OTSU, Shiga Pref. -- In what may be the first case of its kind in Japan, a retired yakuza boss and a vocal police critic are suing Shiga Prefectural Police for what they consider a violation of their constitutional rights.
Manabu Miyazaki, a Tokyo-based author who has written extensively on police abuses of power, and Tokutaro Takayama, former head of the Aizu-Kotetsukai syndicate, filed a lawsuit with the Otsu District Court last month charging their rights to freedom of expression and assembly were violated when police pressured a hotel to cancel an event both were due to attend.
While some yakuza groups, including Takayama's, have sued the government over the 1993 antigang law, Miyazaki said there are no precedents for the specific legal action he and Takayama have filed against the Shiga force.