Yakuza at the Ballgame

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Police, pro baseball plan to root out yakuza from cheering groups
Fear and loathing permeate baseball stadiums when the cheering groups show up. But it's not their chants, flag waving or the deafening trumpets and drums that have stadium workers concerned. Their biggest problem is that some of the cheering groups are run by gangsters, who care more about shake-downs than rundowns. More than 40 percent of club officials, stadium employees and security guards are "afraid" of some of the cheering groups, according to a survey conducted after the 2004 season by police and baseball officials....And they appear justified in their fears. Private cheering groups receive favors from teams, including preferential treatment in ticket distribution. But when gangsters take executive posts at these groups, they gain a convenient position to promote ticket scalping. Other deeds are more sinister. To extort money, they complain about "impolite" security guards, sales clerks erring in giving change or water leaks staining their clothes, according to ballpark workers.

[Captain Japan]

Asahi: Police, pro baseball plan to root out yakuza from cheering groups
Fear and loathing permeate baseball stadiums when the cheering groups show up. But it's not their chants, flag waving or the deafening trumpets and drums that have stadium workers concerned. Their biggest problem is that some of the cheering groups are run by gangsters, who care more about shake-downs than rundowns. More than 40 percent of club officials, stadium employees and security guards are "afraid" of some of the cheering groups, according to a survey conducted after the 2004 season by police and baseball officials....And they appear justified in their fears. Private cheering groups receive favors from teams, including preferential treatment in ticket distribution. But when gangsters take executive posts at these groups, they gain a convenient position to promote ticket scalping. Other deeds are more sinister. To extort money, they complain about "impolite" security guards, sales clerks erring in giving change or water leaks staining their clothes, according to ballpark workers.

Ballparks to crackdown on unruly mobsters
Mainichi

A panel of pro baseball experts has decided to eliminate disruptions caused by organized crime groups and ill-mannered cheer squads in ballparks.

The panel met on Friday with a former top prosecutor of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office who is now an adviser to pro baseball commissioner Yasuchika Negoro.

In a bid to crackdown on unruly behavior, panel members agreed to make "spectator rules" to be distributed to baseball fans after questioning baseball club officials and ballpark workers.

"We want to make ballparks an enjoyable place to watch games," Katsuhiko Kumazaki, the former prosecutor, said. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, Jan. 22, 2005)

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: 2 collared for claiming Hanshin Tigers' song
Police on Wednesday arrested a former gangster who headed a Hanshin Tigers' fan club as well as a music director on suspicion of violating the copyright of a popular ditty hailing the baseball team's exploits. The song, "Hitting March," was included in the annually released CD "Songs for Each Player of the Hanshin Tigers." Police said Toshio Otani, 43, former president of fan club Chutora Association, and Kiyoshi Mori, 58, music director for Columbia Music Entertainment Inc., falsely claimed the song was written and composed by the association.
...Otani is a former member of Yamaguchi-gumi, the nation's largest crime syndicate. Part of the scam's profits may have been passed to the underground group, police said. The association was founded in the mid-1980s and currently has 27 affiliates with about 500 members. Some of the members are known for outrageous behavior in and outside the stadium and have been arrested for threatening stadium staff, police said.

[Mulboyne]

Japan Today: Stadium fans need permits to cheer favorite teams
...From next April, the Sankei Shimbun (July 20) reports, a measure ostensibly aimed at protecting fans will curtail yakuza activities at professional baseball stadiums. The Pro Baseball Owners' Association on July 19 approved measures requiring Japan's sometimes raucous cheering squads to apply for permission before exhorting their favorite teams to victory. Permission will be contingent on the submission of an application, which, following investigation into the applicant's background, will be issued at the baseball club's discretion and valid for a single season...Under the new system, members of approved cheering squads will be obliged to leave the stadium if found to have gang connections, or if they violate any rules, and the suspension will remain in place until the season's end.
The new system was adopted in response to the rise of troublemakers, many believed linked to organized crime groups, that began flaring up from the 2003 season. In addition to ticket scalping, others began occupying large sections of bleacher seats and shaking down fans for money to sit in their section. At the end of the 2003 season, the National Police Agency, noting that a number of the cheering squads were suspected of having ties to organized crime, convened a conference with the 12 ball club owners to seek ways to ban gangsters from the stadiums. In 2004, according to NPA figures, 85 individuals were charged with offenses in and around pro baseball stadiums, of which 38 engaged in acts of violence. (Other offenses included 23 cases of ticket scalping and 12 of aggravated assault.) Of the total, 20 were identified as having underworld ties and of these, 16 were involved in ticket scalping.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Japan Today: Stadium fans need permits to cheer favorite teams
...From next April, the Sankei Shimbun (July 20) reports, a measure ostensibly aimed at protecting fans will curtail yakuza activities at professional baseball stadiums. The Pro Baseball Owners' Association on July 19 approved measures requiring Japan's sometimes raucous cheering squads to apply for permission before exhorting their favorite teams to victory. Permission will be contingent on the submission of an application, which, following investigation into the applicant's background, will be issued at the baseball club's discretion and valid for a single season...Under the new system, members of approved cheering squads will be obliged to leave the stadium if found to have gang connections, or if they violate any rules, and the suspension will remain in place until the season's end.
The new system was adopted in response to the rise of troublemakers, many believed linked to organized crime groups, that began flaring up from the 2003 season. In addition to ticket scalping, others began occupying large sections of bleacher seats and shaking down fans for money to sit in their section. At the end of the 2003 season, the National Police Agency, noting that a number of the cheering squads were suspected of having ties to organized crime, convened a conference with the 12 ball club owners to seek ways to ban gangsters from the stadiums. In 2004, according to NPA figures, 85 individuals were charged with offenses in and around pro baseball stadiums, of which 38 engaged in acts of violence. (Other offenses included 23 cases of ticket scalping and 12 of aggravated assault.) Of the total, 20 were identified as having underworld ties and of these, 16 were involved in ticket scalping.

I bet the Yaks will take over that and use it as yet another way to extort money. Pay for cheering rights or else!

[Captain Japan]

Giants' fans with alleged yakuza ties busted for scalping tickets to games
Mainichi

NAGOYA -- Two former members of a Yomiuri Giants supporters club have been arrested for buying a massive number of tickets to games of the Central League club at Nagoya Dome in a bid to scalp them, police said Saturday.

Yoshiji Ikeda, 66, former supreme advisor to the supporters club and Shinichi Ota, 33, a member of the group, are accused of violating an Aichi Prefecture ordinance banning people from creating a public nuisance.

The organization is alleged to be linked to a crime syndicate, and has been barred from Nagoya Dome, according to sources at the stadium managers' anti-gang committee....more...

[Captain Japan]

The article doesn't give a reason for this...
Municipal gov't looks to ban adult businesses around Koshien Stadium
Mainichi

NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo -- The municipal government hopes to ban adult entertainment businesses around Hanshin Koshien Stadium, the home ground for the popular Hanshin Tigers professional baseball club, city officials said.

The Nishinomiya Municipal Government has submitted to the municipal assembly a draft ordinance banning adult entertainment businesses.

Under the draft, cabarets, sex shops horserace betting ticket booths and mah-jongg parlors among other entertainment businesses would be barred in areas within two kilometers east and west of the stadium and 500 meters north and south.

Violators could face a fine up to 500,000 yen. If approved, the ordinance will come into force in April this year.

Koshien Stadium is also known as the venue for the National Invitational High School Baseball Tournament held in spring and the National High School Baseball Tournament in summer.

[Greji]

The article doesn't give a reason for this...
Municipal gov't looks to ban adult businesses around Koshien Stadium
Mainichi
"......sex shops horserace betting ticket booths...."

Hmmm, that's an interesting business concept!

[omae mona]

Hmmm, that's an interesting business concept!

Yeah, what happens when you order "The Trifecta"? I want to know!

[Behan]

That was just broadcast on NHK BS a few days back.

:roll:

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: Court rules Chunichi Dragons have no right to ban cheer squads from attending games

NAGOYA -- The Nagoya District Court ruled on Thursday that the Chunichi Dragons pro-baseball club and other baseball teams have no right to ban private cheer squads from attending baseball games. In March 2008, a committee on organized criminal syndicates and violent supporters, set up by the National Police Agency and 12 professional baseball clubs, prohibited the "Nagoya Hakuryu-kai" and the "Zenkoku Ryushin Rengo," private cheer squads for the Chunichi Dragons, from performing coordinated cheerleading using musical instruments and megaphones at stadiums. The committee also decided to deny 22 Hakuryu-kai members from entering baseball games by refusing to sell them tickets. Following the committee's move, some 100 group members filed a case against 12 baseball clubs and two professional baseball organizations, seeking a cancellation of the decision and the payment of compensation money. The supporters claimed that the committee is abusing its power and the action is unlawful.

In Thursday's ruling, Presiding Judge Minoru Masuda ordered the defendants to pay 11,000 yen per person in compensation to those excluded from baseball games, and decided that the committee's decision to shut them out from stadiums is invalid. The ruling, however, agreed with the restriction on the squads' cheering activities, saying it is within the discretion of the committee. "We have confirmed that several members of the cheering squads belong to a political group linked to a criminal syndicate," the committee pointed out. "Pro-baseball clubs are private corporations. Based on the principle of the freedom of contract, they are entitled to control ticket sales or undesirable cheerleading at their own discretion." However, the cheering groups countered that the political group had nothing to do with criminal syndicates and that it had already been dissolved. "The freedom of contract has its limits considering the public nature of professional baseball games," the plaintiffs said. "The committee's decision was arbitrary and unreasonable."

[Taro Toporific]

Can anybody read between the lines and tell me why "private cheer squads" are a problem?

Mainichi: Court rules Chunichi Dragons have no right to ban cheer squads from attending games

[wuchan]

Can anybody read between the lines and tell me why "private cheer squads" are a problem?

performing coordinated cheerleading using musical instruments and megaphones at stadiums.

My guess is some old cunt complained that people were..... GASP..... making noise at a sporting event.

I went to the sox games at the tokyo dome a few years back, the locals were a wee bit angry with our group of drunken townies.