1976: Testimony before a US Senate committee revealed that for years Lockheed Corporation, a leader in the aerospace industry, had been bribing various international government officials in order to obtain airplane contracts.
Among the countries and individuals who received bribes were Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, the prime minister of Italy, and several prominent Japanese government officers including then Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
1965: Lockheed wanted to sell their passenger planes to Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA).
The American corporation used Japan’s most notorious criminal, Yoshio Kodama, as their bagman to divvy out bribes. He was a right-wing extremist, yakuza gangster, proponent of Japanese post-war militarism, and he sought his country’s return to imperial rule.
Privately, Kodama persuaded ANA executives to buy Lockheed’s jets over the competitor. The gangster was paid handsomely as a “consultant.”
When Tanaka became prime minister, Lockheed paid him millions, too.
The bribery scheme was revealed in 1976 and cracked open an international scandal.
Among the Japanese citizens enraged by the news was a young actor named Mitsuyasu Maeno.
Maeno performed in pink films - the equivalent of soft core porn. He wasn’t a star, however, and was unknown despite acting in 20 movies… until 1976 when he appeared in Tokyo Emmanuelle opposite porn star Kumi Taguchi.
In the movie, Maeno’s character had sex with the lead actress’s character while he flew an airplane.
Maeno actually had a license to fly.
The 29-year-old from Tokyo agreed with Kodama’s far right-wing political ideologies. But Maeno became so embittered about the gangster’s involvement in the American scandal that he devised a bizarre plot against Kodama.
March 1976: Maeno put on a kamikaze pilot’s uniform and went to Tokyo’s airport to rent a prop plane. He told the airport crew he needed the aircraft for a film, hence the costume. They took him at his word, gave him a plane, and Maeno was cleared for take-off.
His destination was Kodama’s private residence.
Over the plane’s radio, Maeno shouted ‘Banzai!” Then he dived and crashed into the gangster’s house. A fire erupted.
Kodama escaped unharmed. Two housemaids suffered injuries. Maeno died.
Demand quickly grew for every pink film he had ever acted in.
The national shame from the Lockheed scandal led to demonstrations throughout Tokyo. Citizens railed against the corruption.
Yoshio Kodama was charged with tax evasion in 1977. He died before his trial began.
Prime Minister Tanaka was arrested and sentenced in the 1980s but remained free on appeal until his death in 1992.
Mitsuyasu Maeno, the soft core porn actor, was the last known Japanese man to fly a kamikaze-style suicide flight.
top of page
Post: Blog2_Post
bottom of page
Comments