lavish yakuza banquet arranged in his honor.

Arrests

In the early 1970s, Shinoda was convicted of murdering a rival yakuza boss with a

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

, and spent 13 years in prison. He was also involved, as the head of the

, in the Yamaguchi-gumi's numerous historic yakuza wars. Notably his achievements at the '' Yama-Ichi War'' in the late 1980s was a major reason for his entrance into the Yamaguchi-gumi's

headquarters. On December 4, 2005, only four months after being named ''kumicho'', Shinoda began serving a six-year prison sentence for gun possession after the

Japanese Supreme Court The , located in Hayabusachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, is the highest court in Japan. It has ultimate judicial authority to interpret the Japanese constitution and decide questions of national law. It has the power of judicial review, which allows it to ...

finally rejected his appeal of a 1997 conviction. In the 1997 case, one of his bodyguards was caught with an illegal pistol, and Shinoda was convicted of "conspiring" with the bodyguard.

After release

In September of 2011, Shinoda responded to an interview with a Sankei newspaper and criticized the police authorities for the gang exclusion ordinance. In 2012, it was reported that he and his executives had visited Kobe Gokoku Shrine in Hyogo Prefecture, HQ early on New Year's Day, which was closed to the general public. 3At midnight on January 1, 2016, he visited Kobe Gokuni Shrine for the first time since the Yamaguchi-Gumi split.

U.S. sanctions in 2012

In 2012, the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

imposed sanctions on him as the leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi, along with his second-in-command

. The sanctions also targeted several individuals linked to three other

transnational organized crime Transnational organized crime (TOC) is organized crime coordinated transnational crime, across national borders, involving groups or markets of individuals working in more than one country to plan and execute illegal business ventures. In ord ...

groups, the

Brothers' Circle The Brothers' Circle or Bratski Krug ( rus, Братский круг) is a term used to refer to Russian organized crime, commonly the Russian mafia. It is a loose translation of the Russian term "Bratva" (Russian: Братва), which can also be ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, the

Camorra The Camorra (; ) is an Italian Mafia-typeMafia and Mafia-type orga ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and

Los Zetas Los Zetas (, Spanish for "The Zs") is a Mexican criminal syndicate, regarded as one of the most dangerous of Mexico's drug cartels. They are known for engaging in brutally violent "shock and awe" tactics such as beheadings, torture, and indiscri ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

."US moves to isolate Russian, Japanese crime groups"
23 February 2012, '' AFP''

References

External links

The Guardian - Japan's new godfather sets his sights on Tokyo

BBC News - Japanese yakuza boss goes to jail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shinoda, Kenichi Yakuza members Japanese crime bosses 1942 births Living people People from Ōita Prefecture Yamaguchi-gumi