Kajiyama

Kajiyama, known as the Emperor of Loan Sharks, appears in Jake Adelstein’s account as a major loan shark and a figure in the financial network surrounding Tadamasa Goto. The evidence links him to Goto’s instruction in moving money through Las Vegas and to National Police Agency tracking of funds in casino accounts, while leaving unresolved whether money connected to yakuza crime reached UCLA.

Identity and Position

Kajiyama is identified by the epithet Emperor of Loan Sharks. In recounting information supplied by Shibata, Jake Adelstein connects him to Hisatoshi Mio, founder of the Mio-gumi: Mio was Kajiyama’s backer. This places Kajiyama within a network of financial and underworld relationships, although the account does not detail the structure or day-to-day operation of his lending business.

Connection to Tadamasa Goto

Tadamasa Goto had taught Kajiyama how to move money through Las Vegas. For Jake Adelstein, that connection made Goto’s dealings appear less isolated: Goto knew Mio as well as Kajiyama, and Kajiyama’s financial network offered another point of contact between the yakuza world and overseas money movement. The account presents this as a developing investigative lead, not proof that every transaction involving these men had a criminal origin.

Casino Accounts and Police Tracking

A source told Jake Adelstein that in the year Goto went to UCLA, the National Police Agency tracked close to a million dollars moving through Goto’s casino accounts. One account was in Tokyo with the Japanese branch of a major casino. The source linked this information to the Kajiyama case, indicating that the mechanism of casino-based transfers was relevant to Jake Adelstein’s understanding of the investigation. The account does not specify that the entire sum belonged to Kajiyama or identify the precise transactions connecting the men.

UCLA and Unresolved Questions

The account raises the possibility that money paid to UCLA by at least one of four Japanese patients with yakuza ties came from illegal activity in Japan. Federal law-enforcement sources described international money laundering as the transfer of criminal proceeds from overseas to the United States, and cited the Emperor of Loan Sharks case as an example relevant to that concern. However, the text says none of the four men had been investigated for money laundering, and it does not establish that Kajiyama himself was among the patients or that his funds paid for a transplant. Whether UCLA knew of the patients’ yakuza ties or the possible origins of payments also remains unanswered.