Kyoto Prefectural Police Headquarters in Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto City

On February 26, 2025, the crackdown on Kan-nama of the ready-mix concrete industry labor union reached a climax.

A verdict will be handed down in the case in which the prosecution sought a 10-year prison sentence for Chairman Yuji Yukawa for his involvement in union activities at Kan-nama in Kyoto.

The 10-year prison sentence is the heaviest among the cases of oppression of Kan-nama in the Kinki region (Osaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture and Shiga Prefecture). The charges are “extortion” and “attempted coercion” against the management of the ready-mix concrete company. The prosecution claims that Kan-nama “intimidated” the management.

However, Kan-nama merely carried out union activities such as strikes, which are protected by the constitution and are not criminal activities.

In fact, in a case in which labor union activities in Wakayama were charged with “attempted coercion,” the Osaka High Court handed down an acquittal. Presiding Judge Makoto Wada stated, “The right to unionize is protected under Article 28 of the Constitution, while any attempts to infringe on that right are prohibited by law.” The prosecution was unable to appeal due to constitutional constraints, and the acquittal was finalized.

So how did the activities of Kan-nama in Kyoto end up fabricated as a crime? The method used by the police and prosecutors was what could be called the “ultimate hostage justice.”

With the verdict due shortly, we will report in detail in two parts.

Load up the back seat with bread

The key to this story is Hiroshi Kugai, the manager of a ready-mix concrete company. As a director of a cooperative made up of Kyoto-based companies, he has worked hard to develop the industry.

He has been collaborating closely with the labor union’s Kan-nama. There is a reason for this.

The ready-mix concrete industry is caught between large cement companies and general contractors. Cement companies try to sell cement, the raw material for ready-mix concrete, at a high price. General contractors try to buy ready-mix concrete at a low price. The ready-mix concrete industry, which is made up of many small companies, forms cooperatives to negotiate prices in order to secure profits.

However, there are some ready-mixed concrete companies that do not join the cooperative. These are referred to as “Out Companies,” which means they operate outside of the cooperative. To gain business, “Out Companies” aim to outbid the competition by supplying ready-mixed concrete at a lower price. If there are too many Out Companies, the cost of ready-mixed concrete will decrease. The entire industry will stagnate. The wages of people working in the industry, including mixer truck drivers, will also fall. Kan-nama has been lobbying the Out Companies to join the cooperative.

As a labor union, they negotiate with the cooperatives created by management over wages and working conditions, and they also go on strike. Nonetheless, the ready-mix concrete industry is caught between cement companies and general contractors, and is taken advantage of. In order to deal with larger opponents, labor and management have cooperated.

Kugai served as a director of the Kyoto Cooperative Association for many years. He was close with the members of Kan-nama, and they would go skiing together or have a drink at a jazz bar. Kugai himself was a skilled jazz bass player, and he often played and listened to them at the bar. When he found a delicious bakery, he bought so much bread that it filled the back seat of his car and brought it to Kan-nama, saying, “These are delicious, please try them.”

Kugai was particularly close to Yukawa, the current chairman who was in charge of the Kyoto area. Together they racked their brains to make the ready-mixed concrete industry in Kyoto more profitable for both labor and management.

There were many times when they had to overcome difficult situations, but Yukawa remembers how Kugai never lost his sense of humor.

There was a time when Kugai was addicted to “Pokemon GO.” It is a game that overlaps the real world with a virtual world and searches for characters called pocket monsters in the city. One day, Kugai called Yukawa.

“There are some Pokemon near your house, so I’ll go there now.”

“I won’t give in to that.”

It came just as cooperation with Kan-nama was proving effective and Kyoto’s ready-mix concrete industry was beginning to stabilize.

In the spring of 2018, the Kyoto Prefectural Police’s Organized Crime Department began to investigate Kugai. His home and company were searched. The Kyoto District Public Prosecutors Office also joined the investigation.

The pretext of the police and prosecutors’ investigation was to prove a “collusive relationship” with Kan-nama. The plot was that, although he was a member of the management side, Kugai had conspired with Kan-nama to extort ready-mix concrete companies in Kyoto Prefecture.

However, that was not the real aim of the police and prosecutors. They wanted Kugai to play the role of “a business owner threatened by Kan-nama.” They began investigating Kugai under the pretext that he was an accomplice of Kan-nama. They then had Kugai betray Kan-nama, turn into a victim, and file a complaint against Kan-nama. The scenario they had drawn up was that they would begin an investigation into Kan-nama upon receiving the complaint.

Around this time in the spring of 2018, Yukawa met with Kugai. This was before Yukawa was arrested, and Kugai was trying to keep the police and prosecutors from targeting Yukawa and Kan-nama.

“They’re trying to fabricate a case, but it’s okay. I won’t give in to that.”

“Deep regret” in statement to Kyoto Prefectural Police

However, the police and prosecutors’ interrogations were relentless. Kugai was called in for questioning almost every week. Although the questioning was voluntary, each session lasted five hours, and sometimes as long as seven hours.

On December 27, 2018, Kugai stated to the investigating officer, Detective Inspector Makoto Monobe of the Kyoto Prefectural Police’s Organized Crime Control Department, that he was a victim and apologized for his attitude toward the police when the investigation began.

“When my home and company were searched, I hid my cell phone because I didn’t want anyone to know about my correspondence with Kan-nama. I can’t help being accused of destroying evidence. I regret my actions.”

In the summer of 2019, the Kyoto Wide Area Ready Mixed Concrete Cooperative (Kyoto Cooperative), of which Kugai served as a director, filed criminal charges against Yukawa and former chairman Kenichi Take for extortion.

What is settlement money?

The complaint filed by Kyoto Cooperative covers two incidents.

The first was the so-called “Best Liner Incident” in August 2014. When Best Liner, a company that arranged for the use of mixer trucks, was dissolved, the Kyoto Cooperative paid a “settlement money” of 150 million yen to Kan-nama as compensation for not fulfilling the promise of severance pay and full-time employment to employees. Best Liner was a company established by the Kyoto Cooperative, and Kugai also served as a director.

The other is the “Kinki Ready-Mixed Concrete Incident” in November 2016. After Kinki Ready-Mixed Concrete, a member of the Kyoto Cooperative, suddenly filed for bankruptcy, the Kyoto Cooperative paid a “settlement money” of 60 million yen to Kan-nama. This was compensation for the salaries of employees undergoing bankruptcy proceedings, and for Kan-nama’s occupation of the Kinki Ready-Mixed Concrete plant to prevent it from being handed over to the Out Company, a company not affiliated with the Kyoto Cooperative. The occupation was necessary because if the Out Company were to operate, a price war for ready-mixed concrete could have begun. It was in the interest of both the Kyoto Cooperative and Kan-nama, which wanted to maintain the wage levels of workers. The occupation itself is a method used by labor unions to secure unpaid wages and retirement benefits.

What is “settlement money”?

Settlement money is paid when a company has caused damage to an employee. Most settlement money is made in connection with dismissal or bankruptcy, but they have also been paid in cases of discrimination against the employee or sexual harassment.

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, for example, discriminated against 168 employees for union activity or being supporters of the Communist Party, and paid them a settlement in 2007 worth about 1 billion yen, according to the Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun at the time.

The amount varies from case to case, but in the case of union members who opposed privatization and were not hired by JR, a total of approximately 19.9 billion yen was paid as settlement money to 904 people.

Kugai watched the prosecutor’s face

There is no problem with paying the settlement money as it is a matter between management and the union.

Moreover, the Best Liner incident occurred five years before the Kyoto Cooperative, which Kugai and others were involved in, filed its complaint, and the Kinki Ready-Mixed Concrete incident occurred three years ago. If he really felt that he had been “threatened by Kan-nama,” he would have immediately reported the damage. On the contrary, Kugai continued to cooperate with Kan-nama even after the two “incidents” occurred.

It was too far-fetched to bring charges, but the police and prosecutors were not going to give up. This is what they must have been thinking.

We must prosecute the “Best Liner Case” and the “Kinki Ready-Mixed Concrete Case” at all costs. There are various charges against Kan-nama, but both cases are being investigated as extortion. We can put Chairman Yukawa, the leader of Kan-nama, in prison for a long time to destroy Kan-nama. To do that, we must defeat Kugai, who claims that he was not threatened by Kan-nama, and make him the victim.

Nonetheless, how did the police and prosecutors entrap Kugai? When the investigation began in the spring of 2018, he told Yukawa, “They’re trying to fabricate a case, but it’s okay. I won’t give in to something like that.”

Kugai passed away in May 2024. He had been fighting cancer. Tansa obtained testimony from several people involved in the ready-mix concrete industry about Kugai before his death. Kugai spoke about the police and prosecutors’ investigation as follows:

“They said, ‘We can do whatever we want with your company, your livelihood, etc.'”

“When I said something to defend Kan-nama, I was threatened, ‘If you continue like this, we will have no choice but to arrest you.'”

“I was under so much pressure, there’s nothing I could do. I’m sorry about what I did to Yukawa.”

During the trial, Kugai displayed behavior that supported these testimonies.

It was the fourth trial in 2022. Kugai was being questioned by Yukawa’s lawyer, Yasuhisa Nagashima, as a witness. While he was explaining the details of the Best Liner incident in response to a question, he was reprimanded by Nagashima.

“I have a request for the witnesses. When you are testifying, please refrain from looking at the prosecutor’s face to check his expression.”

Would he be framed as a criminal or would he have to lie? There, Kugai was seen fearing the “ultimate hostage justice.”

Prosecutor General Naomi Unemoto and National Police Agency Commissioner General Yoshinobu Kusunoki

Tansa sent the following questionnaire to the Attorney General, Naomi Unemoto, and the National Police Agency Commissioner General, Yoshinobu Kusunoki:

This is about a case in which the Ready Mixed Concrete Cooperative (hereinafter, Kyoto Cooperative) was made to be the victim. In this case, the investigation was carried out with Kyoto Cooperative director Hiroshi Kugai as the victim. However, Kugai was initially interrogated as a suspect. According to our investigation, during interrogation by the Kyoto Prefectural Police, Kugai was told things like “If things continue like this, we will have no choice but to arrest you” and, “We can do whatever we want with your livelihood,” and he began to take the position of a victim of extortion. He testified as a victim at trial, but was told by the prosecutor to testify according to the prosecutor’s scenario.

 

Do you think forcing Kugai to testify as a victim constitutes fabrication of the incident? Or do you think it does not constitute fabrication? Please answer and explain why.

But no reasonable answer was given.

Planning Section of the Research and Coordination Division of the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office

As this is a matter relating to an individual case, we will refrain from answering.

National Police Agency Public Relations Office

As this is a matter relating to an individual case, we will refrain from answering.

To be continued in part 2. 

(Originally published in Japanese on February 24, 2025. Translation by Mana Shibata.)

Hostage Justice: All articles