Shimada Shinsuke, the Jay Leno of Japan retires after yakuza ties exposed.

In Japan it has been front-page news for the past three days that Japan’s most ubiquitous and popular television comic and host, Shinsuke Shimada, is retiring from the entertainment industry after admitting to extensive ties to the yakuza, Japan’s organized crime. Before his announcement, Shimada hosted six different programs, aired in Osaka and Tokyo. The scandal would be the equivalent of Jay Leno or Regis Philbin confessing to being in cahoots with Mexican kingpins. His abrupt departure has forced TV stations to cancel or adapt programs on which Shimada featured regularly as a host. But much more than: it has brought to public attention the yakuza domination of the entertainment industry. The Japanese character in the headlines, the one in the circle (暴) is shorthand for 暴力団 (boryokudan) meaning “violent group,” police lingo for organized crime. Bo (暴）itself means violence. On police documents regarding organized crime, that character stamped in a circle is read as マルボウ(marubou) and is shorthand for yakuza.

For the rest of the story please check out “Ties to the Yakuza Are No Laughing Matter” on the Atlantic Wire.