Japan woman sues yakuza boss Kenichi Shinoda over protection money

A woman is suing the head of Japan’s biggest yakuza organised crime group, seeking a refund of protection money paid to gangsters threatening to torch her bar, reports said on Wednesday.

The plaintiff is claiming that Kenichi Shinoda bears “employer’s liability” as the don of the Yamaguchi-gumi because the mobsters were affiliated to his syndicate, broadcaster TBS said, in what is thought to be the first case of its kind.

She is demanding around 17 million yen (HK$1.32 million) in compensation and reimbursement for payments she was forced to make to protect her bar in the central city of Nagoya, the broadcaster said, citing her legal representatives.

The woman says she paid 30,000-100,000 yen per month between 1998 and 2010 to a member of Inabaji Ikka, a local yakuza group connected to the Yamaguchi-gumi, Kyodo News said.

On one occasion in 2008 when she tried to refuse to pay, she was warned that her bar could be burned down, Kyodo said.