African Kennel was the pet shop operated by Gen Sekine, a dog breeder whose business connected the sale of animals with yakuza customers. The shop’s significance in the account lies in that overlap: it was a place of trade, but also the setting for a demonstration of Sekine’s unnerving bargaining tactics and, later, an attack on him.

Identity and Setting

The shop’s name surfaced in a newspaper-archive search undertaken during the investigation into missing dog breeders. After two days of searching old editions, the narrator found a July 14, 1992, report about Sekine, a Kumagaya pet breeder. It described a lion cub he had kept on the balcony of his home; after neighbors alerted animal control, the animal was sent to a zoo in Gunma Prefecture and Sekine was fined. The report did not describe an incident inside African Kennel, but it helped identify Sekine in newspaper and police databases by confirming the kanji used for his name.

Business and Yakuza Connections

Sekine’s shop was part of a broader animal-trading business that served yakuza customers. He had previously belonged to Kyokuto-kai and, after arriving in Konan, came under the protection of Takada-gumi. His connection with Takada began with an expensive dog given to the group’s boss as a gesture of thanks. Sekine went on to supply yakuza with dogs and wild animals, including a lion sold to a group. The shop thus stood at the meeting point of an ordinary commercial exchange and a network built on criminal affiliation and patronage.

The Dog-Price Dispute

One account of the shop’s business describes Sekine negotiating with a customer over a purebred dog. The customer refused to pay the requested 1.5 million yen and pressed for a 500,000-yen reduction. Sekine picked up grooming scissors and removed the dog’s left ear, then treated the act as though he had granted the requested discount. The customer paid the price and left with the dog. The episode shows how Sekine turned an animal in his care into leverage: the act made the bargaining threat unmistakable without changing the stated price.

Attack and Narrative Significance

African Kennel was also where Shimizu, a junior member of Takada-gumi, cornered and attacked Sekine. Sekiguchi was put in charge of interrogating the suspect. The shop’s recurrence in these episodes gives it a double role: it is the workplace through which Sekine’s animal trade reaches yakuza customers, and a vulnerable site where the conflicts surrounding those connections become physical. Its importance comes not from any described architectural feature or precise address, but from the way commerce, intimidation, and criminal ties converge there.