(TAPE 4) Nicola Interview. 8/31/89 (& 9/6/89)
Note. This contains the Lario murder confession. As well as Nihon Kotsu Story
SIDE A (counter 000)
(Tape quality inferior.)
A: They refused to lend me the 40 million yen (for new house) But if you remember I told you about I had connections with buying and selling shares, always had the whatdoyoucallit, the inside trading information. So, I had to wind up selling all my shares to pay the 40 million yen. When I got through, it cost me 60 million yen because I didn’t have all the money at the right time…etc.
So I got the house. And I built a whole monarch place that nobody can match. I built a poured concrete home that was over 10,000 square feet. And it only had 4 bedrooms. My living room was bigger than this restaurant which was 3,000 square feet. Can you imagine that? And I had a sunken living room, the air conditioning, you name it. And I used to turn on the fireplace in the summer, let the air conditioner go just for the thrill of it. It was quite a home.The fire place was a double fire place. You put wood on one side and the other side is open. Because you’re sitting between the living room and a dining room.
(note: had white gloved servants) But the heat in the dining room was too much. We had to close it up.
Q: By the way, why did you get your kids back?
A: Well, because, it’s the Italian blood. You can’t desert your children. I can’t do that. I can’t think that way….Right now my son is doing that and it’s driving me crazy. How anybody can do that. The Japanese are mean bastards. There’s no question about it. And if those kids stayed with that woman and she’s prolific…prolific means fuck and have babies…and she has another kid and that’s an all Japanese boy. Or girl. Her husband’s not gonna support…not even gonna care about then other two kids.. They’re mixed breeds, what are you gonna call ‘em? They hated anything American, even in those days. You’re talking 1957, 58, 59. 30 years ago. Can you imagine today what they are?
Q: Did your kids appreciate what you did for them?
A: Well, I guess the answer is no. Well, you see, its…my son wants to be , he’s so brainwashed Japanese…he reads and writes Japanese like you do. All that crap. He’s involved in it. And he talks to the other kids. And they probably have all kinds of stories, anti-American stories. And, he just….My daughter is completely the opposite. She don’t think much of Japanese at all. But my daughter is a different breed. But my daughter is a different breed. She’s that type that can stand up on her own two feet. She don’t need nothing from nobody.
Q: She here now?
A: She’s here now. She lives in New Zealand. She’s got 3 boys from 3 different men. She married two of them and she didn’t want to marry the third one. (note: Yae thinks Patty is a slut.) And her basic reason is if they can’t support me, shove off. And they can’t support her. Let me tell you. This girl is trying to buy a thousand acres in New Zealand. Can you imagine that? A thousand fucking acres. Jesus Christ. That’s got to be a pretty big piece of property.
Q: She’s not married now?
A: She’s legally married, but she’s separated from her husband.
(Note: Yae says both Patty and Vince “hated” their father. Said they were bad kids. Said Vince couldn’t’ compete. Patty was a thief who stole money from company after her death….Nick says he could never trust Yae to take care of his kids after he died. Yae said she offered Vince a chance to run a Nicola’s franchise in Tokyo. He turned it down. Said he didn’t want to work for Yae.)
Q: Why do you say the Japanese are mean bastards?
A: Well, if your kids go to school…if you want to hear stories first hand, you call Nomura. (note: waiter Akio “Frank” Nomura). He’s a Korean . In school, they are all gaijins and they pick on you, you know? But she (Patty) didn’t have that trouble, she went to Sophia. But if you ever tried to go through the elementary school system in Japan, and then go up to high school. You’d better be a strong mother fucker, but even then, if you can beat one guy, they’ll call two. If you can beat two, they’ll call four. They have to win….In school, these poor kids have no chance. They have to use their real names. Like his name is Yun. Y-U-N. But even though he calls himself Nomura, when the kids go to school, they have to use their name YUN. And as soon as a Japanese kid see the name YUN, he knows it’s a Korean. And he’ll insult them. He call them names. And they’ll shun. They’ll ignore him. They won’t talk to him. They won’t associate with them. They make a living hell out of him. And kids have a nasty habit of doing that.
My own little grandson Nolan, aged 9 now.When he was going to kindgergarten, he used to come home and told his mother “What’s a gaijin.” And this is a kid that 6 years old. Or 5.Or 4. “What’s a gaijin.” He’s not a Japanese. They you’re not a Japanese. Gaijin. Gaijin. And you know he refused to go back to school. And today, he’s in New Zealand, where they all speak English and there’s no such thing as a gaijin. So his mental approach to school was terrible, because of the picking on him.
So you got to take the kids back and give them an American education. My mistake was I should have sent my son to the States for education. Switzerland. Anyplace. I had the money. There was no question about cost. Cost was nothing. But I didn’t want to lose sight of my kids. So I kept them here without a mother, which is terrible. I kept them in the schools. And they’d go visit their mother every weekend, like that.
(Unintelligble discussion of Japan Times.)
A: Japan Times is a whorehouse. But I was going to write a letter to this guy. But do you know what this managing director said….As soon as I write like your doing, by the time I get to the typewriter, I forget about it. And I couldn’t work my godamn word processor. It drives me crazy. I can’t print on the son of a bitch….(blah, blah.)…Japanese saying beef is liberalized. And recent article stated beef allocation is controlled by 35 importers. So I was going to write him, the son of a bitch. Liberalization means anybody can buy beef, import beef. But they write things like that and Americans reads it, Jesus Christ. Like today, did you read the one today? This guy is saying the American Congressman had a meeting. Of course, he said in 1981, he protected himself, and that this was a meeting of the “Japan Bashing” (read ‘US-Japan trade relations’)and that the committee opened a meeting and there were two people there. The chairman and the so-called Congressman who got up there and made a big tirade (against Japan ) . Then when he got through, he left the place and his assistant or somebody else sat there. And (everybody else in) the place was all Japanese reporters. The Chairman is sitting there and he is the only American listening to this committee. And the committee composed of one man and and an assistant congressman or something like that. And the rest was full of Japanese reporters writing down all the notes. And yet the Americans could care less….I see stuff like that all the time. I cut the clipping out and I save it and I save it. And then when I get an impressive amount, then it is something, but one by itself, then it is something. How do you say it, One swallow doesn ‘t make a swimmer.
(Tape stops)
(Starts Again. Sep 6)
Here’s a story about people that you might know. And I was going out with this girl in Meguro, the one that put her father in the pachinko business. And the Mainichi Shimbun, they used to have a column in there called the “White Hand and the Yellow Hand.” Did you ever hear of that column? It says that the yellow hand has gold in it and the Americans come and take all the gold out of their hands. And one of the columns was the Coca-Cola has got a narcotic in it. Then it had a picture of an American walking down the street with a Japanese girl. And that was me. And it said…(garbled) and it said (in the caption), that this American took this girl out on a raft to Kamakura Bay, and told her that if you don’t live with me and shack up with me, I’m gonna dump you off the raft. And let her drown in the water. How do you like that? And. This is the only girl I really loved, you know. But anyway, so, I went to the Mainichi Shim bun and I found a Mr. Fujimoto who was probably the managing director of the paper of something like that,. I think it was Fujimoto. Could have been Fujiyama. And I went to him and I say “Why do you write these things? You know it’s not true. You don’t even know who I am. You don’t even know nothing about me. I’m living with this girl. Where did you get this story from? I’ve been living with her for a couple of years.” You know. And he says, “We’re just trying to sell newspapers. And if we write anything anti-American, the Japanese like to buy the newspaper.” That’s Mr. Fujimoto, yo….he’s probably a fucking retired chairman.
This guy today, you don’t need these things. You’re not going to write these things.
Q: You want me to turn it off?
A: Yeah.
A: Here’s something that happened. And it’s famous. I was drinking in one of the clubs, per usual, right? And my wife, Yae-chan, was in my restaurant down the road here. My first restaurant. And these three gangsters came in there; they’re a different group. They’re a Kobayashi group. Nihon Promotion, or something like that. They came in there and the bill was 2200 yen or something like that and they didn’t want to pay….they didn’t have the money to pay. They said, “We can’t pay. We got no money. We’re not gonna pay.” So my wife Yae-chan is very smart. She says, I only work here. So if you don ‘t want to pay, you tell the owner. He’s a gaijin. So they heard the word gaijin, and they figured they’re safe. They’re gangsters. And she picked up the phone and started calling the clubs. Cuz there’s only the Latin Quarter, the Copacabana, the Benibasha. There was only 3 or 4 clubs, 5 clubs that I can go to.Aoi-Shiroi. Hanabasha. So I got the word and I came back to the restaurant. And I says to these guys, you owe a bill of 2200 yen. And they says “Were not gonna pay.”
(note: Yae says she talked to only one guy. A guy named Shimizu)
So I said, ‘I tell you what you do. Why don’t one guy stays here, and the other two go find the money or go find people, because if I don’t get the money, I’m gonna beat the living piss out of you.” See.
So, they left. And they came back with 11 guys. And the one I had was No.12. So here it is. 12 guys. Gangsters. Supposed to be gangsters. They were not all gangsters. Anyway, so. I says, ok. We go outside. That place there where they got the UN building now, well, my restaurant was there, then they had a building that was like the government building of the something. But it had a big front. Where you could park 3 or 4 cars. So we went there. I says, “12 to 1? That’s a fair fight.” How do you like the balls on Nicola. 12 to 1. It’s a fair fight. And I said, “Yaru” (Let’s do it). And when I said Yaru, one guy stepped out of the crowd and said “Chotto Matte.” His name was Jiro Sawada. Does that name ring a bell with you? OK. Jiro Sawada, was the 17 year old lightweight champion of the world of boxing. Of course, his name is in the record books. 17 years old. World Champion. He says to these guys, just a moment. This gaijin is somebody special. They say, he’s a gaijin. We don’t give a shit. We’re 12-1. He says, ‘No, you’re 11 to 1. I’m not gonna fight that man.” Not that man. He says, “All you 11 guys fight with him and he’s gonna put all 11 guys in the hospital”
And they had a big meeting.
And they decided they better not fight. They called up Mr. Kobayashi, and his wife came…And she says to my wife, how much..….I know Kobayashi. And I know his wife….
Q: Who’s Kobayashi?
A: He’s the gang boss of the Nihon Promotion Group. (also right wing leader of Nihon Seinen Group). Belongs to Sumiyoshi-kai group. Powerful man.) …She paid the 2200 yen. And, of course, later on, Kobayashi came and apologized for his boys doing that.
Q: Did you give her a tip?
A: No…But you got to remember in those days, 2,000-3,000 yen was a months salary. That was a month’s salary in those days. That was 1960, probably.
1958-59, something like that….like who would dare stand up to 12 fucking gangsters. Luckily…You see Sawada was already in a bad position, because I was already in the Noguchi boxing club….Did I tell you how I made Ebihara the champ of the world?
Q: Let’s do it next time.
__________
Sep 6, 1989
A: Let’s talk about Ebihara. I had a restaurant in Yokota, that I probably opened in 1958. 1959…..One day somebody notified me that a woman named Ebihara came over to my restaurant and asked if Mr. Nicolas would take her son out of juvenile jail. /and sponsor him. So being a…I don’t know how you would call …I favor criminals….So I went down to immigration.(?huh?) and got him out. /And I put him to work in my restaurant. Of course, I had trouble because Japanese don’t like to be affiliated with people that come out of jail. But he was only in juvenile jail. He was a young kid.
Q: She wanted you to what? Like give him a job?
A: Yeah, get him out. Sponsor him. So he can get out of juvenile jail. He was just a young kid. 17-18 years old maybe. So anyway, I got him out. Put him to work in my Yokota restaurant. He knows nothing about hot water. And right away I had trouble with the employess, cuz they don’t like to work with people who are so-called jail bait. So I overcome the BS that they offer. & put Ebihara in the kitchen and gave him manial jobs. And one day he came over to me and he said, “Thank you for getting me out of juvenile jail. And I appreciate it. I heard you’re a very tough man. I want to be a boxer.”
I said “You want to be a boxer?” He weighed about a 110 pounds soaking wet. With a heavy wet blanket on it. I said OK. So first, I said, “Let’s see how fast you are.” So I put a 1 by 6 board in the ground and put a hemp rope around it, and the object is to hit it and the board will come back at you. And you’re supposed to get away before the board hits you back. Can you follow what I’m saying. Hit and pull away. He passed that test. He was pretty good at that. So then I says OK, I took him down to the Noguchi boxing club and I put him in there. Eat there. Sleep there. And I trained him to be a boxer.
Well, the kid was very, very good. Very, very good boxer. And he had a perfect punch.
Q: Where was the Noguchi boxing club again?
A: Meguro. That’s the same with the 2-2-6 deal. This is the same guy I brought kick boxing in for. Anyway, he went through the routine of learning how to fight. And he became a very good fighter. So, I told him don’t sign no contracts with anybody. Just stay in the club, do your work, learn how to fight, take the 4 round fights, then6, keep going. And he was very very good. Had impressive boxing record.
Q: Noguchi was a regular gym with a boxing ring in it .
A: Yeah., Dormitory. Place to eat. Are there tatami floors in there.
Q: Central heating?
A: No, cold. Ice box. These are the kids I told you, they eat garlic and they go to the movies in the daytime and they breathe out and the Japanese clear the passage for them. They could sit down anyplace they want to. Cuz they eat garlic.
Anyway, I got Ebihara all the way to fight for the title. He fought Kingpetch. And when it came time to sign the contracts to fight Kingpetch, I found out, he had like 3 managers. He signed 3 contracts with somebody.
Q: You arranged the deal with Kingpetch?
A: Yeah. Anyway, I’m not a promoter. But we got him to fight Kingpetch. Everybody washed each other’s hand there.
So I told him, the way to knockout Kingpetch. Kingpetch has got a habit of sticking out his hand, left hand, all the way out, because he’s a tall skinny boy. I says, Knock out that mother in the first round, don’t aim for his jaw, aim for his muscle on his left hand, when hen sticks it out, hit him here. That will spin him around and open him up. And hit him.
And Ebihara did that. He knocked him out in 2 minutes and 10 seconds of the first round. I bet then boxing commissioner that Ebihara would knock him out in the first round. 10,000 yen. And if the fight went on past the bell, I’d pay him 10,000 yen. Even bet. I couldn’t collect the 10,000 yen from the boxing commissioner. Then, Ebihara won then fight. He won peanuts. I think Kingpetch got like $50,000 in those days. Then he went down back to Thailand to fight Kingpetch. I think he knocked down Kingpetch 3 times. I was not involved no more, because I quit over the stupidity of it. So he signs a contract that if wins he has to go back down to Thailand and fight. And even though he’s a champion, he gets nothing for the fight. Kingpetch come to Japan and gets 50,000 bucks. He’s a champion. Ebihara’s a champion. He goes to Thailand and he gets peanuts. Maybe $5,000. I says you know you’re not gonna win in Thailand. You’ll have to knock him out. You have to really knock him out, because over there you’ll do everything. So he knocked him down 3 times and they classified them as slips, or something like that. And because he had 3 contracts, I gave up on him.
So to pay me back for everything I done for him. True gratitude of a Japanese samurai spirit. He opened a pizza house. A few miles away from my restaurant. How do you like that for balls. He’s still got it. I’m only grateful he didn’t use the name Nicolas. That’s Ebihara. Take him out of juvenile jail. Put him in boxing. Made him a champion. Pisses on me. (garbled)
Q: Did you ever talk to him after that?
A: No. A few months ago Noguchi’s mother died. And I went to the funeral. And, of course, they’re all ultra-nationalists at the funeral. Ebihara was there, but he wouldn’t even look at me. Cuz he don’t know what I’m gonna say to him….so he’s one of the men that I made rich. (Overstatement, Eg)
Q: Who are the others.
A: :I made Noguchi rich by bringing kick boxing to Japan. I made Takaishi rich. I gave him pachinko business. (overstatement. Eg.). How many more can I think of?
I brought in Wonderware which was many, many years ago and I gave it to a Chinese-American Chester Yepp. He screwed it all up. Sara Lee. And Kraft. And I was not in that business. I gave them, to other people to do. Chester Yepp would have been a multi-millionaire today. Billionaire today. Because he was the first one in pots and pans….His name was Chester Yepp. Somehow, somebody killed him in the Phillipines. Yepp was a Chinese-American from San Francisco. I had a lot of opportunities. I was making so much god damn money, You know, spread it around a little bit.
Q: Who killed him?
A: According to the official records, I think, he died from internal bleeding. I myself think somebody shot him.
You turn the tape off and I’ll tell you a true story about somebody who cheated me.
Q:: Naw, If I can’t use it in the book, I don’t want to hear it. It would just irritate me.
A: Cost $60 bucks to kill a man.
Q: What? Where.
A: In the Philippines. $60. Can you imagine that? He cheated me out of a Hillman automobile . His name was Lefty LARIO. Portugese-Japanese. British type. “I say there.”
But he wanted to buy my car. And credit my…I don’t know what the hell. He had some kind of fund at the time. Mutual Fund. Ok, he’s gonna send $800 to my Mutual Fund. $800.
Q: He was going to buy your car?
A: Yeah, my Hillman and take it down to Hong Kong or something like that. So I gave him the car. And he was supposed to credit my account. And I ever got credit for the car…or the $800 bucks. And I called up his company. And they said, “We have no control over agents in the field.” So, OK. I made the right arrangements. And they killed him. Shot him dead. Then his brother, John Lario, came around and said “I didn’t do anything wrong. Please don’t, you know. I got no argument with you, John.
Q: Do you realize what you’re telling me?
A: This is a true story, isn’t it (unclear)
Q: You paid $60 to have somebody wipe him out.
A: Phillipine Embassy. You know the right people you can do a lot of things.
Q: This is in Japan you did this?
A: From Japan. I had him killed in Manila.
Q: You contacted people at the embassy?
A: They’re all my customers. They’d do anything for a buck, those guys. What the hell does it cost to kill somebody in Manila. One bullet? $60 bucks is a lot of money. Especially that time. That would be 20 years ago. But it’s very dangerous to write that, Bob. Because there is no time limit on murder. If it comes back to me, I’ll say, Oh, it’s just a bullshit story. I will have to deny it….There’s no statute of limitations on murder.
That’s a bag I did for $800. Can you imagine how I fell with a taxi company beating me out. Millions and millions of dollars.
Q: How did they do that?
A: They took my restaurant. Without a bill of sale. And all that crap.
(NIHON KOTSU TAKEOVER)
Q: Tell me that story.
A: That’s a long, long story. Ok. Let’s go to the beginning. How that story started 1971-72.. What happened was in those days, being the whoremaster that I was, I was not satisfied with my wife’s sex abilities.
Q: This was wife #2. This was before I married Miss Hokkaido.
A: So I decided…I ran into Miss Hokkaido. She was a great screw. But like I say, In got mixed up between sex and love. I thought it was love and it was only sex. So I decided to divorce my wife and marry Miss Hokkaido. So I divorced her. And because I divorced her. I gave her my Roppongi property. 75 tsubo in Roppongi. I gave her my Yokota restaurant. 275 tsubo with a going business in it. And I gave her 50 million in cash.
A lot of money. (Note: Yae says she never took the money).
Q: This was in early 70’s? Late 60’s.
A: Like that. In that area. Anyway, when the dust settled, the tax man came around and hit me with a big tax bill. And my argument was that I didn’t voluntarily make this transfer. The court ordered it. It was a divorce settlement. They said “No it’s the same as a transfer. And therefore you technically sold the property and received something.
And you pay tax. Now whether you received $10 or $10 million, we don’t care. The tax is $65 million or something like that”
So, ok, that’s when I went and had all that trouble, with the money lenders and whatnot.
Anyway, the taxman came around and hit me with a 60 odd million yen bill. And, of course, I didn’t have the cash, so I went to the bank. Over here, about 50 feet behind you where you’re sitting. Setagaya Shinyo Ginko. By using the Hitachi bookeeper, we brought the taxbill down to 22 or 23 million yen….which, anybody in this country can negotiate taxes. They’re not hardnosed like Americans. Because the only people here that pay taxes, are those that have got money. And those that have money, have got influence.
So I went to the bank and asked them to lend me the 23 million to pay taxes. They said OK. Then my interpreter. An SOB if there ever was one….Named Fujita.
Q: Just a second.: Hitachi accountant?
A: So then I went to the bank and the bank said they’d lend me the money but then the tax office found out that I’m getting the money from the Setagaya Shinyo Ginko, which is a trust bank. And they went over to the bank. And they said they would lend me the money to pay the taxes. They all go through their books with a fine tooth comb..Make . trouble for them.
Q: Why do they do that?
A: They don’t like foreigners. The tax man is a government employee. So he went to the bank and pressured them. So I used to keep my money in that bank and I did business in that bank. Oh $3 million a year business. So the bank man said I’m sorry, I can’t lend you the money.
Q: I don’t understand that. You mean just because you are a foreigner, they didn’t want the bank to loan you the money?
A: They hate you. They hate foreigners. Everybody’s got a knife to sharpen and stick into somebody. If he is a taxi driver, he desires to hit your car.You can’t imagine the hate that the Japanese have.It goes very, very deep. It’s impossible to guess the hate.
Q: Just gaijin in general?
A: Gaijin in general. And the successful ones in general……(same thing about Boomer, [bb player], successful, then they jumped on him.)…..So then I went to the money lender.
Q: That’s really hard to believe. Just because they were going to loan you 25million yen. To help you. What , the tax people were hoping you wouldn’t be able to pay? So they could kick you out of the country.
A: I had that twice happen to me already. They can’t kick you out of the country, but they can make it awfully difficult for you. Then I’ll tell you about the Chase National Bank. American bank. So anyway the bank says you have to borrow the money from some body else, then when you pay the taxes, we lend you the money and you can pay it back, to the people you borrowed from. Now, mind you, I got a 20-30 million turnover every month. More than that probably. It doesn’t mean nothing. It’s money turned out. It’s not.a deposit in cash that I could take and pay the taxman. But they wanted one payment. They didn’t want an installment. They made it as tough a possible.
Q: Wait a minute. You’re saying this hatred for foreigners is because of the war.
A; Of course. Remember I told you. The Japanese tried to conquer the world economically. Militarily. Anyway you want to say it. They failed in China. They failed to take over China. They attacked Pearl Harbor. They failed in that thing. Now they’re succeeding. They’re doing it economically. So anyway, I went to a money lender. And I had to borrow 35 million yen to pay 23 million yen to then bank.
(Counter 150)
They take out 5% Orei.I borrowed 35 million to pay 23. 3% interest a month. 5% introductory money. So it’s a 3 month contract. I guess you’d say 8% each month…
(junk…)
I’d say at that time I pulled in $100,000 a month. A $1.2 million a year. That was gross income.But profits were astronmical because salaries were only a few thousand yen a person. There was a …… tremendous amount of profit involved.
…… Waiter or a cook could only make so much.
So I went to a money lender and I borrowed the money and I went to pay the bank back and the bank refused to take the money.
Wait, let’s get that straight. I went to the money lender to pay the taxes. Then I went to the bank to borrow money to pay the money lender back. And the bank says we can’t lend money when the money lender is on your title deeds….can you believe such a fucking story? Cuz when you borrow money, you have to pay with (use?) your title deeds. Nobody borrows money without collateral. Hanko.
So now I’m stuck with the money lender.I can’t get the money from my main bank. The bank I deal with.
Q: Why did you go back to them a second time if the gov’t acc’t already told you not to?
A; No, but see, they didn’t; want the bank to lend me money to pay the taxes. But they can’t stop the bank from lending me money for business. You can always borrow money from the bank. So I changed my bank. And I went to Tokyo Sogo Bank. And today I’m still dealing with them. And I think that my credit with them, I can probably borrow up to $5 million dollars without no trouble. They are tied up with First National City Bank.
Q: And they loaned you the money.
A; I started with them again. I used to business with Tokyo Sogo Bank always….so then the money lenders kept pushing, pushing, pushing.. I wound up paying 5% Orei. For 10 days.8% interest for 10 days.And it started out with 35 million loan to pay the tax man. /And when I got through with that problem.….I helped Chester Yepp. He’s the guy…I put him in pots & pans. Then I went to (F1 CD’s ?? garbled) The America whores…I borrowed 18 million …all that money to pay…what happened was…I put 3 million yen in the bank for Chester Yepp to borrow….to borrow against,..they use a big big word….I know the word if I hear it….But I can’t remember it. He borrowed money. And when he got through borrowing money. I went back in 6 months. I had a deposit slip and I said “Give me my 3 million yen back and they said, “no.”…They used my money to lend him. They didn’t use their money. They used my money. Then they came up and told me that I owed them 15 million. And they lent him 10 million yen besides my three. And there was 5 million interest involved.
In Periods of years…to which I wasn’t paying attention. So they says “Pay me 5 million yen, and we’ll talk about the ten million yen later.” A Mr. Cathe. President of the bank or some shit like that. So I paid him 5 million yen, and a couple of days later, I got a notice of, what do you call it, of…They your property on the block to sell it, whether you like it or not…Anyway, my property was up for auction. And I had to go out and borrow ten million yen to pay him back. Can you imagine that? First National City Bank. They conned me out of paying them the interest. Then they went through legal procedures. To confiscate the property to put it up for sale.to cover a debt. There’s a legal word for that.
Q: I thought the loan company had the right too…You already paid them off on the loan from First National city Bank/ Or the one from Tokyo Sogo?
A: …..I borrowed the money to pay the tax for my wife’s divorce. Then I put money in the bank to put Chester Yepp in the pots and pans business. Then he went out and ran the bill up, so now, I borrowed 35 million yen, to pay the tax man, then I borrowed 18 million yen from the money lenders, to pay back First National City Bank.. Now now I owed 53 million yen at an extremely high rate of interest. In six months, till August of 1971, …Showa 46….I was in debt to the money lenders to the tune of 130 million yen. I already paid back 48 million yen in cash……I was paying 8% for 10 days interest. …
I borrowed 53 million yen and kept paying them back all the time, something, something, something, and when I got through in 6 months I paid them back 48 million of the 53 million that I’d borrowed, and now I owed them 133 million yen. Because of the 30% a month interest.
Q: Jesus.: These are yakuza running this?
A: Not really. I didn’t have no yakuza troubles. Yet, I couldn’t borrow money from anybody, even Noguchi who was very rich, who I put him in kick boxing and made him a lot of god damn money. He didn’t lift a finger to help me. So now came August, Showa 46.
Prior to Showa 46, I met Mr. Kawanabe from Nippon Taxi. And he wanted to make a joint venture. I was interested in a joint venture because it’s a taxi compnay and taxi companies generally have a lot of drivers. Drivers have got families. Families have got children. And I need labor all the time.(huh?) But the first time I met him, at the Hilton Hotel,
Q: What’s this guy’s name?
A: Kawanabe. He’s the president of Nippon Taxi. Nihon Kotsu. You see the taxis in the street with the mark….Anyway, I met him at the Hilton Hotel one day with a Mr. Okamoto who was the president of the Kawasaki Steamship company. Kawasaki Bussan. And Mr. Okamoto was on my payroll. Imagine a little pizza man like me, putting a man on my payroll like Mr. Okamoto who’s Kawasaki Bussan president. I had a lot of people on my payroll. So he wanted 70-30% of the new joint venture. And I said…(garbled..don’t’ eat the zero?)…he gives me big bullshit story about how 30% is good, but I didn’t buy it. That would be Showa 45. But by the time Showa 46 came around, a year later, I was in deep shit with money troubles. Money lenders and wives. And Every Tom, Dick and Harry. You name it. But anyway, so I asked Mr. Okamoto, let’s make a deal with Nihon Kotsu. I got no choice. I need 160 million yen.
So we met at the Okura Hotel in the Men’s Bar. 8’oclock one night. Probably August 2 or 3 something like that. Showa 46. And he was well prepared. He was ready to skin me alive. And here I thought that because he had gone to Berkely University, ..he had a 2-year course there or something like that….so all the promises, Don’t worry about this. Don’t worry about that. We take care. I understand you need money. You’re a little different than last year. This year you need money. I’ll lend you 80 million yen. I said no, “I need 160 million.”
I thought I owed 160 million yen. Actually, I owed 220 million yen when I got through with all the bullshit. Because while I was paying the moneylenders, I was paying the suppliers. So I said to him, I need 160 million yen. That’s to pay the money lenders. Then I will need other money to pay others bills that I have. And at that time I was running around with a brand-new Chevrolet Caprice. And Kawanabe was the Pontiac Agent. So, anyway he says, I’ll give you 160 million yen. But In says I will need more money later. He says ok, I’ll give you more money later.
I never seen the money by the way.
And nowhere in this world does anybody owe…you borrow 160 million yen. And you pay 160 million yen. ….Normally. I know I had a 130 million yen debt and a couple of days passed and it increased….(but that much).
But anyway, my interpreter went around, Mr. Fujita. The guy that stabbed me in the back. But anyway, They went around with one of their employees and they started paying off all money lenders. I never got any receipts. I never saw the documents involved. Everything was hush-hush and don’t show Mr. Nicolas. Even though its Japanese I can still figure out Japanese documents. So now, I signed an agreement that I would pay the money back in a lousy 9 months. By March 31. Showa 47. 1972). And I decided that the only way I could pay back was to sell my private home which was 275 tsubo right in Roppongi. And I had a 10,000 square foot home on it, with 4 bedrooms. Can you imagine that?
Q: I thought you’d already given that to your wife?
A: That was the 75 tsubo house in Roppongi. This was 275. So anyway, he said to me, you don’t have to sell your house and this and that. Kawanabe. And I got from August to March to get rid of whatever I can do. He says “Don’t sell nothing. Don’t sell nothing. Stay status quo. We’ll work out a deal. We’ll work out something.” And the Japanese will say anything.
Came March. No before that. Oh, there’s a lot of god damn troubles involved in that story.
And so I opened….because taxi companies make a lot of cash money…I went to Atsugi and in one day I bought 100 tsubo of land for 10 million yen. Cash. So I bought the Atsugi factory. Atsugi property right on the interchange. And I put a building up and I made a frozen pizza business. I also had a meat processing factory in there. And I had an ice cream factory. But I started out with pizza, because I was making a lot of chilled pizzas. Meat products. Salami. Bacon. Balogna. Hot dogs. Processed meats.
Jesus. It hurts to think back to all these fucking things.
And I did that. And I started up. And would you believe that it took me. Then first month I was open. I didn’t lose money again. And Kawanabe was very happy on the outside that my factory was doing good. And then he stabbed me in the back.
He notified me that there was a place in front of Ito Station that was selling Nicola Pizza and it tastes terrible. And they didn’t want to support me in the chilled pizza business. They promised, but when the time came (garbled)…
So I went down to Ito and I checked, personally, and wanted to know why pizza nisn no good….used to use pizza man, not my own picture.,..and the guy took my pizza and he put all kinds of junk on it….this and that…he said Japanese like this and that. And he added to the pizza. He knocked the balance out of it. Pizza didn’t taste good there.So they refused to cooperate.
Q: In what?
A: In my future business. They wanted to make a joint venture. But they were not interested in my joint venture. They were interested in my land. They were trying to figure, how to get the land. So they encouraged me to keep going until
…w/ chilled pizzas, and factory. & I didn’t need no more money from them, because I restaurant profits were about 8 million a month. So when you make 8 million a month, you can easy buy land for 10 million. You can easy put a bldg. Up. All those things.
So I went through that process. The came the end of May. By end of May, they pulled rug out from underneath me.
I’m getting lost some place.
Wait. I opened pizza factory in Showa 46. (1971)
And by August I was in all kinds of trouble, so I made a joint venture with them in August.
There’s something wrong with this someplace.
Q: How you pay moneylenders back again?
A: I borrowed money from Nihon Kotsu. That’s why I said, “Who pays back 160 million yen”…But I never saw the money. I got a bill from Nihon Kotsu.that I owed Nihon Kotsu 160 million yen.
I’m positive that I wentnot/ranout ofn business.
Gee I’m stuck for dates….
SIDE B
Counter 000
A: Pastry store in the Shibuya Pantheon building where the theater is. That’s a big operation….But I did…something happened , between May and February, when I sold it….Anyway, I can’t figure it out. But I did sell it in February for around 40 million yen. I had a buyer for my pizza factory for 40 million yen in February. Had I sold it February, I was in a position to pay back the Nihon Kotsu 160 million yen. Now let’s go back again….
No, Let’s go back again. I owed Nihon Kotsu 223 million yen to be exact. Then, like a fool, I believed him and I sold my house, at the end of ….they came and (garbled) at the end of August, and by October 20th, they notified that they were not going to advance me any money on the 25th of October, when I gotta make my payments. They promised to help me, they refused. So I had to sell my fucking home, 275 tsubo. I sold it for 120 million yen in a matter of one day. Had I had time I probably could have got 160 or 180 million yen for the house. It was a beautiful place. I sold it for 120 million yen, of which 97 million was paid back to Nihon Kotsu. So now I owed them 156 million. I remember the numbers. Then in February, I had Domino Pizza and Higa, you know the Higa family, Domino Pizza, Dimaggio Pizza, the wife wanted to buy it, the sister of …the girl that runs the operation. Her brother or the son is taking care of the Domino pizza. Anyway, they wanted to buy it…the Atsugi Factory. It had 2 4-ton trucks, a room about the size of this room here, about 200 and some odd people. About 82 on the floor, there was a 3-floor bldg.,or 2 floors…There was a freezer room that was minus 55 or something like that. You had to go in there with special clothing or you’d freeze to death. So I had it sold in Feburary, but my interpreter informed Nihon Kotsu that I had a buyer for the factory. And I would get 40 million yen. And that would bring me down to 110 million yen debts. The bank agreed that they, if I sold the factory, they would lend me the 110 million yen. I banked on them. And they refused to lend me the money. I never sold the factory, so they sez we can’t lend you the money because…so I couldn’t sell the factory…that was February. My bill with them was due on March 31….cuz my contract call for me to return the money by March 31st. So I owed 156 million. If I could have sold the 40, then I was also selling my fur factory in Hokkaido., which was another tremendous loss I was taking. I had about 30 or 40 million yen in the factory in Hokkaido. And the biggest fur processing factory in the Orient. Not Japan. The Orient. I could do 15,000 rabbits a day. And my nearest competitor was a couple of hundred a month. And this is the same period.
Q: You just took Hokkaido wildlife and processed it?
A: No, these rabbits came from France. They were imported pelts. Imported skins. Yeah. And the they process them. So they like they kill the rabbit, they freeze the skin and they ship it to us. And we throw it in the processing system. It’s a chemical operation, but it’s “Mameshi shobai” is the Japanese word for it. You probably never heard that word, right….(Nameshi?) It means processing…. So now I had the biggest fur factory and I sold that. And my interpreter did it again for me.
This was a guy that I picked up off the street. And you wouldn ‘t believe. He called me “Master.” He didn’t call me Mr. Nicolas, or Mr. Kaicho. He called me Master. Fujita Shoichi was his name.
Q: What’s he doing now?
A: He’s dead, the son of a bitch. He was born in 1903.
Q: How can you pick somebody up off the street?
A: He speaks perfect English. He spoke perfect Chinese. He was introduced to me by another Chinese called Roland Lu. But anyway, Fujita was my employee. My interpereter.. My righthand man. He did everything for me. And at the same time. He knew all the weaknesses and he capitalized on them. In order for Nihon Kotsu to (garbled) my properties, they had to know the inside details of my business. And he gave them all the information. So now I sold my factory, the 2,000 tsubo of land that I was leasing for 50,000 yen a month in Hakodate. And the land is only worth 2,000 yen a tsubo. So I didn’t want to buy it. There was a woman on it. She was a widow. I felt sorry for her. I could have bought the property for 4 million yen or something like that. And I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to knock her out. Sympathetic assohole that I am. I should have bought the property. Today, it’s worth…who knows how much per tsubo…it’s on the main highway….But anyway, I decided to lease it, so I put this big, 500 tsubo factory on it. What a place. Boy. Monster place….so anyway, he sold it. Couldn’t get anybody to buy it. Finally, I think I got 5 million yen for the place. But everything helped at that time. I was still doing tremendous business. If I could have sold my factory to Dominos, or the Higa Family I think I would have come up with the 56 or so million yen that I needed. The the bank would have lend me 100 million yen. And I would have bought Nihon Kotsu off. But instead, the fickle finger of fate, when you’re dealing with people who are not entirely trustworthy…you think they are, you’re buddy, buddy,…you know, Japanese…that’s why…but anyway…
So everything failed. I sold the fur factory. But I could sell the frozen food factory. So now, I got stuck. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t get no money from those people. I broke off my relation with Nihon Kotsu at the end of October. I was in business with them through August, September, October. Not even 90 days. Like that. And already they showed their intention. So now I had the problem of how to raise a 160 million to 223 million yen, by March 31st. And let me tell you that’s a hell of a lot of fucking money. Specially in those days. But anyway, so, at the end of October, when they didn ‘t give me any money, I sold my house for 120 mill. In cash. You’d think …I gave them the property mortgage out of my own good will, which I feel that if you borrow money you’re supposed to put something in for security. So I put 5 restaurants at 5 locations up for security.
Q: I thought you gave those to your wife?
A: …she’s my partner. She’s the president of the company. I was still shacking up with her. I was shacking up with everybody…..so I put up my Roppongi property which is next to TSK.CCC, which is 67 tsubo, I put up my private home which is 275 tsubo. I put up my Roppongi restaurant which was 170 tsubo. That’s 3.I put up my Yokota restaruant. Let’s go slow. ..Put up my private home which was 275 tsubo. I put up my restaurant at Gazembo-cho, the same place, which is 275 tsubo. I put up my private home in Roppongi which was 67 tsubo. I put up my Yokota restaurant which was 275 tsubo. And I put up my Atsugi factory which was about 100 tsubo. The tremendous value of all these properties, I can borrow a tremendous amount of money. But I put it up in good faith and I gave Nihon Kotsu the mortgages. Because they promised they would help me. They would go along with me. Advance into the market. So comes October, they refused to give me money. I needed 19 million yen or something like that. And. So.I sold my private home, 275 tsubo, for 120 million yen. The son of a bitches, grabbed the 120 million yen, and gave me 20 million yen to pay my bills. They kept exactly 97 million yen. So now I owed them 197 minus 223 or something like that….So it came out that I owed them 156 million. I don’t know how the numbers match, but those are the right numbers….
So now we are talking about the end of October. So I paid all my bills by the beginning of November. So now being the asshole that I am, I decided to move out of the house in 30 days. Did you ever try to rent a house in 30 days? Me, stupid Nick. I got a 282 tusbo house and I rent a 30 tsubo house. Can you imagine the impossibility of it? I had 7 living room sets in my house. I had beds. Impossible. So I took a lot of valuable stuff. My paintings. My book collections. And I put them in my Yokota factory and I locked them up. I found out, estimated value is about 50 million yen worth of stuff. I had 24 karat gold inlaid art pictures. Inlaid into wood. Made in Korea. I had 7 of them, I paid 100,000 yen each for them. Today, I understand they worth about 3-5 million yen each. So now, I sold my house. I received the money to pay for what I owed. Nihon Kotsu kept the 97 million left over. And I had no money to manipulate. And had I had the money. Had I had the 97 million in cash. Which I thought I would have gotten. I could have put it in the bank and borrowed 3 times as much. I wold have had plenty of money to pay back Nihon Kotsu. But my interpreter who was dealing with me and the bank, knew what my plans were, Mr. Fujita, and he told them that if they make the mistake of letting the money come to my account, it goes to my bank and my bank will lend me money. You know that system they have? You put up 30%. Without no trouble, I could have borrowed the 160 million that I needed and paid them back. Cuz I put 90 in the bank, if they lend me 160, they might lend me 200. But those days, the banks were limited to how much money they could lend. Sogo bank. But it was below the (garbled). I could have done it. Instead, they kept the money and fucked me up again. So, now I had to go to the next step. The next step was to sell my Atsugi Factory. So I sold my Atsugi Factory and I owed about 40 million yen for that. I had no choice. I take the 40 million, again I try the same routine with the bank. Put the 40 million yen in the bank, And borrow 120 million. With the 120 million, I can pay back Nihon Kotsu.
Let me explain my debt to Nihon Kotsu. I borrowed 160 million yen, payable March 31st, . Showa 47 (1972). Then in the same period of August, when I did that. I guess the 30th of August, I borrowed, I needed 60 million yen. To pay the monies that I owe. And I made an agreement with them. That I would pay that in December Showa 47 .Ok. I borrowed 3 million yen. They made a new company called Shin-Nicolas Kabushiku kaisha. I put in 3 million, paid in capital. They put in 7 million. So, now again I’m 30-70 partner. So now I owe them 63 million yen due in December. Showa 47 .I owed them a 160 million yen due in March. Showa. 47. March came and they forclosed on me. And they did a nice maneuver. They wound up, without my hanko, or anything, on the strength of the agreement that I owed them 160 million yen payable March 31st. March 31st. See. Nice people. Even though I owed them 63 million yen which was not due. I could have paid the 63 million yen just through my ratio of profits. From March to May, or April. 1st to November or December. I could have paid them the 63 million yen. But they cut short all my water. Every chance they had.screwed me up. Screwed me up. Screwed me up. This is the honorable Japanese businessman that’s in the United States today.
So, I went to my lawyer, Mr. Asahina. A very, very smart lawyer.
Q: You owed them 160 million by March 31, Showa 47 (1972) and you didn’t pay it. Because I had another bill for 63 million….I paid them 97. No wait. I borrowed 160 million yen. Then I borrowed 63 million. Now the first 160 million yen was due March 31st. The 2nd 63 million yen was due at the end of the year. The last day of Showa 47. When I sold the house, they kept the money. They gave me 20 million yen to pay my bills. And they kept about 97 million yen. The balance is brokers fees. So now, I owed them again 153 million, or something like that..You figure it out. Don’t forget, they’re adding interest. So anyway, it came out that I owed 156 million yen by March 31st. But I didn’t think they’d forcelose, because I owed 63 million yen more. Together….excuse me…Together I owed 156 million yen. But I didn’t have to pay 63 million until the end of the year. So I didn’t owe them that much money. I owed them 67 million yen, I think was the number. Right. 63 million yen by December.
Q: No, by March 31st. You gave them 120 million, they gave you 23 mil. Back. Took 97 million. Out of the 160 debt. That means you owed them 63 million yen payable by March 31.
A: yes. And then I owed another 60. So now. Had I sold my factory, that’s 40 million. …by my Atsugi factory and my Yokota factory, I had the money to pay them. But I didn’t have to sell my Atsugi factory and I didn’t have to sell my Hokkaido factory, If they’d a gave me the 97 million, which they kept. And legally the contract says they can keep it. So, so now when you deduct that…..I owed them…anyway, you know the numbers. Then numbers are correct.
So now, they forcelose and they grab my restaurant.
They just moved in like gangsters…..
Q: Wny did you just sell one of those restaurants and pay them off.
A: Cuz I didn’t expect them to do what they did.
Q: You mean they told you they weren’t going to do that?
A: They weren’t going to do that.
Q: They would wait until the end of the year. Then 2nd payment
Q: I see that’s what I…
A:….They made a contract, that I gotta pay everything by the end of the year
When I paid the first
Q: That means 63 million left on the first 160 million. Plus, the 60 million due at the end of the year. Plus the 3 million, so that’s 126 million. So, in other words, they reworked the debt and said now you owe us a 126 million.
It came out that the total bill was 156 million that I owed them. Counting the December date.
Q: And that’s in writing?
A: It’s in writing. It’s a contract. I owed them 63 mill. By the end of the year. I didn’t expect them to come and foreclose while I still owed them money. And charge me for money that I owed them at the end of March. I don’t have to pay that bill until the end of the year. You understand what I’m saying?
Q: No.
A: I owe you money. March 31st. 60 million yen. I also owe you money due in December. How can you foreclose in March on a debt that’s not due until December. But the law I think says that they can do that. But me, innocent me, didn’t think that they would do such a dirty thing what I owed them money in December. So I’m trying to get rid of enough money to pay them the 160 million yen that I owe. Can you follow me now? There’s two loan contracts.
Q: Yes. But they were legally within their rights to foreclose. They promised you they wouldn’t …
A: They wouldn’t do it. Don’t worry about. Don’t worry about it.
Q: Did they put it in writing that they wouldn’t do that?
A:Nah. However. Now we go to the writing. You want the writing part?
Q: Just a second. Let’s keep this simple. That guy…Kawanabe?
A: I never seen him any more.
Q: Who told you then?
A: My interpreter is doing all the interpreting…Don’t worry…but he’s on their side….He went to work for them…..see….can I go to the bathroom.
Q: Ok, the mist is clearing.
A: Mr. Fujita.
Q: Ok Good. It’s clearing. I understand this now. December. Showa 46. I just sold my house.
A: I sold it in November. To CHOERI. It ‘s an Osaka Co. Shosha. Trading Firm. So I sold them my house in December. I went to the same money lender that lent me the 35 million yen in the beginning. And the 2nd time I borrowed money was 18 million yen, I got it from a different money lender. But they’re all the same people. All the same group. They’re all the same. So I went back to that money lender, and I wanted to borrow….how did I do that…no I shouldn’t say that….I’m wrong…OK. They foreclosed on me. That’s right, they foreclosed in March. Showa 47.
And, I didn’t appreciate what happened. I left my labor there. I left everything there because I thought I’d get the money back. In the beginning of April, I took my lawyer Asahina, he’s actually a commercial lawyer. And I visited Mr. Nihon Kotsu, Mr. Kawanabe. And Mr. Asahina notified him that what he did was illegal. And that it can not stand up in court. And he has to return the property. Of course, the argument can go on forever, but nobody can return the property unless you pay the money. So, the word is DAIBUTSU BENSAI. It means taking property in lieu of cash. We have it in the States too. We have it in the States too.
Q: So it was legal for them to do that?
A: Yeah, because they foreclosed. I mean normally you don’t do that. You wait for the time to pass. So anyway they did “Daibutsu Bensai,”…what a hell of a way to learn a word. But anyway. So, in the beginning, by April 4th. See, I think that April 1 in that year of Showa is a Saturday. So Sunday would be the second. Monday would be the third. And on the third, I called my lawyer. And he said “Meet me tomorrow.” So on April 4th, Showa 47. I met my lawyer Mr. Asahina, and, of course, he speaks perfect English. So there’s no problem. He was on my payroll for 36,000 yen a month, for the last 15 years. In Showa 56. 36,000 yen a month in those days was tremendous money. But I was making big money, I didn’t care….and I don ‘t look at money…I look at it as another commodity….I went with Mr. Asahina. And Mr. Asahina called on Mr. Kawanabe. And he refused to meet until the 11th. And I don’t know why my lawyer allowed that to happen because there is something about, you can do something I the first few days of something, but if you let it go too long, you lose something. I don’t know what the hell it was, but.they are talking legal things that even today, I don’t understand. They got so many ways of maneuvering. So on April 11th, I went with Mr. Asahina to Mr. Kawanabe’s office. And he agreed that what he did was not exactly right and and everything and he would issue me, a written statement enabling me to buy the property back. To get the property back…..But I, as I one time went there, and I remember the conversation was that “I don’t trust you. And I don’t trust your Board of Governors, and I don’t trust anybody. And I don’t do anything with Nihon Kotsu verbally. I put everything down in black and white. So on April 11th when I went there with the lawyer, I insisted that whatever he does has got to be done in black and white and if he don’t do it, then we go to court. Now, mind you, you can’t go to court unless you put up 30% of the value. So I needed…he grabbed the property. For 215 million yen. Or 205 million yen. A ridiculous figure. So, anyway, I forgot how he came out to that number. But anyway, now I had to buy the property back. I had to return the 215 million plus…so anyway, it came out, he issued me a document, which he wouldn’t sign, the son of a bitch, his own handwriting, that if I returned the money, he would return the property, it’s in black and white.
So I had this document now, and my lawyer says you got a document that says you can buy it back, so there’s no reason to press charges against him, even though what he did was not exactly legal, this, that and the other thing. So, ok, so, now. This is April, so now I’m lookng for the money to buy back. And believe me, it was an impossible thing. I had Yokota, but Yokota wasn’t worth that much money. I already sold my main restaurant. My main home. The Gazembo-cho property. He grabbed my other restaurant. I had this particular restaurant that you’re sitting in (near Roppongi Crossing), that wasn’t doing any fantastic things. And it’s not mine. I only rent it. So I basically did not have any strength to return the money, cuz he took my big income. He grabbed my restaurant. Anyway, by December of that year, I went back to the original money lender—the guy that laoned me 35 million yen in the beginning,And I made a deal with him, that if he takes care of all the legal problems and puts up the money, and the mon ey at that time was approximately 265 million yen I owed …the rate was 260 to one dollar then so it was a million dollars(author’s note. No, I think it was 300) So, he agreed to put up the money.
And unfortunately, I’m nnot a lawyer, but I got a sneaky bastard in my office. Mt. Fujita.
Mr. Fujita informed Mr. Kawanabe that I had found the money to return. So they have the company under their name. The KENRI-SHO. (Title Deed)
So what they did, they transferred the property to one of their other companies. So when I went down to get the Kenri Sho, to get the money I needed the kenri sho to show who the owner is, and all the technicalities that you required, there was no kenri sho. So I couldn’t do nothing in December. Then, of course, January comes and you know, nothing happens in January until the 15th of the month or the 16th of the month. By that time, the money lender decided that he wants to make a better deal than he’s got, so he went through the original routine of renegotaiting the original agreement.that I had with the moneylender in December. Anyway, it came out that he owns 50% of whatever I get back, providing that he does all the legal work and financing and everything that goes with it. And it was the unwritten word that we will sell the property when the time comes. But in the meantime, I run the business and do what I want with it, and he has no relation with the income that I am making. Just the property.
So by March 13, Showa 48 (1973),all the documents were ready. His lawyer made everything ready. And we present a Bank of Japan check that is not a private institution; it’s a government organization. Like the Federal Reserve Bank. So I received the check for 265 million yen. A check was written for 265 million yen. On March 13th, me and the lawyers went over to Nihon Kotsu to return the money according to the agreement that they wrote.
To say that I got a cold shoulder would be putting it easy. It was an ice box. Freezer.Nobody cared to talk to us. Nobody gave a damn that we had a check for a million dollars to return to them. They just didn’t care. But the lawyer anticipated that,…I was making approximately 100 million yen a year profit in that restaurant. Those days, you know what you could do with 100 million yen.
Anyway, so we took the money down to the —–Chotaku kin?)—it’sa government organization that holds the money in the courts…the money is deposited in the courts. This is a government check for 265 million yen. And that gave us the right to open a court case against them. So my court case started on March 13th, Showa 48. It finished in Showa 62. (1987) in November. Long time, isn’t it.?
I got a heart attack two years ago. June.
I think in Showa 57 nen. I received the first decision against me. I lost my case. And then we appealed.
So anyway, let’s go back to that particular time. So anyway, they refused to accept the money and we went to court. Two days later, the money lender, with the receipt from the court, took the money out. Nice guy. And he walks away from the situation. And before I agreed with him, I told him to put some money where his mouth was to show good faith, so he put up 30 million yen in cash, which I refused to take the 30 million yen,…because I know money lenders, because later on they’ll say “give me the money back.” Probably with interest. So I accepted 10 million in cash…don’t know what I did with it.
So I made a deal with the money lender. The lawyers went to Nihon Kotsu to return the money, they refused, the documents went into the court, the check was deposited in the court and it showed substance that we can get this property back. So he would have made, just at that tie alone, he would have made 100,000,000 yen profit in the restaurant business,–cuz he kept all my employees, everything, because I didn’t want to discharge anybody. And, he would have made 50 million yen on the purchase. Because the bill to me came to 215,000,000 and I had a check for 265,000,000. So he would have made 150 million yen in one year. A fabulous amount of money.
Anyway, then, with the joint venture that I made with him, I had very good standing in the big department stores because I put my foods in there. And they have Italian Fairs. And like Takashimaya on the Ginza. They used to have every January or so, they have an Italian Fair. Not Italian Fair, I should say, a food fair. And Nicola’s restaurant would gross more more money than all the other restaurants combined, in one day, than they did, every day.
So I was in very good position with the department stores. And they knew my reputation and they tasted my food…and I told you, the Emperor of Japan, today, he used to go to my restaurant. But anyway…
Q: Really? What restaurant?
A: The one over here, down the street. Akihito. Now he’s the Emperor, right? He took his wife Michiko there. I think 2 or 3 times. I don’t appreciate their trade because they put all their security men in there. And you lose trade….yeah, because they bring everybody. They make sure that everybody’s gone out. They take all the chairs. That was only a six table .. Then when it’s all clear, they go outside and the Crown Prince and his wife Michiko comes in. And they have pizza.
Q: You mean all the customers have to leave?
A: Of course, they wouldn’t let nobody in their place. There was no customers. Very little customers, because they come generally daytime. They don’t come during dinner time. Jesus Christ, they come dinner time, they’d be dead. Now this was 19…this was the old restaurant. This would be Showa 30 nen . Maybe up to Showa 31 nen (1956) So you can imagine. He’s 50 years old now. So he was a little over 20. 21. 22. Maybe that was Showa 32 nen (1957) or something like that. But anyway, I’m lost.
Q: He refused. He wouldn’t take the money so you went to court.
A: So we went to court.
Q: You lost. So he just ran your restaurant, basically. He took your restauran t. He had your restaurant.
A: He had my restaurant. All my employees. Because I thought I would get the money and return it. And I wanted to keep the restaurant intact. But they go at my name, my trademark, my land, my building, my business, my employees. You’re talking…the building was 400 tsubo. The land was 400 tsubo. And that place was grossing like a million yen a day. A million yen a day in those days was astronomical money. But anyway, then we went to court and the money lender took the money out anyway, like I said. And now I’m in court. And my lawyer don’t believe me. Everybody is figuring how to get in on the big deal. How to make big money out of this deal. So I lost the first court case. But very luckily by accident, by no brain work on my part. My wife and I went over to the laywer…these were the moneylenders lawyers. They were not my lawyers, they were his lawyers. And they gave one lawyer 500,000 yen. Mr. Sato. Of the Sato law firm. And his assistant in this case was Mr. Watanabe. We gave him 300,000 yen, for them to make an appeal against the court decision. Very fortunate on my part, I hired Mr. Watanabe directly for 50,000 yen a month. So now, I paid for the appeal. And I paid the lawyer to run it.
Later on in life….Anyway, the court went on like that.
So then, later on, this fucking moneylender, brang to the Sato law office, his lawyers and took the documents that I put in there that showed how many shares I owed. And I signed them over to him, as security. They were deposited in the lawyer’s office. So he went to the laywer’s office and took these documents out and the lawyer got angry. You’re not allowed to take those documents. You’re only allowed to secure the loan in the event that that the property was turned over to you…Nick was…The money was taken by Nihon Kotsu. And the property goes over the Nicolas. And these documents are to guaranteed that the 50-50 agreement would take place.
However, Nihon Kotsu did not take the money. So, you took the money back. Nicholas lost the court case. Nicolas put all the money to won the next court case. You have no rights. You can not touch those papers. But he insisted. So the lawyer gave him the papers and told him to get lost. So the lawyer kicked the money lender out. So I heard. But who believes anything in this country.
So I went to court. So the son of a bitchn’ money lender…his name was Sugiyama. Junji. One day he went down to the …..land registration office, where you get the ‘koseki tohon” (registration document), by Nisshin Ham. Azabu Ju-ban. They have an office where you go there and you got title deeds. It’s got nothing to do with the kuyakusho (ward office). It’s a business thing. Tokibo Tohon. (Company Registration) So he went there with these documents. And he transferred the company. He just changed all the board of directors. Technically, he owned the company.
So, my lawyer Mr. Ide, he’s a friend of money lenders. So I said to him I want the company back. And he says, “The man has got you by the balls. He’s got all your Tohon’s. He owns your company. So you got to make a deal. So I says OK. He gave me 10 million yen. And this is his way of tryng to get the ten million yen back. OK. He negotiated. Then guy wanted 30 million yen now. Give me my company back. And, I says Negotiate.
I went to my other lawyer, Mr. Tanaka Kozo. Brilliant son of a bitch. But like all the other Japanese, this guy is really a son of a bitch. But anyway, I said to him, “Tanaka, how do we manipulate so that I get the company back?” So he says, “I can do it. I know how to do it.” He’s a very, shrewd smart son of a bitch. So he did. He got the company back. Put in paper work, this that and the other thing. I don’t know how. We recapitalized from 5 million yen to 20 million yen. And back dated it. The shares that he grabbed from (?) me were worth 5 million. But, we recapitalized the company, backdated. So the company was worth 20 million, and he only owned 25%. Or he had in this possession, 25%. So I got 75% and again we went through the manipulation of whatever he did. And I got my company back in its present situtation. Or past. In other words, I wiped him out. See.
So now the lawyer wanted money. So I says how much you want? And I’m gonna say this to you.. A million yen…I sez ok. My wife says ‘we’re partners.” So I’ll pay half a million. You pay half a million. I said Ok. I paid half a million. My wife paid half a million….Then, fuck all fucking Japanese, even my own wife. She came around and she says “Why should I pay a half a million yen, when this is all your troubles. This is all you did. So give me a half a million yen, back.” So, I gave her the half a million yen back. Love is a very interesting situation, isn’t it?
But anyway, so I got the company back.
Q: You got the company back finally…this is 2 years ago?
A: No, no,no. This is nearly 5 years ago. This is before, while I’m in the middle of the appeal case. See? So, of course, my main lawyer, my broken lawyer, was broken hearted because he was negotiating to bring the 30 million yen down. And I spoke to my other lawyer who is my advisor. And I got it done for a million yen. However, I’m in a position today where I can stick a knife in that son of a bitch’s back. Cause I could say I gave him 20 million yen. And let him go to the tax office to try to argue against me. Anyway, so this lawyer did that. And I got the company back. And we’re going through the appeal case. And this lawyer Tanaka, he’s only an advisor. He’s a terrible man in the court room.. I can probably do a better job in court than he can. But, anyway, we went through that routine. And the whole court case ended. And then we went through a WAKAI (harmonious settlement) session. And I says I’m not interested in money. I want my land and my building and my business back. I’m in the restaurant business. I don’t care about money. So we negotiated “Wakai.” And of course nobody said anything. Nobody offered anything. My side did not offer anything. They did not offer anything. And the “Wakai” ended in failure.
So, on June 9th, the wakai ended probably in the middle of May, which would be 1986, something like that. So I went to the hospital on June 9th, because my wife pushed me like a son-of-a bitch. Because if you want to play golf, you got to get your back straightened out. Get your backbone cut and put a brace in there, and that will make your walk and you can play golf again. I can’t play golf because I can’t walk fast. I take too long to walk. In the States you use a cart. Over there, you gotta walk. You can’t keep up with them. It’s uphill.
Q: You gotta bad back?
A: I got bad feet. And she figured that if you straighten the back out, then the nerves in my feet will work. You know doctor bullshit. I went to Dr. Aksenoff, he says “Don’t cut your back.” I went to Dr. Sims, he says, “Don’t cut your back.” But the Japanese Dr. Kimura, he says, “Oh, cut your back. Put a brace in here.” And I says “Guarantee me. Write a paper that you’ll guarantee I can play golf after the operation. That I can walk normal like other people and just as fast.” He wouldn’t do it.. But my wife pushed and and pushed and pushed. And I went to then hospital on June 9th. To get my back cut. It takes a lot of balls to do that, you know. But, anyway, on June 13th, Friday, or something like that.. Or that day, that shaved my back. And during the night, a very interesting thing happened to me. I had a heart attack.
Now what is a heart attack. Did you see this guy Jamonti? He just died? The doctor said his second heart attack. Ok. So I was sitting in the hospital. It’s June. It’s hot. The air conditioning wasn’t working. It’s perspiring like a son of a gun. And I was shaking like I’m freezing. And I said, “This must be a heart attack.” And I felt a terrible pain in my…and my stomach was pressing against my heart. And I felt that I had stomach cramps. And the best thing for me to do is to go take a crap. So I got out of bed and I’m soaking wet. And I’m shaking like it’s freezing. And I went to the bathroom and I sat down on the stool, because I had a private room with my own bath, my own shower, everything was there. Very few people get that accomodation. But I can tell you it was 40,000 yen a day to stay in the hospital. For the room charge, which is not gov’t deductible. So I took a so-called crap. Nothing came out. And to be vulgar, I wiped my ass, and there was nothing on it. There was no shit. Period. So I can’t figure it out. I got up. I went back to the bed and while I was standing there, the window’s open, cuz there’s no air conditioning, and I see this guy..this black shining horse, with an knight in black on it, galloping towards me. And in his hand, he’s got black cards with yellow writing on it. Now mind you, everything is black, and yet I can see black. And he’s throwing these cards at me. And my reaction was “This is death.” I had no interest in dying. I’m not going to die. So I stood there defiantly, staring the bastard in the eye. He’s charging me with his horse. Nothing moves of course. And the cards are coming at me. And it’s all either in the imagination or anything. And finally, the apparition disappeared.
And I got in bed and I pushed the button. And the nurse came in and I said, “I had a heart attack.” The nurses…everything was black…they go in with flash lights you now. And she says, “Oh, don’t worry about it.” I sez “I got a heart attack.” She spoke perfect English. Pronunciation, everything, exactly perfect. And I said, “Jeez, I never met nurses that speak that kind of English.” Anyway, she left. About an hour later, I pushed the button again. And I sez, “I had a heart attack.” She says, “oh, ok, just a moment.” She gets the needle and she hits me in the left arm. And that’s bad. Because a heart attack is a pain. Like I got a pain in the back of my back, like a checkerboard pain.
It was spread, right on my back. And now she puts a needle in my left arm. And my left arm has got pain. And I got to say “is it the heart attack that gives me pain in my left arm, or is it the fucking needle?” So I got to sweat it out. I get nowhere. I’m on the 5th floor of the Sai-sei-kai,, which is a hospital sponsored by the present emperor. So, in the morning, 7 a.m., they turn on the lights, they open the doors, they bring the fresh air in. The chief nurse came in. But before the chief nurse came in, my son and my wife came. They come every morning to my hospital at 7 o’clock. Every morning. And they made sure that you’re ok, you’re ok, and I said “I think I had a heart attack. Last night. So can you please call the nurse or the doctor, see? So, they went outside, the nurse, right away, the chief nurse, I told the chief nurse, I had a heart attack last night. See. So she pushed a button. The ICU. Jesus Christ, the room was full of doctors. They put machines on me. They used a big Dyxson Leveler? ..you know what a leveler is, it’s got oil in the glass…..they put that on the bed. They put the machines on me. And the doctors said, “This is your second heart attack.” But my son came in before the doctor came in, looked at all the machines…& says the doctor says you didn’t have a heart attack. My son tells me that and I says Jesus Christ I could swear it was a heart attacks. The doctor comes in, they got all the machines running, you know. And I said, “Did I have a heart attack last night?” And my son is standing there. And my wife is standing there. And the doctor says, “Yeah, that’s your second heart attack.” And I look at my son and say Jesus Christ “Why do you lie to me? You know what the hell am I a baby? People my age all get heart attacks. Some of them before me.”
So they started that routine. Took me to the 6th floor, from the 5th, to the CCU, which is Cardiac Care Unit. So I went there. Had electric doors. Made nothing but noise.
(phone from someone). Hirai-san)
[Hello, I got no information for you. You have to sweat it out. Ok. I see you later. I’m busy now.]
A: I given him the brushoff. I was lucky. They only moved me one floor. Gave me needles. Did this, that and the other thing. Saved my life….Had I been some other place I would have been dead today. But god is good to me. So on that same Saturday, they moved me to the 6th floor of the cardiac center. And the guy decided to cut me over here some place. Don’t know why they do that. And he was cutting me open. And then he stopped. And he said it’s too close to the juglar vein. Then he came over here, ….hsee. it.
Q: That’s an angiogram.
A; Anyway, so what happened to me was 75% of my heart muscles stopped. So that was the heart attack. Muscles stopped. The front side of the heart stopped. The back side is still operating….And I heard Susan Spencer talk about that on tv….she said back muscle connect is heart muscle. Don’t see relationship. But I should write her to ask for more information…So now I got a 25% heart operating, so instead of pulsing, like normal people, I got about a half a pulse…So if your heart when it contracts and expands, it might be one inch. It might move one inch. Mine moves like a quarter of an inch. Moves very little. So now I’m in intensive care, and I stayed there.
And this fucking Tanaka lawyer comes to my hospital room. And he sat next to my bed and in a very quiet voice he says to me, “I can get you 500 million yen to settle out of court. 5 oku yen. And I can add 15 million yen for it for legal fees.”
I wasn’t paying attention. I was sick. I was trying to think how to lick the…
I was not interested in business. I could care less about 500 million yen. Ten hundred million yen. Who gives a shit. You’re dying. You’re in a hospital. You’re half dead. You got to worry about money.
So I wasn’t pay attention. I didn’t really care. And somehow or other. I must have said ok.
So he went out. He already had the deal planned. He’d already made a deal with them. And I couldn’t understand. I didn’t’ believe him. Because I thought Nihon Kotsu would never pay me any money. They won the first court case. If they win the 2nd court case, why would they give me 3.5 million dollars. It just doesn’t make sense, see. But I just wasn’t up to par. And I’m sitting in the hospital already a month, with all these wires, computers on me. You move your finger and the damn thing would move on the screen. And those screens are monitored 24 hours a day.
And I agreed or something like that. And I told them…this is a court problem, I told him 15 million yen legal fees…you discuss that with the other lawyers. I wasn’t paying attention. Today, he’s suing me for that 15 million yen. My lawyer. How do you like that.
You know what he said? I said what about the other lawyers. He said fuck them.
Q: Did you get the 5 oku yen.
A: I. Just to show how how dishonest these fucking Japanese are….
Here’s what the lawyer did. He came to my hospital in July…As far as I feel about it…I’m naïve but I’m not stupid, he made a deal w/ N. Kotsu. For 5 oku. He made this deal in July or before that
(End tape)
Tokyo Junkie 
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