Dear my readers

I've got so many things to take care of at this time of the year, but nobody seems to come forward to get some workload off my back!

Rather, the situation is getting even worse, because somebody seems to be asking me to spare some time. Who's that bastard?

It's Shiga Prefectural Police! It's been a long time since they last bothered me in connection with the Glico-Morinaga affairs.

Well, anyway. This time, another exciting game has begun when they arrogantly coerced the Prince Hotel not to provide its facility for a charity talk show that Mr. Tokutaro Takayama (ex-don of the Aizu-Kotetsukai yakuza syndicate) and I had planned to help a buddhist monk in his goodwill activity.

The monk, Kansho Kayaki , is no angel, I know that. He ran for an MP or something and lost the election. Though he may be full of worldly passions, he does good things, too. He took a group of kids to Saipan and gave them an opportunity to gather ashes of the Japanese soldiers who fought and died in that area during World War II. He is a quite popular character in the Kansai area (western part of Japan) .

I simply think it's a good thing to engage in gathering ashes of the soldiers who sacrificed themselves for their country. When it comes to things of this nature, there should be no need to make ideological distinctions between right and left. Especially, the souls of those soldiers, whose ashes get picked up by kids from their motherland, would be consoled considerably. In fact, it is a commendable project.

When someboy told me that this monk had been a juvenile delinquent himself, he suddenly became no stranger to me. I found something in him that I could relate to. But his pocket was not so deep. So I came up with the idea of holding a charity talk show with Mr. Takayama on Dec. 18 to help raise funds for the monk's goodwill activity. Mr. Takayama and I would be speaking without remuneration, and in my case, I would pay for the train tickets and hotel necessary to come to Shiga from Tokyo. The Ohtsu Prince Hotel was pleased to have our show in that particular time slot on their reservation book.

Then, an employee of the hotel informed us that a man identifying himself as a cop from Shiga Prefectural Police had called the hotel and told them not to make available their banquet room for our talk show.

This is nothing but a forcible obstruction of business by the police. Under the pre-war imperial constitution, the police used to harass people just because they were giving speeches in public. But today's harassment assumes the form of a much more underhand oppression.

I asked the hotel staff over the phone, "Could you tell me the name of the cop who called you?" Fearing further pressures from the police, the employee refused to give me the name. How could this happen in a society where the "freedom of speech" is supposed to be guaranteed in the Constitution.

Well, I don't blame that hotel employee. I am now trying to get that cop pinned down through another channel.

I went on to ask what was the cop's reason for pushing the hotel to cancel our show. The hotel staff reluctantly told me that the cop said, "This guy, Miyazaki Manabu, is an anti-police advocate. I don't want you to let such a bastard hold a gathering."

I further learned from the hotel that the cop also mentioned, as a second reason, the fact that Mr. Takayama was formerly the fourth chairman of the Aizukotetsukai yakuza syndicate.

　　If you want to know more abour Mr. Takayama, you will be able to find it here. He is a man of integrity and principle. He is a fine person, and there is no doubt that his character is far finer than any cop out there. 　→Report on Kansai Toppa-Juku (with photos)

　Now, you will be surprised to learn how many violations of the constitutional provisions the above cop has committed. What the cop did to the hotel and to us go against the following:

Article 19【Freedom of thought and conscience】

Freedom of thought and conscience shall not be violated.

Article 21【Freedom of assembly, association, speech, press, and all other forms of expression、prohibition of censorship、secrecy of communication】

Freedom of assembly and association as well as speech, press and all other forms of expression are guaranteed.

No censorship shall be maintained, nor shall the secrecy of any means of communication be violated.

Articl 14　【Equality under the law】

All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.

Then, our Constitution provides the following as the definition of the nature of our public officials, of which, I believe, the police must be a part:

Article 15

The people have the inalienable right to choose their public officials and to dismiss them.

All public officials are servants of the whole community and not of any group thereof.

Most people in Japan think that all the provisions of our Constitution are sacrosanct or something. But, look, the police being public officials are the ones who violate our Constitution foremost. What kind of a 'master' are we, the people of Japan, who get intimidated by their servant?

Article 17　 　

Every person may sue for redress as provided by law from the State or a public entity, in case he has suffered damage through illegal act of any public official.

When we look at what's actually happening in our society (like our issue with the police) in relation to our Constitution, the fact that we have a good Constitution in letter--as many scholars and intellectuals are so proud--doesn't help us much to realize a democratic society in substance, so long as we have to live with the police as they are. It goes without saying that revising the Constitution would not change the situation a bit, either. Police harassment like the one we are subjected to right now must be occuring around the country every day. But I suppose that in most cases people must be accepting the injustice meekly. The police call me "anti-police," but have I thrown molotov cocktails or beat up policemen? On the contrary, I've been harassed by the police so many times: I got my company bankrupt some years ago because of incessant harassments and obstructions from the police; they chased me for so long as an alleged culprit of the Glico-Morinaga case, and the appearance of my mug shot in headline news caused me so much inconveniences in my psycho-socio-economic life. If the Shiga Prefectural Police still hold the grudge over the suicide of the then police head against me, then they are laying the blame at the wrong door. He committed a suicide simply because his subordinates were incompetent to live up to his expectations.

Well, back to our original issue. Our Constitution reads,

Article 12

The freedoms and rights guaranteed to the people by the Constitution shall be maintained by the constant endeavor of the people, who shall refrain from any abuse of these freedoms and rights and shall always be responsible for utilizing them for the public welfare.

So, I must take action against the police, because it is the people's duty to maintain the freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Constitution by the constant endeavor. La, la, la... (^^;)

I wonder, however, what was it that made Shiga Prefectural Police assume such a defiant attitude against us. Why are they provoking us? Do they really think that we have no information or evidence up in our sleeve that could trigger humiliating police scandals and throw top-echelon officials out of their positions? The reason why the police around the nation is currently able to sleep in peace without fear of scandals is because the mobsters are holding themselves back from exposing truly scandalous cases. Even the outlaws feel the pricks of conscience to kick somebody when he is down. Yes, it is the public's perception that the Japanese police is 'down' and in confusion after so many internal wrongdoings have been exposed during the past year.

Until some years ago, the police knew that much at least.

Therefore, they would never dare to challenge certain people, like us, in the way they are presently doing.

There's a place called"Ogoto Spa" (where there is one of the largest concentration of massage parlors in Japan) in Shiga prefecture. Do you know what the cops from Shiga Pref. Police are doing over there? I tell you, cops, to think it over. Maybe your groin will remind you.(^^) 　Of course, Mr. Takayama and I have numerous pieces of information on hand, enough to shake and terrify the whole local police pyramid. Hundreds of Mr. Takayama's ex-underpeople have their own "intelligence net" spread throughout the whole town.

At this stage, I speculate that the present harassment has been started either by one of the overly ambitious petty cops or by some naive, college-graduate high-ranking official in the policedom who is ignorant of the ways of the world.

Any local police detective in charge of yakuza-related affairs knows what kind of relationships the police have established and maintained with the local mobs. So they wouldn't dare to step on the tiger's tail. My guess about the possible epicenter of the present harassment points to some underling in the security police section or the very top of the prefectural police. In any way, we will find that out in a few days.

In that event, we will certainly have that person pay the price. Or if they admit right away that this whole thing was started by some unfortunate accident in the police bureaucracy, then we might bury the hatchet. In that case, we will demand their apology, not to us, but to the Prince Hotel for their harassment.

I really deplore the current state of this country and I wonder what has happened to Japan.

I'd like to ask those people, who believe that amendments of the Constitution will bring about a better society, to read again the Articles cited above and explain to me how such an oppresive police could exist even under our already progressive present Constitution. Unless they can do so, I'll have a hard time buying their argument.

I am under the impression that Japanese intellectuals, politicians, and even police are losing their reason. I have never expected "a sense of justice" of them from the beginning. What I'm worried about is the fact that the bureaucrats seem to be getting out of tune even in their professional instinct of defending their own interests over anything else. I'm sure that we are witnessing an across-the-board senility taking place in our government.

Social confusion doesn't affect me much. In fact, it will create situations in which I can have more fun. Still, I can't stop wondering what this country is going to achieve through the proposed increase in police personnel by 15,000. Why do we have to feed our public servants with our tax money just to get ourselves subjected to more harassment by the law enforcement? How can you call this country a constitutional state? Who is it that loudly claims we respect our Constitution because it is THE law of the laws. Bull Shit!

Well then, my dearest readers, please look forward to the event scheduled for December 18th. If the talk show does get sabotaged by police harassment, that very fact in its own way will be an interesting development for us. Uhn? When will you know if our talk show gets cancelled? All you need to do is make a phone call to the hotel, let's say, a week from today. You can buy some fun for 10 yen. So, do it on your own.

I am going to join the sit-in protest to be held outside the National Diet Building tomorrow (Nov. 30th). Then, on my way home, I will stop by at my lawyer's office to discuss the preparations for petitions regarding Shiga Prefectural Police's forcible obstruction of business against us as well as their violation of the constitution. You are ready to support us? Great. You could buy my books instead of sending donations. Oh, another paperback of mine has just been put out. Enjoy reading it. Ha, ha, ha....

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　Heart-warming sermon by a Hot-Blooded Monk　at a dramatic charity talk show on the 20th century's last Holy night

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Profile:

Born in March, 1946 in Minaguchi-cho, Shiga prefecture. He became a buddhist priest at the Mudoji temple in Mount Hi-ei in November, 1968, and was appointed chief priest of Konjo-in temple of the Tendai Buddhist school.

Presently, head priest of Sanpo-en and Konjo-in temples located at the foot of Mt. Hi-ei. As chairman of the Sanpo-en Int'l Exchange Society, he devotes much of his time to nurturing talented persons, particularly in the form of giving religious education to young persons of talent. He appears on a wide-ranging radio and TV programs, from variety shows to religious programs, as a regular commentator。 He has also published several books.

Web sites where Mr. Kayaki appears:

http://www.infomart.or.jp/netspark/kinki/event/data/344.html

http://www.nifty.ne.jp/CM/Forum/fnetd/senkyo/25.html

http://www.jiam.or.jp/topics/0003/top17.htm

Web site of Shiga Prefectural Police

　　　http://www.pref.shiga.jp/police/