This week, it all starts to come crumbling down. Japan is plagued by scandals that destroy public confidence at the system right as some begin to look around and say, “hey, does this all seem a bit unsustainable or is it just me?”
Kingston, Jeff. Japan in Transformation, 1945-2010.
Dubro, Alec and David Kaplan. Yakuza: Japan’s Criminal Underworld.
Images
Ezoe Hiromasa, the head of Recruit Corporation, whose illicit money laundering via the stock market touched off the first major 1980s scandal.Sumita Satoshi, BOJ governor 1984-89. He is often blamed for the bubble, though responsibility is not solely his.Kanemaru Shin giving an apologetic press conference as the scale of the Sagawa Kyubin scandal becomes clear. Kanemaru would die just a few years later, but the damage to public confidence would linger.Recruit HQ via Google maps. The company still exists today, and surprisingly has not rebranded.Land like this is prime target for yakuza jiageya, who would try to convince the home owners to sell so that the home could be bought up and developed.
