(TAPE 6) Nicola Interview Sep 28, 1989
(Includes: Lawyers, Japanese Citizenship, Hokkaido Ranch, Gaijin Ballplayers, Hokkaido Land)
(Counter 000)
SIDE A
(LAWYERS)
A: Yesterday, I went to my lawyer. My new laywer. And he’s telling me that ‘s not true. He says if you tell the truth the court won’t accept it. You know we’re talking about two million dollars now. We’re not talking nickels and dimes.
Q: What’s this for?
A: Because some money lender attached my payment when I sold out that other place. I got 500 million yen and the son of a bitch attached me for 230 million. He lost his first court case and he appealed. I made a deal and the guy didn’t live up to it. I’ll tell you. It’s a son of a bitch.
Q: What lie did he want you to tell?
A: He wants me to say that I went to a meeting with my lawyers, which I did. And that I notified them that I’m going to give them one percent each of the WAKAI—that means settlement. And I says, but we didn’t even talk about that. He says, well say it, because you had the meeting. I paid them a million yen each that day. I paid $25,000 legal fees. Like in two minutes. Boy, it made me…. And then he said something that, I mean, anybody who reads this book ought to pay attention. He says that when you pay a lawyer a retainer fee, or a monthly fee, it has nothing to do with legal fees. How about putting that in your pipe and smoking it?
Q: Why is that?
A: That’s the Japanese interpretation. It’s the old theory like in a bowling. If you bowl with a pro, for money. It is not considered gambling. Because the pro is gonna beat you. But if two pros bowl for money, that’s gambling. Cuz they don’t know who’s gonna win. See? So here I paid lawyers, Jesus Christ, tens of thousands of dollars, a lot of money to retain them. And the lawyer says it don’t mean nothing. Jesus Christ almighty.
Q: How did you phrase that…if you pay a lawyer, you’re not paying for services rendered? You’re paying just because he’s a lawyer. You don’t pay him for any legal service, because when he does something legally, he demands legal payment like there’s no relation between the retainer fee and the legal fee. It’s a lesson that you have to learn in Japan. So I got 4 lawyers on the retainer fee. That’s like almost 400,000 yen a month. 5 million yen a year. It’s not a nickel and dime operation.
Q: That’s just like a consultant’s retainer fee.
A: …So the thing is what do you need them for? You’re better off by not talking to them. Of course, Americans have their troubles with legal fees too, don’t they? I saw that on tv the other day. Well, you know the reason why you can’t win in a legal battle is the lawyers are the ones who make the laws. It’s like me making a law that if you walk in Roppongi you have to eat at Nicola’s pizza house. What kind of a law would that be? But they make laws where you got to use the lawyers. Jesus. Anyway. What happened in my particular case was that the lawyer sold me down the river, which I can accept, but he gave this guy privileged information, which is criminal. And when I thought about going to the police, the prosecutor says, “We’re too busy.” I said, “If it was an American who cheated me, would you be busy? Eh? I’m a Japanese. If it was an American who cheated me, would you be busy?” So they wouldn‘t take the case. So it’s giving away privileged information, which is criminal. And I was recommended go to the bar association. I went to the bar association, they didn’t even want to talk to me. Can you imagine bringing a complaint against a lawyer in the bar association?
So, you ask me why don ‘t I sell my place. Of course, I’d like to sell and get out of this goddamn country. Spend my time doing what you do. Write books about how lousy these bastards are. Ain’t nobody gonna believe it. And like I said, the Japanese will miraculously escape. Nobody knows what tomorrow is gonna bring.
I think I told you a little bit about this case. Fucking lawyer comes to my room and I’m all wired up after a heart attack. He whispers in my ear. Nobody heard it but me. And now he’s making a big issue about it. He hijacked 250,000 million yen. That’s about $350,000. He hijacked a 50 million yen check. He was supposed to send it to my account. He didn’t send it. To my company account (that is). Instead he deducted 15 million yen, which is a little over a hundred thousand dollars, even today. And he refused to return it. He says “That’s my legal fee.” I says, “No, that’s everybody’s legal fee.” He says “The hell with the other lawyers.” Then he writes the lawyers a letter asking them to help him collect the money. Can you imagine. What’s the Japanese word, ‘Hidoi,” ne. Terible.
Q: What did he do with the $350,000 check? Put it in his own account?
A: He put it in his wife’s account. Ain’t that nice? We raised hell. Where’s the 50 million yen? And he says, “well, it’s in my wife’s account.” I said, “That belongs in the company account.” So instead of sending 50 million, he sent 37 million 9. (37,900,000) And I called up again and I said, “Why didn’t you send me 50 million yen?” And he says, “Well, the balance is my legal payment. My legal fee.” And I said, “You got rocks in your head. You’re not supposed to get your legal fee until I receive all the money. And I did not receive all the money. I mean that’s the agreement.” So instead of receiving 500,000 million, I received 295 million. 230 million was attached . So then he says he’ll send me back a check for 9.6 million if I write him a check for 9.7. Or something like that. Now, I sez, you’re blackmailing me out of a check. I says, “You know the check’s no good.” So he insisted on the check. I said, “Ok.” I gave the check to my son. My son handcarried it to his office. And he then he mailed me to my private account, 9 million six. Now why is there the difference between 9 million six and 9 million 7, I’ll never know.
Q: Handling charge.
A: Can you imagine that? So I went to the bank and I canceled my bank account.
Q: We went over this once.
A: It’s in there somewhere.
Q: What was the original agreement. Was there a percentage? Or was it a fee?
A: There was no agreement.
Q: He was whispering in your ear? On your deathbed?
A: I’m on my deathbed. He’s whispering in my ear. My wife’s standing at the head of the bed, she don’t even hear what he’s saying.
Q: What did he whisper again?
A: He whispered that he could make a settlement for 500,000,000 yen. And I was not even in the world of life at that time. Who cared about 500,000 000 yen, you know. 500 mill. Is what, $3.5 million dollars? That property is worth $125 million dollars. It’s worth One billion 700 million yen (1,700,000,000). Son of a bitch. But anyway, so. Hyaku Nanaju Oku Yen.
Q:He arbitarily decided the 350 thousand belonged to him as a fee.
A: A hundred thousand dollars was his as a fee. 15 million yen. And he gets paid every month. Can you imagine that?
Q: You said he took $350,000 check, which is $350,000.
A: He took my 50 million yen check, which is $350,000. Put it in his wife’s account. And
He returned 37.9 million. And then he returned 9.6 million. And that means he kept 2.5 million. Now, he went to court to sue me for the check I wrote for 9million 7. But anyway. Misery. Misery loves company don’t it.
(JAPANESE CITIZENSHIP)
Q: Tell me about you getting Japanese Citizenship?
A: Well, all this Japanese citizenship started because I’m in a Japanese court and one laywer, a lawyer by the name of Watanabe said to me that I would have a better chance of winning if I was a Japanese. Because the Japanese courts will not favor a foreigner or an American. I said “But this is a transfer of property without a bill of sale. How can you make a transfer of property without a bill of sale?” So anyway, so that’s a court decision, so I decided I’ll be a Japanese. And I called my brother (Yae’s brother), who lives in Takasaki, who, Nakasone says, he’s my backbone. My brother in-law gives him a lot of political money. So, I said, Ok, I want to be a Japanese. And I went down to Mr. Noguchi, who was then Vice-Minister of Justice—he’s in the Nakasone faction—and, of course, he’s a stooge to Mr. Nakasone. He’s a political appointee. He’s probably out of a job now. He might be still a Diet man. I don’t know. So I went to visit him. And there was no problem.
Q: What year was this?
A: 19… Showa 60. (1985). No. I went in the summer of Showa 58. (1983). I became a Japanese citizen in January of Showa 60. It took me a little over a year to be a citizen.
Q: What was involved?
A: Well, to be a Japanese citizen, you have to be self-supporting. Own everything that you want. The first rule is that you can not go to the Japanese government and ask for anything. And if you can qualify without asking them for anything, you got your own tv set, your own car, your own house, your own business and you’re independent, they’ll make you a Japanese citizen.
Q: Really.
A: All you got to do is ask. But mine, you see then boat people…now they’re differentiating between an political person and an economic person. Again, my transfer of nationality was an economical reason. Because if I become a Japanese I might be able to win my own property back. Which, of course, another lawyer said, “Once an alien, always an alien.”
So I put in the application to be a Japanese citizen and, as you know, my Japanese is no damn good. I can’t speak a plain sentence. You know, subject, vowel, object, whatever you want to call a sentence. But they tested my Japanese ability to read. And they put out Japanese name cards. And I could read about 80-90% of Japanese name cards. Names. I can not read the first name, but I can read the second name. I can read the family names pretty easily.
Q: How’d you pick that up?
A: I don’t know. Just watching tv I guess. I meet so many people they give me their name card, I write their name and then you run around with Japanese girls, you learn how to write their names. By association only. But not by education. So in courtroom when I use a Japanese interpreter, the judge looks at me like he can’t understand how can a guy by the name of Koizumi, who’s been in Japan 45 fucking years, needs an interpreter. And I have to agree with him. But in a court of law the legal language is so different than the regular language…like even you, if you went to school, they ask you how do you translate the word privilege, forgettaboutit, right? Look in the dictionary, yeah, you can.
So I became a Japanese citizen. And I had to go to the American Embassy and renounce my American citizeship, give them my passport book, and I told them, I’m only doing this…this is an economic transfer and later on when I solve my economic problems I’m gonna apply for my American citizenship again.
You see back in Showa 37 nen.(1962) I bought approximately 200 Chobu of land in Hokkaido. And that’s a lot of land. Chobu is a hectare…
Q: When you went to the Embassy to renounce your citizenship, what did you have to say? How did you do that?
Q: Well, you go into the counsular service of whatever it is. Because the Japanese government notified me that I have been accepted as a Japanese citizen. And that I have like one week or ten days to complete the finalation of the documents.But I happened to be in Hokkaido at the time, so I had to come all the way down to Tokyo. And I went to the American Embassy which they already knew before me that I been accepted as a Japanese citizen. So they typed up some documents, I guess, that sez, “I hereby renounce my American citizenship.” Things like that. And I gave them my book and that was the end. Very simple operation. So I asked them can you it down in black and white
That when I want to be in American citizenship, that when I want to get my American citizenship back, I can get it. So the girl says, “Well, you put 4 years in World War II as a military man, so you automatically can become an American citizen again.” I don’t know how true that is, but I do know that if you fight for Uncle Sam, you become an American. You could be an American . If you wear the uniform.
Q: That automatically qualified you.
A: To be an American again…I don’t know if somebody gives up his citizenship and then wants it back. But I’m not ready to get it back yet, cuz I’m still fighting in Hokkaido over the land that I bought.
Q: You didn’t tell me that story.
A; No, that’s a cute story.
(Note; Yae says Nick at top of J. Gov’t Black List. Shen as much as as said her brother paid a big bribe to Naksone, to get Nick’s citizenship request approved.)
(HOKKAIDO RANCH)
Q: Is it as incredibly complicated as the other ones?
A: No, my land purchase in Hokkaido started from the fact that I opened a pizza house in Tokyo. Showa 30.(31) 1956. And cheese was a problem. So I decided that I’m gonna go to Hokkaido. And make my own cheese. And, of course, my children very very happy over the story of going to Hokkaido and getting horses and ride around on the ranch. You know the cowboy theory.
So I went up to Hokkaido. A friend of mine. An Australian by the name of Roy Bowen lived up there.
Q: You were going to make your own cheese. Yeah. By the way, I made my own cheese. It didn’t taste good, but I made it. So I went up there. Some guy by the name of Roy Bowen, who was an Australian. He went up to Hokkaido—this miserable town called Oshamambe. Believe me, it’s a miserable town of 6-7,000 people. So …railroad hub, just north of Hakodate. About 100 km north. But up there, that’s a hop, skip and a jump. So I looked for Roy Bowen, because Roy Bowen came down to Tokyo one day and he says, “I got an ranch in Hokkaido.” And I says “Oh, that’s good. I’m interested in an ranch.” I said, “Whattya go on it?” He says, “Oh, I got 13 cows and 2 horses.” And
A lot of bullshit like that. And I sez “Well, can I buy in?” He says, “Give me two million yen and you can buy in.”
So foolish Nick. The Japanese is “Bakayaro” (stupid fool) I gave him two million yen. And he’s got a ranch someplace in Hokkaido. So, that was Xmas time. When the summer came, I got my chauffeur, my car, I had 1958 car. Chevrolet. I remember I drove all the way up to Hokkaido. I took my wife and my chauffeur. And we had a full car. 5-6 people. And we went up to Hokkaido and we realized how big Hokkaido was. How do you find anybody in Hokkaido. I mean that s a joke. But that island is god damn big. I had my wife. My chauffeur. My children. Anyway, we made a pleasure trip out of it. So we sent the car up ahead. And we went by airplane. The chauffeur drove the car up.Anyway, son , we went to Hokkaido and we met the car at the Hokodate airport. And those days, they had Friendships. No, I should be very careful. Maybe there was not even no Hakodate Airport. So I went up there.And we drove around. And I didn’t know nothing about how to find a gaijin. How course now I can find a gaijin anyplace. But in those days I wasn’t, shall we say, awake. So we drove around Hokkaido, we had a lot of fun, we had corn. We just took a trip. Fishing and all that balogna that goes with nit. And we gave up. And we came back down to Tokyo.
Sure enough, next Xmas, Mr. Bowen came to Tokyo again. Andn visited my place. And I asked him “How’s my half interest doing?” And he says, “Oh, fine. We’re doing very good and this, that and the other thing.” And I said, “By the way, where are you?” And he said, “Oshamamabe.” But this time, I wrote it down. He says Oshamambe is 100 km north of Hakodate. And I says, Ok, it’s on the main road. So I wrote everything down. Come June, I went to Hokkaido. This is June. This would be Showa 37. So that would be 1956. No, 1962. So I went up there in the summer of 1962 and I look for Mr. Bowen. And this time, I didn’t bring my family. I just went up there with my interpreter, who was a thief. All the Japanese that work for me are all thieves.
I picked the bottom of the barrel you know. I mean that’s all that’s left for gaijin is the bottom of the barrel. But anyway, so I went up there and I went to Mr. Bowen’s and my ranch. We owned 50-50. And I says, “Where’s the 2 horses?” He says, “I didn ‘t buy them yet.” I said, “But I gave you the money a year and a half ago. And you said you had two horses then.” I said, “OK. Where’s the 13 cows. He said, “I didn’t buy them yet.”
So I went in his block house. He had a house made out of blocks, that the wind went through it. And in the house, he had, for the living room set, the interior of his old Chrysler.The seats. That was his living room set. And I looked at him and I says, “You got to be kidding.” This poor bastard is broker than broke.” So I says, “I quit. Look, I tell you what you do.”
Q; What year was the Chrysler?
A: Oh, it must have been a 1945-46 Chrysler. He just had the seats. So anyway, I said, “Look Roy. My financial condition is very bad and yours is very good, so why don’t we just forget about it? You keep the two million yen. You keep the 13 chickens or whatever you got. And forgot the horses and forget the cows and forget this place and I’m leaving.””
So I just took a 2 million yen bath. And in those days, two million yen was a tremendous amount of money.
Q: How old was this guy Roy Bowen, then?
A: Well, let’s see, he was older than me. I’m 68 now. So he must have been 50 or over then. He married a young Japanese girl. And the girl’s last name was “Sunshine.” How do you say “Sunshine” in Japanese?
Q: Nikko? Hikari? .
A: So he called his place the sunshine ranch….He had nothing on it. Nothing. Abolslutely nothing. He didn’t even dig a hole in then ground and plant a radish.
Q: How big was this?
A: I think he had 40 Chobu., Which was about a hundred acres. One Chobu is 2.5 acres.He either had that or same like me 12 acres.12 Chobu. He had something in that neighborhood, which would be about 25 acres. But anyway, so I gave up. I said, “Forgettaboutit. No bad feelings. I got cheated, but then again it’s just the name of the game.I went back to my hotel and, of course, it’s such a small town. Everybody knows what happens. See. So I went to my hotel. And sez I might as well enjoy life. I never been to Oshamamabe. My first regret. I’ll probably regret it until I die and my grandchildren and grand-grand-grand children and everybody will probably regret it.
But, anyway, so then the farmers came. One of the farmer’s came. And he says “we are working with Mr. Bowen and this that and the other thing. And he has no money and we want to work with you and we’ll cooperate. And we got this and we got that.
Anyway, between the 4 or 5 farmers they had about 200 Chobu. That means 600 acres? A chobu is 2.5 acres. 500 acres, eh? So I sez ok. I don’t want to buy 500 acres. I don’t want to take people off their land. I wind up with land and nobody to work it so it’s a waste of time of time and money and effort. And so all I’m looking for is a small place. So these farmers got together and I decided I’ll buy one man ‘s property. That gives me a legal right to get in there. So I bought a guy by the name of Kambara. I bought his property. It was very, very expensive. It was, Christ Almighty, 17 yen a tsubo. Or something like that. Nana-ju-yon-mon i sen (741,000) For san-man roku-sen kyu-haku (36,900) tsubo. Ju-ni (12) chobu. In that category.
So ok. I agreed to buy that.
Q: You don’t remember what the final figure was?
A: 741,000 yen. 17 yen divided gives you 8 tsubo. But anyway. My honest interpreter. Another fucking thief. Like I said, I know all the thieves. He made a “bai-bai keiyaku” (sales contract) with them and without my knowledge, I now was buying, 200 hectares of land. And I got a contract that says I’m buying the land. I got it in English and Japanese. The man signed it. And I’m buying then land and I’m paying for it. My first payment was exactly 269,000 yen, which I paid, through the bank, I sent the money from Tokyo. I had the bank make the payment and the bank got the receipt. And the bank paid the government the money that the guy owed, so the man could never touch the money. I thought I was pretty smart that way. There’s always the receipt in the bank. There’s always the legal documents that the banks have. In the meantime, I kept sending money up there and when I went to the bank, it was just a brand new bank, the Oshamambe Shinyo Ginko. And the bank manager said to me, why don’t I invest in the bank? I said, “Hey, that’s a good idea. What are you capitalized at?” He says, “We’re gonna capitalize at 4 million yen.” I says, “OK. Can I buy 100% of the shares?” Can you imagine that? He looked at me and he says, “No, foreigners can not buy bank shares.” Or something like that. I said, “Well, you want me to invest in the bank?” He says, “Well, why don’t you just invest 5%. 200,000 yen.” I said, “Jesus, that’s not even one-day income to me. Why do I want to invest such a small amount? I want to buy a big share of the bank.” Anyway, I got nowhere. So I put up 200,000 yen. And to show that my hearts in a good position, I deposited 4 million yen which doubled their capitalization instantly. So I thought I was buying into the bank. And all I got was what they called “Teiki.”(“Teikin-time deposit?)
Ain’t that something?
Q: What did you buy in the beginning?
A: Well, I thought I bought 5% of the bank. I tried to buy 100% of the bank. So I had 4 million yen sent up from Tokyo. And put it in the bank. And I sez I want to buy all the shares in the bank. I want to buy 100% of all the shares. 4 million capitalization. I’ll buy them all. And they wouldn’t do that. No, no, no. They wouldn’t do that. He says, you can’t do that. And everything is in Japanese, of course, in those days. I didn’t understand Japanese that much, but I do know what capitalization is. And I do know what shares and stocks and all that crap is. So I wound up putting 4 million yen in a private checking account and 200,000 yen in the bank.
And it turned out that the 200,000 yen, when I checked it 20 years later, how do you like that for balls, was worth 400,000 yen. And I says to the man, “I thought I owned 5% of the bank?” Now the bank’s got a big building. The bank’s really developed.
Q: How could you think you were going to buy 5% of the bank if he told you foreigners couldn’t own shares in the bank. What were you buying then?
A: I bought a teiki.
Q: Oh a time deposit. Teikin.
A: That’s all I got was a time deposit.
Q: But you didn’t know you were getting a time deposit?
A: I thought I owned 5% of the bank. I couldn’t buy 100%. So he says, ok, just 200,000 yen is plenty. Because the other one is in my checking account, see. So I took 200,000 yen out of my checking account, gave it to the bank and I thought I bought 5% of the shares. Now many, many, many years later, like about 3 years ago, I went to the bank and I said “I want to put a new roof on my barn?” So I sez how much is the 200,000 yen that I deposited 20 years ago worth?” Showa 40 (1965) to be exact. Something like that. Maybe even before 40 nen. He says, “Just a moment.” He gets the book out. And he says, “Your deposit is now worth 420,000 yen.” I sez “Wait a minute. I put in 200,000 yen when people were making like 500 yen a month salary. (Note: Actually, it was more like 10,000 yen). Now you’re telling me my money is worth less than one month’s salary for anybody? I sez, “Come on.” You know.
So anyway, I said “I want to build a roof. On my barn and I want to borrow money from the bank to build a roof on my barn.” He says, “We can’t lend you money.” (laughing) I thought I owned 5% of the bank. I tried to buy 100% of the bank. And my credit is no good. I can’t even borrow money. How do you like that?
Q: At that time you said 500 yen was equivalent to a month’s income?
A: No, it couldn ‘t be that low. Maybe 5,000 yen was a month’s income. I doubt if it was that high. But then a little research will tell you what Showa 37.
Q: 200,000 yen
A: Was about 360 that time.
Q: So that ‘s two year’s salary.
A: So it went up to 220,000 yen. Plus my twenty.
Q: I think that (garbled) was less than the average bank employee’s salary. Years.
A: 200,000 in those days was a lot of money. Today, it’s not even../.yeah…probably one month’s salary to a fucking clerk in the office.
Q: And then you ask, can I borrow money to fix the roof. .
A And the guy says no. Now this is a bank that I put millions and millions and millions of yen in it, and …
Q: Why did he say no? Because you are a foreigner?
A: Because I have no mortage. He wanted me to put up a mortgage. I says “What are you talking about?” I says, “My property is in Tokyo.” He says, “We don’t take Tokyo property.” I says, “For 1.2 million what the hell do I want a mortgage to (garbled) for.”
“Why should I mortage for 1.2 million. You got 400,000 yen of my money, and you’ve had it for 20 some-odd years.”
Q: But it wasn’t because you were a gaijin. It was just because you didn’t have a mortage.
A: Who’s to say? Who’s gonna tell you to your face because you’re a gaijin. Don’t forget. Tokyo is Tokyo. Japan is Japan. They are two different countries.
So anyway, so
Q: Did you know what this teikin was? He said teikin, right?I didn’t know what the word “teikin” meant, which is what we say in English, CD’s. Cash Deposit. (ha)
Q: He just let you think that…
A: He just played a game with me. He took advantage of the fact that…You see, it’s some hard to say what these people say among themselves. Because you know what 2 white men say when they see a nigger, or when they see a black man, they say, “that’s a nigger.” What do two Japanese say when they see a foreigner? So who the hell knows what they say.
So anyway, my illustrious interpreter who caused me nothing but headaches and troubles and whatnot. He goes around and he makes a “bai-bai keyaku” with the other four farmers, making Nicola’s the purchaser of 200 Chobu of land. That’s 500 acres. On a monthly installment plan which amounted to peanuts. I could have bought the whole 500 acres for less than the 4 million yen that I put in then bank. And many many years laters, no not so many years later, about a year later, I found out that I was buying all their farm lands. And, of course, I called the farmers in and I…
Q: How did he do that? Did he have your hanko (seal) or something?
A: No, he just made a contract and signed my name. Just a simple piece of paper. They all agreed. Each one. A different person.
Q: He forged your signature?
A: No, no. Just write my name in Japanese. And that was enough. They made a bai-bai keyaku.
Q:Why did he do that?
A: At the end, when I found out, I didn’t want to buy nobody’s property, I don’t want their farmlands. I’m not here to take their fucking farmland away from him. His object was that when the time came, the property would be transferred to his name. And he would own 500 acres of maybe pretty good farm land. But I didn’t know nothing about the contracts. Nothing at all. And I’m paying the farmers a monhtly salary. Which is far, far greater than my employees in Tokyo are getting. Like I believe I was paying them about 20,000 yen a month, which is a lot of money. Each farmer.
Q: To make your cheese.
A: I bought cows. I bought thoroughbred cows. I built a cowbarn for six million yen which was the best barn in Hokkaido at that time. I filled it up with 22 cows. I had 5 farmers. And I don’t think anybody even milked the cows. They were supposed to take care of the farmers, the cows, I got 500 acres of land that I’m using, and all of it is undeveloped. So I bought two bulldozers. From Komatsu. Big ten tonners. And, of course, I bought a tractor, all the stuff that goes with a tractor. I bought a bulldozer with all the blades. Oh, I tell you, I bought everything. I bought trucks. I bought a car. You name it. I owned it. And I got 5 farmers, And one of my best milkers is a cow we called Maria. Good old Maria. She was the best cow. And one day I went up there. And I just got there and everybody is hush, hush and I could tell there is something wrong here today. What the hell is going on here, today. And most of the time they were in my big home. I built a 5-bedroom home there. And they just used to lay around doing nothing. Drinking beer. And having a grand party. I paid all the bills.
Q: How big was the house?
A: 5 bedroom house. Japanese. The American way. Oh, it’s about a 2,500 square feet house. Big living room. And of course it had a flush toilet now. Even people downtown didn’t have a flush toilet. And I’m up in the mountains. I’m actually about 5 miles away from the town. Or the main railroad station. Up on the hill. Beautiful view. A very, expensive beautiful view…if you want to look at it from that point of view. So I went there to stay and everybody, they’re trying to stop me from walking around, and looking at the place, you know. And, of course, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I smelled something was wrong. My interpreter wouldn’t say anything to me, you know. And I walked in the first barn and there’s my beautiful cow Maria, dead on the ground. And I looked and I said, “That’s my best cow. Why is the cow dead? And, of course, nobody knows how ton speak English. Nobody knows how to translate. You ask question and they all “..saaa” (Sucks wind between teeth) You know that style? You ever see them don that? And I got that “..saaaa”….ne….Jesus Christ Almighty. I called up the Nokyo (Agricultural Association) and they brought a guy out and I said, “Tell me why this cow died.” And he says, “Neglect.”
I got a Japanese dictionary and I’m looking for the Japanese word. And I said “Show me the Japanese word.” And the English word is there and it says, “neglect.”
And, I says, “I’ll be a son of a bitch.”
My best fucking cow. These are all thoroughbred cows. These are all with pedigreed papers. So I called up the butcher. And I says, “Come on out here. I want to sell you 12 cows.” He says “What do you want me to do with 12 cows.?”
I said, “Kill’em and eat’em. Kill’em and sell’em. I don’t give a shit what you do with them. I just want to get them off my property.”
He says, “I can not give you milk prices.”
I says, “Just give me something, so I can get rid of everybody on the property. They don’t get no more salary. I don’t have no more worries about cows. And that was the end of my ownership of milkers.
And, of course, all 5 farmers say I’m a dirty, son-of-a bitch bastard. Because they lost their livelihood. Nobody cried about the cow that died. They only cried about their income.
Q: You fired them?
A: I fired all of them. And I was man enough and nasty enough to put’em in one room and beat the shit out of all of them.
Q: You did?
A: No, I wanted to. But they wouldn’t give me that satisfaction. They ain’t about to raise their voice. Nooo. So I went out of the fucking cow business.
Q: But you actually made cheese up there for a way.
A: Yes. Then later on. I didn’t know what to do. I got this place. And I sez OK, let’s go in the pig business. So now I started a pig farm. And I went to Futami.That’s in Nasu. The Futami Pig is…the pig raisin’ is approved by the Japanese. Imperial Family….Futami Bokujo. Up in Nasu some place.
Q: Wait…You said this all started out when you said you were going to get Japanese citizenship to get your land in Hokkaido back.
A: Yeah. This is the land.
Q: This is the same land. I already bought it once.
A: Now the cows are gone. I fired all of them.
Q: You just have the land sitting there with this really nice house. Beautiful barn. I got it and its empty. So I don’t know what to do. What farmer we got who speaks a little English. We call him Farmer Brown. But his name is Kobayashi. And I hate to say this but when I was a little kid in New York, we used to have a guy named 3-Finger Brown, he was a Mafia man, I don’t want to mention his real name, I think his name is Luchese, but he was known as 3-Finger Brown., famous name, he’s some kind of a relative or something like that. But we called this guy Farmer Brown, because he was a good image of Mr. 3-Finger Brown in New York City. Harlem.
Anway, so Farmer Brown came around and he says, “I’d like to take care of the place and keep it clean and everything and just pay a small salary to keep it clean and whatnot. And, I figured well, I got plenty of money and I can’t accuse all of them…maybe this guy had a …he was a little better than the other ones…so I agreed to give him a job and he goes out there and keeps the place clean. So then, he came around and says we should go in the pig business. And I says “Why the pig business? And he gives me a long story that pigs only last six months, and you get your money back and you can count the babies and you cans them and you can feed them. You know the whole rigamarole about how to raise pigs and all that. And he knew nothing about pigs. The only thing he knew was if it’s on a dish he can eat it. So, I went to Futami Bokujo (Futami Ranch), I did my homework and found out that Futami Bokujo sells the best pigs in Japan, and I went up there and bought 30 pigs and 230,000 yen each—an astronomical figure for a pig. 30 females. Six million yen. Thoroughbreds. They call them LL. Landresses. Anyway, they’re big long skinny pigs. They’re weak mother fuckers. They can’t stand up on their four feet. But they’re big beautiful white pigs. So I bought the Landresses. So he gave me three pigs free. Because he said the long ride between Nasu up here…Tochigi ken (prefecture) is Nasu, I think…and Hokkaido, by the time they get there, some of them will die. So I bought all these pigs. They’re about 7-8 months old or something like that. Anyway, I think the pigs were probably worth about 5-10,000 each. If they’re worth that much. But I paid 200,000 yen. Anyway, each come easy go.
So we went up there and we only lost one pig or two pigs on the road. My son drove the pigs up there. We borrowed a truck and drove the pigs up there. Oshamambe. Osha is Hasegawa no. Manbe is ichi-man, ni-man. Be is Kobe. Anyway, that’s Oshamambe, because Hokkaido name’s you’re never gonna figure them out. They have no relation to Kanji. There’s a city up there can Rabun. Try to put that down in Kanji. They got all those kind of cities up there. Anway, they had the pigs and so I had the place all fixed and cleaned up. It was a beautiful place. I had a nice pig farm. And I found out about pigs. And this pig didn’t want to go inside the thing, so I got me a piece of wood and I whacked him a few times on the ass to make him move into the barn. And I whacked him and whacked him and he didn ‘t move. And then he just tipped over and fell asleep. So jesus christ, you know how do you fall asleep. And first thing I know…my first pig, my first day, he died from a heart attack. I said this is the beginning of a lucky series. I got 30 pigs. I got 3 pigs free. And already I lost 30 pigs. And my first day isn’t over yet. 2 died in the truck and I killed one hitting him with a piece of wood. Got so excited. Pigs are very, very delicate sons of bitches. Tough bastards. They’re delicate. Anyway, they won’t go in buildings. They won’t go out of buildings. You know, but anyway, I lost the first pig. So I learned, don’t touch him. Don’t touch them no more. And I just don’t touch pigs no more.
So that went on and and on and I found out that Landresses, although they’re good breeders, they’re good pigs, they’re not accepted in the market. And In went down and found out that the Japanese like pigs that fit in a box and the Landresses are too long and they don’t fit….in the entire….
Q: No. no. I’ve just had a bad day.
A: I’ve had a couple of bad days. I’ve had a lot of bad days. I guess I hit a record low here. I had 28 customers here. Spent 88,000 yen. You talk about a bad day. Everyone of my restaurants, which don’t even come close to Roppongi, they don’t come close to the size of this elaborate operation, outgrossed me yesterday. And my manager hires arubeit (parttime) labor. I can’t wait to tear this place apart. Anway, it’s all in the game. The other restaurants make money, so …
Q: All right so. What happened to the pigs. Did they just die off one-by-one?
A: No, no,no. I increased the herd. I was selling about a thousand pigs a year. Probably more than that. Probably was up to 1500 pigs a year. Pig breeding. You see what you do…if you want a lesson in how to buy pigs….is you buy the Landress..Then you buy the hamster, the Hamshire, the black pig with the white line…Landress is a Dutch pig. You mix it with a Hamshire. And then you mix those babies with a Red Duroc, which is an American pig. And the results are what they call F-1. And the F-1 pig is a good beef pig. The Hamshire (Hampshire?) is a short round mother. He’s a strong. The Duroc is a tall red, wiry son of a gun. It’s an American pig. So you mix these three and now you get a good strain of pigs….Duroc is a red American pig. I mean red. Almost as red as tobasco. And he’s long-legged. Big of course. And he’s a male. The Hampshire’s a male. The Duroc is a male. And the females…you inseminate them with the Landress and then you get babies. You separate the females. You keep the females and …you gotta look at the way they walk. You gotta count how many titties they got. So you always got to to try to pick a female that walks nice. And it’s got 14 tits. Because they’re gonna have babies. And each pig sucks one tit. They don’t move. They go their tit. They just sit there. They go their tit and boy nobody gets their tit except them So we picked out these pigs.First we have Hampshire and Landress. After we mixed them with the Hampshire and the Landress. So we inseminate the females with the Duroc. So we kept that process going. And we wound up selling 100 to sometimes 150 pigs per month.
Q: What’s the end product called?
A: F-1. Everybody uses that word F-1. I don’t know why. Buy gasoline. It’s F-1. You got a race car . It’s F-1.
Q: Formula One pigs. Grand Prix pigs.
A: And I learned a lot. I learned that you gotta put tags in their ear. You gotta have a real goddamn computer system to know what’s going on. You gotta be highly efficient. Which I wasn’t. I didn’t have tags in my pigs ears. Like I used to go up there…every other week, I went up there. Until I started realizing, it’s funny, but I lost this pig and I lost that pig. I had so many pigs and I sold so many and the farmer said they died. And I realize now I’m getting cheated. My farmer Brown was really been giving me the shaft.
(tape off, rest)
(BALLPLAYERS)
(discussion on local chapter of Sumiyoshi gang eating at Nicola’s restaurant)
A: But they don’t raise their voice. They don’t bother nobody. They sit and whatever they talk about I don’t know. Polite, quiet. They never offer argument. They never complain.
(tape off)
Q: Kenny Pearce. Who’s he?
A: Kenny Pearce is an old American comedian. Used to work in Hollywood. In the clubs. Very, very good comedian. Very funny. And he got in trouble with the wife and he decided to leave Hollywood. And he came to Japan. Kenny Pearce is the man who gave me the knife when I had trouble with then gangster…..So Kenny Pearce and I and a black singer by the name of Bobby Williams …and Bobby Williams was bragging about this Japanese girl. He said, “Man this girl liked me. And this girl this. And he kept talking about how this J. girl was going from.. And Kenny Pearce only kept saying, “There’s something wrong with her. Bobby would go more deeper. And Kenny would say there’s something wrong with her. And something wrong with her until finally Bobby Williams got the message…you know, talking in black way…”Kenny what the hell is wrong with that fucking girl.” And Kenny said in a very straight manner, without a smile, “She’s color blind.”
And that’s what’s wrong with that stupid asshole Cromartie. He’s color blind.
Q: Well. He’s noramlly ok, but he’s getting carried away with his picture on wall of Dome,..
A: Leon Lee. Now there’s a gentleman. This guy is so far above these other black guys. Leron, the first baseman, he’s an intelligent son-of-a bitch. You ever meet his wife? Pamela. Intelligent son-of-an gun. And then you look at Cromartie. He brought his white wife here.with his three-quarter color kids., whatever they are. And he calls her a white bitch in front of me. What kind of class has he got?
Q: Was she with him?
A: Yeah.
Q: She was sitting there and his kids were there?
A: A white bitch.
Q: That’s really rude isn’t it.
A: But I look at them, Jesus Christ almighty. You say this. And these guys go out of their way to marry white. They go out of their way. Now he’s got another white girl. Should I pick up the phone and call her up and say “Lisa, you know what Mr. Cromartie used to call his other wife. He called her a white bitch. When are you gonna get that title?”
But, he’s not the only guy that said that. Brewer said it too.
Q: In front of his wife?
A: No, no.no. His wife propositioned me one day. Jesus Christ.
Q: Brewer’s wife?
A: She said, “I got nothing to do and so much free time.” And you know what went through my mind? A Negra’s got s prick that long. Now how am I gonna compete withn that. Now, there tremendous….He (Cromartie) thinks he’s gonna get 2 and a half million dollars next year. No, stupid bastard. He shoulda played that ball safe instead of trying to look like a hero. Tipped over. He shold thought about next year. But then again, I’d say he’s is a black man, he’s a afraid of adventure, because he might fail. That’s what’s wrong with my son. He’s afraid to take this place because he might lose. So rather than do that, they stay in the safety of a salary. And I think maybe the guy didn’t care if he got hrut. He wanted to stay on a .390 average….He finished with .33. And I guess the man from Oklahoma (Randy Bass), is very pro black isn’t he….
SIDE B
(baseball talk continues)
(Destrade …etc. Foreigners in J. baseball)
A: But you see they don’t want permanancy. They want your 38 home runs today. They don’t give an fuck about where you go tomorrow, because they gonna bring somebody else. And they don’t want people to stay in the league forever. They just don’t want them. Because if the American stays here too long, he’ll create records, like Leon. He’s got a .320 batting average. He can’t even come close. Now, Ochiai. But, don’t forget. Ochiai might be ahead of him today, but he ain’t gonna last long…But I would ‘t let Cromartie upset me. Just classify him what he is and don’t worry about it.
(HOKKAIDO LAND)
Q: Now how in the hell did you wind up in court…we got your pig. Your F-1 pig picture.Producing at a rate of a thousand a year. Just machine gunning them out of your ranch there.
A: Now, that’s not a big operation. There’s a guy here in Hirosaka, Hiratsuka…It’s a word like SODA. A 4 letter word, but I don’t know the 3rd letter. He produces a 100,000 pigs a year.Jesus Christ, you know what kind of money that is? That’s a lot of money. Each pig is today, a pig price of about 45,000 yen. So when you multiply 100,000 x 45,000 yen, you got a lot of money. But, of course, he’s got a big operation. And Uncle Same was very nice to him because he imports feed from the States. He’s a big operation. I went to that man to buy pigs. He wouldn’t sell me a fucking thing. Imagine that? One pig he wouldn’t sell me. I wanted to buy pigs. I wanted to go into the pig business. I was up in Hokkaido. Wouldn’t sell me pigs.
Q: Potential competition.
A: Well, of course, I’m the type if something goes good, I don’t take the money out. I keep putting more money in it. And let it keep going better and better and better. But he wouldn’t sell me a fucking pig. And I went to the American Embassy and asked them to help. And they said they can’t help me. The man. It’s his pigs.
Q: So, how did you wind up in court over the land…
A: Well, I got the pig operation going. And the man I bought the land from…of course, I can’t transfer the property to my name because I’m a gaijin. A foreigner. A foreigner is not allowed to own farmland. So I left it in the farmers name. And I never had no trouble with him. And then there’s a lot of rules in Japan that automatically make the property mine. One is that if you sit on a piece of property for ten years. And if the owner doesn’t complain, it’s yours. And if you sit on it for 20 years. It’s even more yours. So, I’ve been on the property over 20 years. And I’m gonna go to court. And then I find out I can’t go to court to get the property because I gotta be a Japanese. So I sez, what the hell. I’ll be a Japanese. So that’s one reason why I became a Japanese.
Q: You mean all the while you thought you owned this land, you thought…
A: I know it’s not in my name, but its my right. I’m on the land. If you sit on the land and you put a building on the land, you are the operator of that land. Regardless of how big it is. It’s your Eminent Domain. I don’t know how you would say it. Squatter’s rights? So I got that right. I’m on that land. I got my barns on it. I got my private home on it. Then government gave me 1600 tsubo of land to put my private home on. Most farmers are only allowed 300 tsubo. For farmhouse.
Q: I thought you bought 500 acres?
A: I gave it back.
Q: How did you get this land then?
A: This one I bought. This one I wanted to buy. The other one were cooperatives.
Q: Well, how’d you get this land in the first place? This is the same area?
A: This is Oshamambe. And when I was sitting in this hotel, this Farmer Brown, this Kobayashi came over and asked me to…
Q: So it was his land.
A: No. no. Slowly. So I sez ok. I don’t know. I do want to own a farm.Own a ranch. I want a place.And he was we have, our 5 farmers, own 200 Chobu. And we will sell you the 200 chobu. Now, we’re talking about nickels and dimes. Not big money, you know. Anway, so I sez, well, let me see the land. And I looked it over. I looked at all the land. And I picked this land, because when you…the farmer don’t like to put a house on the top of a hill. It’s exposed to the elements. But we are different.people. We like to see a view. We like to oversee what we got. Anyway me. And I picked the land that had a little rise on it. And it’s a nice piece of property as far as view is concerned. Cuz if I look to my left from the place where my house is now, I see the city of Mururan (sp?)…it’s before Tomakomai. It’s a seaport. So from my house window, I could see Mururan on that side. Which is to my left. I guess you’d say 270 degrees. If you look from a compass, if I’m heading zero. And to my right, I see the city of Mori. You never heard of Mori. It’s a mountain with a big saddle in it. So I got this tremendous view. This is all bay. And the nearest point from outside of the bay is 20 kilometers. So you can imagine what I can see from a clear day. So I picked this property. And this one was owned by Mr. Kambara. And it was only supposed to be 14 chobu. And I bought 14 chobu. And it turned out to be that it was 12 chobu. But anyway, who cares, you know. So I bought that land. I picked that land and I paid for it. And in the meantime I’m paying for all the other lands…until I found out that I’m paying for all the other lands.
Q: But you bought the land and you put the house and the barn on it.
A: No wait a minute. Be careful. We’ve used the word “bought” a little too freely.
Q: You just said “I picked the land and I bought it.”
A: I picked the land and technically I bought it. But I can’t transfer it to my name because I’m a foreigner. So I bought the land, but it’s in the original owner’s name. And he owned the government money.Which I agreed to pay. And the contract says that the land can not be transferred to me, until later. Later. It’s already 30 years ago and its still fucking later. But anyway.
Q: That’s what it just says? “later?”
A: Yeah, later. I think it says 18 months later. I hate to say it, but anyway. So, I wound up being the so-called owner of the land. And I put barns on it and I put a private home on it. And I built a house for the farmer.
Q: What was the name of the guy who owned it?
A: Kambara…..Mr. Kambara is probably the only man that I met, or you ever met or anybody ever met who cannot read and write Japanese. Did you ever meet anybody who could not read and write Japanese?
Q: Never a Japanese.
A: Anway, he don’t want to be a farmer, because he was a kid during the war and he was forced to work on a farm. And he never had a chance to go to school. Not that it means everybody who goes to school comes out smart. He was stupid and he didn’t go to school. And if he would have went to school, he still would have come out stupid.
Stupid as far as reading and writing was concerned. And other than that, he’s not stupid. So I wound up with that property. And I put my buildings on it. And the other properties, I bought a bulldozer.And the homestead law in Japan is like in America, because when MacArthur came, MacArthur took all the land away from the Tokyo owners. And the only way you can own a piece of land under MacArthur’s redevelopment program, is you had to live on the land. So everybody in Tokyo who owned land in Hokkaido. Or any absentee owner.MacArthur just wiped him out. But that’s history. So I think what they did, they got a map and they just made square in it, each one about 10 or 12 chobu or something like that. And they gave it to the farmers. On a I-pay-you-later-for-the-land. And, of course, through the shuffling, some people wound up buying other people’s land. And some people wound up with 40 chobu.
Q: SCAP gave it to the farmers.
A: All they had to do was live on it. And he gave them money, and the government gave them money, so they could build houses and they can start a farming program. And I’d say that 10% never did it. Anyway, Mr. Kambara didn’t do it. But Mr. Kambara lived in a house. On the land. That he had a few cows in the bottom of the house. He had a horse. And he had cow shit all over the place and horseshit all over the place. And he was living there. And you couldn’t sit in a fucking room in the house because the stink from the barn, was right in the house. And he had no electricity. And he had no water. And for his room decoration, he had pasted newspapers. How poor can you get? So when I saw him living conditions and what he was living in.
Q: He had 1 horse, 1 cow?
A: He had one horse, 2 cows, some shit like that. He had no cultivated land. Nothing. And the cows would just go out and eat whatever they can. I don’t know how the hell then guy survived. But anyway, I felt sorry for him. He had a wife and a couple of kids. No matter how poor you are, your pecker still stands up and you can make babies. So I gave him a salary and told him to get lost. So I paid him every month, hoping to god that he would do something with his life. And at one part of the game, the years that went by, …I should say another thing before we get to that…I had two bulldozers. And I sent all my farmers to bulldozer school. So that they can learn how to run a bulldozer. And they learned how to run a bulldozer. And the first graceful act they did to me, was they wiped out my topsoil. So now, I got little slopes but no topsoil. They were learning how to use the bulldozer. And they learned the trade so well that they buried one of my bulldozers in sort of a sinkpot. And we had to call the bulldozer company and bring a couple of more bulldozers up, plus mine, to pull it out. They buried it in the mud.
Q: What’d you say they did to the topsoil?
A: They scraped it. They learned how to use a bulldozer. They take all the topsoil off and it blows away. And its gone, and all you got on the bottom is clay. And nothing grows on clay…..Man. I’m a lucky guy….As a matter of fact, you could still go on that property today and there is no topsoil. We’re talking 30 years later.
Q: These are the four farmers
A: Oh, man. I sent them to bulldozer school. I paid their fees. I gave them money to live. And I got paid back, my cow dies, they bury the bulldozer. The bulldozer is in such bad condition from laying in the mud, I mean you couldn’t even see the seat where you sit in. That’s how deep it was buried. So anyway, I sent the bulldozer back to Komatsu. Now I owned one bulldozer and one tractor.
(Pause. Checking handwritten notes)
A: You gotta picture me as a Pagliacci. A fucking clown with a white suit and black spots. That’s my uniform.
But I treated them good.
(talks with waiter)
Q: The farmers don’t sound too swift.
A: But Mr. Kambara was the dumbest one of all, because he couldn ‘t read or write Japanese. And he became the richest one of all of them. And because intelligence is son fucking important. He is now the poorest one of all of them. Can you imagine thatThis guy wound up buying 20 bulldozers. He asked me to buy him a helicopter so he move…he’s a lumberman now. He cuts lumber. He was cutting lumber. What do you call him. A lumberjack? You know with the big chain saws and the bulldozers bringing these logs down from the mountaintop. And he was willing to buy a helicopter that could pick up the log and bring it to the truck. Instead of slide it down the bottom of the hill. And he wound up with land and he had 2 private homes in Oshamambe. He was really a success story. And he couldn’t read and write. Then he got involved with my interpreter. And Mr. Kambara lost everything. He lost his bulldozers. He lost his two private homes. He had acreages of land. He lost it all. I tell you. I shouldn’t feel bad. Some people are worse off than I am.
What else would you like to know? We got sidetracked.
Q: You went to court and you got your land back.
A: All right, so now. After all these years, I finally qualified to go to court. Because now I’m a Japanese. I’m a resident of Hokkaido. The Farm Association don’t want to give me a license to become a farmer because I’m a foreigner, even though I’m a Japanese citizen.
Q: The fact that you’re becoming Japanese meant that you could legally own that land?
A: No, it means that you can legally go to court and fight for that land..I could be a legal owner. I’m a Japanese now and I live in Oshamambe.
Q: So this guy, Kambara had the contract. He had the lease in his name even though the property was transferred to you.
A: The property was in his name and then I sent up my interpreter (& ex-GM) Mr. Fujita. My interpreter Fujita went up there, because he told me…..you know, I imagine this is a long, long story. It interwinds itself. Anway, we’ll just start it.
Fujita went up and told me that Mr. Kamabara was untrustworthy and you shouldn’t trust him. Mind you, the kettle calling the pot black. And he will go up to Hokkaido for me. I already fired him once.Which, one of these days, we’ll get to that conversation. And he wanted to go up to Hokkaido and take care of the property for the company. And do this and do that. And do all these things. And he was on my back every fucking day. “You can’t trust Kambara. You can trust me. I’m like your father.” Anything to get inside the door. If I’d have asked him to pull down his pants and stick a dick in his ass he’d have said yes. And I’m the one who got shafted, not him.
So I sent him up to Hokkaido and he was a retired employee of mine for 20,000 yen a month. Which he blackmailed me in to giving him. But anyway, like I said, so he went up there and he said to me, he wanted a hundred thousand a month to do the job. He’s getting 20,000 yen a month retirement pay in Tokyo, deposited to his account.
Q: Fujita?
A: Fujita. And Fujita spoke Chinese, English and Japanese. Fluently. Anyway, he died at 83 years old about 2 years ago. He was born in 1903. Anyway, so ok, get out of my hair, send him up to Hokkaido. And I gave him a budget of 100,000 yen a month. This is in Showa 43 nen. (1968) And his job was to get the property. Qualify as a farmer. Qualify as a resident. And then get the property and put it in the company name. And In sent him a 100,000 yen a month. Finally he complained. Send me 600,000 twice a year. So I says “OK, go to the bank and tell them to give you 600,000. And I will make a deal with the bank.” So I made a deal with the bank that I borrowed 600,000 yen. I gave them a promissory note dated 6 months later. They give me the cash. He takes the cash. I honor the note. Silly fucking thing. But anyway. It was all right, because it’s documents that go through a bank and it protects me later on. And, in case of trouble, I got bank documents. So I went through that routine.And in Showa 46 nen, we finally got the property transfer. The man wanted a million yen for transfer fees. This Kambara. But Fujita says I’ll give you two million. How do you like spending my money. And I said why should you pay for the money when we already paid for the land. 2 & 3 times already, for Christs Sakes, you know.
So anyway, he made a contract with the man that the property would be transferred to his private name, instead of the company, and he told me that the company was buying the land for a million yen, and we sent a million yen. No, we didn’t do that. I carried a million yen up to Hokkaido. And I put 600,000 yen in the bank and spent the other 400,000 yen enjoying life, fucking broads and drinking. And all the other things that go with the good life. But I was very smart. I put it in the bank. I didn’t give it to him. I just deposited it in the bank. And he was smarter than me. Because when I found out what happened, he owned the land. Not me. Nice guy.
So now I’m annoyed. And I can’t do nothing about it because I’m an American. So I had to bide my time, and bide my time, and bide my time.
Q: He bought this land and put it in his name..
A: My money….but, he couldn’t take the property and the housing and the barns. Because they were registered in Nicolas’ enterprise company. He couldn’t move that. But he could move the property name from one farmer to him.. So I went up to Hokkaido ad I pressed the Nokyo Inkai, Nokyo Inkai is the chief of the Farm Association. And I insisted that Mr. Fujita be given a farmer’s license. And I got him a farmer’s license. So now Fujita’s got a farmer’s license. And he lived there two or three years so he’d qualify. And instead of doing it for the company, he’d put the property under his name. And I didn’t have , shall we say, nothing to fall back on.. I should have had, what do you callem “safety catches?” I don’t know, I can’t think of the word. But anyway. So I was virtually bareassed. No loopholes. He got me. So, in the meantime, I’m having trouble with my money in Tokyo. And I had a tie up with the taxi company so that dovetailed…so the property wound up in Mr. Fujita’s name, and it took me, 46 nen…I became a Japanese about 8 years ago. 57 nen. (1983) So it took me about 14 years to become a Japanese. But I couldn’t do nothing until 20 years passed, or something like that. So in Showa 57, I filed court action to get the land into my company name. In the meantime, Mr. Fujita filed a cross suit, demanding his retirement pay, which, of course, I stopped when I found out what he did.
Anyway, after a few years, the court ended. And I won. A hollow victory, but I won.
Q: In Showa when?
A: About 2 years ago. (1987) No, no, no, it ended about a year ago. Anyway, it’s such a complicated legal decision, that even my interpreter who worked for Keishicho (police HQ) for 35 years as a chief of interpreting section, this guy that I use, Mr. Mogami…he now works for the JCIA,…I gave him my…and I asked him “Can you translate this thing” And he’s a great translator. His English is better than mine. His spelling is better. His sentence structure. Everything is better than me. But he can’t interpret. Pencil & paper, he’s terrific….I tell you…Yesterday, I used him as an interpreter. He couldn’t understand. Maybe he’s getting old. So it turned out that Mr. Fujita’s claim was 100% discarded by the court. And, of course, before the court decision came out, Mr. Fujita died. I regret that I didn’t kill him. I don’t think I got the balls to kill anybody. I talk about it. I think about it. But how the fuck do you do it in this god damn country?.
Q: So you got the land back?
A: Well, yes. Now. His case against me, he lost 100%. My case against him, I won. A hollow victory. It means I can’t take the land out of his name or his son’s name who has inherited it. But I could use the property free forever. Figure that one out.
Q: Can you sell it?
A: No, it’s not mine. I can live on it. I can plant. I can do anything I want with the land. I can’t mortgage it. I can’t sell it. And it’s just a matter of time when I die or something happens and these people will go back to the courts and say that the person who won the right to use the land is dead and everybody else is dead so we want the right to…and, of course, I’ll get wiped out. Naturally.
Q: OK. That’s enough.
(End Interview Session)
Tokyo Junkie 