The report that as many as 59 leading Japanese companies were victims of extortion by "sokaiya" corporate racketeers, so-called rightist groups, organized gang members and other criminals in 1998 was treated as a major revelation by the mass media. The news came as the result of a survey conducted early this year by an organization affiliated with the National Police Agency, which sent a 53-page questionnaire to 3,191 large firms nationwide. That means more than 44 percent of the companies responding indicated they still find it difficult, if not impossible, to break their long-standing habit of paying off these criminal elements.

NPA officials were quick to express "shock" and dismay at the survey results, but their reaction strikes some observers as disingenuous. The real surprise may be that as many as 2,326 companies, or nearly 73 percent of those to which the detailed survey was sent, responded with answers the NPA considers valid. Eyebrows were raised in many quarters, for example, by the indications that fully 85 percent of the companies that reported being victimized by professional extortionists claim to have paid them less than 1 million yen. Indeed, 77 of the companies that said they had been approached for such payments did not think any crime was involved.

The two firms that paid out more than 100 million yen and the one victimized to the tune of 1 billion yen are not likely to have been so sanguine. Some company executives are asking if the police are still not going too easy on the extortionists. Others complain that the current Antiorganized Gang Law is not up to the job. A small number of companies said they actually fear for the safety of their employees. Yet 296 of the companies that reported being approached for money failed to report the incidents to the police.