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Fierce battle between major Japanese underground syndicates

OSAKA, Japan, April 25 Kyodo - Riot police officers confront members of the Yamaguchi-gumi underground gangster syndicate to keep them at bay from Osaka Police Hospital in the western Japan city on Jan. 26, 1985. The syndicate's leader Masahisa Takenaka was admitted to the hospital earlier in the day after being shot by members belonging to the syndicate's rival, Ichiwa-kai.

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S. Korea refuses entry to 3 Japanese lawmakers

TOKYO, Japan - (From L to R, front) Tomomi Inada, Yoshitaka Shindo and Masahisa Sato, lawmakers of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, speak with reporters at Haneda airport in Tokyo on Aug. 1, 2011, after returning to Japan from Seoul's Gimpo International Airport, where they were refused entry by South Korea earlier in the day due to their plan to visit a South Korean island near a pair of disputed islets.

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LDP lawmakers depart for Seoul despite entry ban

TOKYO, Japan - (from L) Masahisa Sato, Yoshitaka Shindo and Tomomi Inada, lawmakers of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, are surrounded by reporters at Tokyo's Haneda airport on Aug. 1, 2011. They left for Seoul despite South Korea's decision to ban their entry for planning to visit a South Korean island near a pair of disputed islets.

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Actress Sakai indicted over drug possession

TOKYO, Japan - Masahisa Aizawa, president of Sun Music Production Inc., speaks about the firing of actress and singer Noriko Sakai at a press conference in Tokyo on Aug. 28 after prosecutors indicted her for alleged amphetamine possession.

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President of Sakai's agency

TOKYO, Japan - Masahisa Aizawa, president of Sun Music Production Inc., speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Aug. 9. Actress Noriko Sakai of his entertainment agency was arrested the previous day on suspicion of possessing stimulants.

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President of Sakai's agency

TOKYO, Japan - Masahisa Aizawa (L), president of Sun Music Production Inc., bows at a press conference in Tokyo on Aug. 9. Aizawa apologized to the public for the arrest of actress Noriko Sakai of his entertainment agency the previous day on suspicion of possessing stimulants.

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President of Sakai's agency

TOKYO, Japan - Masahisa Aizawa, president of Sun Music Production Inc., speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Aug. 9. Actress Noriko Sakai of his entertainment agency was arrested the previous day on suspicion of possessing stimulants.

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Police obtain arrest warrant for missing actress Sakai

TOKYO, Japan - Masahisa Aizawa, president of Tokyo-based Sun Music Production Inc., to which missing actress Noriko Sakai belongs, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Aug. 7 after police obtained an arrest warrant earlier in the day for Sakai on suspicion of violating the stimulant drugs control act.

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Police obtain arrest warrant for missing actress Sakai

TOKYO, Japan - Masahisa Aizawa, president of Tokyo-based Sun Music Production Inc., to which missing actress Noriko Sakai belongs, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Aug. 7 after police obtained an arrest warrant earlier in the day for Sakai on suspicion of violating the stimulant drugs control act.

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GSDF unit head in Iraq returns to Japan to report

TOKYO, Japan - Col. Masahisa Sato, the logistics chief of the Japanese Ground-Self Defense Force (GSDF) detachment in Iraq, enters the Defense Agency in Tokyo on April 20 to report to the agency on the troop's activities in Samawah, southern Iraq.

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Japanese core troop unit arrives in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Koichiro Bansho (R), head of a core unit of Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) noncombat troops, shakes hands with Col. Masahisa Sato, head of an advance team of group troops, on arrival in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah from Kuwait on Feb. 27.

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(2)Japanese troops in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (R), head of the contingent of Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force troops stationed in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah, salutes to Dutch Foreign Minister Bot van Buitenlandse (L) who visited the Japanese camp on Feb. 25.

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Zakheim visits Japan's GSDF team in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Dov Zakheim (L) speaks with Col. Masahisa Sato, head of a Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) advance team, at a Dutch military base in Samawah, southern Iraq, on Feb. 19 after Zakheim arrived there. (Pool photo)

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Welcoming meeting held for Japanese ground troops in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (L at the podium), who heads the advance team for a GSDF mission to Iraq, speaks at a welcoming meeting for Japanese ground troops in Samawah on Feb. 9. The meeting, sponsored by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority and Muthana Province, was attended by some 200 people, including local tribal leaders.

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(4)Main Japanese ground troops arrive in Iraq's Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Yasushi Kiyota (R), who commands the first batch of Japan's main Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) contingent, shakes hands with Col. Masahisa Sato, who heads the advance team for a GSDF mission to Iraq, at the Dutch military's Camp Smitty outside the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on Feb. 8.

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GSDF to hire locals in southern Iraq

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato, who heads the advance team for a Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) mission to Iraq, tells Kyodo News on Feb. 5 the GSDF plans to hire as many Iraqis as possible for its camp and relief activities in the southern Iraq city of Samawah and nearby areas.

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(1)Scenes from Iraq's Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (L), head of the advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force troops in Iraq, presents a sheep to the local social welfare bureau in Samawah, southern Iraq, on Feb. 3.

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(1)Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (C) of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) and other GSDF members visit a local variety store in Samawah, southern Iraq, on Feb. 2.

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(1)Japan's advance team in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (2nd from L in back low), head of the advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense noncombat troops in Iraq, poses with children during his visit to a school in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on Jan. 25.

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(2)Japan's advance team in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (3rd from L), head of the advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense noncombat troops in Iraq, inspects a war-damaged school building in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on Jan. 25.

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(1)Advance GSDF team in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (4th from L), commanding an advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) in Iraq, is briefed by waterworks officials at a water purification plant outside the southern Iraqi city of Samawah Jan. 24. A main GSDF unit is to conduct humanitarian and reconstruction work in Iraq.

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(2)Japanese GSDF members in Samawah, Iraq

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (2nd from L), who heads the advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force in Iraq, shakes hands with a local tribe leader outside the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on Jan. 22 when he and GSDF personnel were invited to a lunch.

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(4)Japan's ground troops arrive in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (C), who heads an advance team of about 30 Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force, is surrounded by reporters on Jan. 19 after arriving at the Dutch Camp Smitty near the southern Iraqi city of Samawah.

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(2) Japanese advance ground troops enter Iraq

KUWAIT-IRAQ BORDER - Col. Masahisa Sato (2nd from L), head of an advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) troops, talks with Dutch soldiers at the U.S. base near the Kuwait-Iraq border on Jan. 19.

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(7)Japan's GSDF advance team leaves for Iraq

TOKYO, Japan - Col. Masahisa Sato (R), head of an advance team of Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) troops to be sent to Iraq, walks in the departure lobby of Narita airport prior to departure for Kuwait en route to Iraq on Jan. 16.

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(3)Japan's GSDF advance team leaves for Iraq

TOKYO, Japan - Defense Agency Director General Shigeru Ishiba hands a banner to Col. Masahisa Sato, head of an advance team of Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) troops which left for Iraq on Jan. 16 in what is the first dispatch of Japanese ground troops to a country where fighting is taking place since the end of World War II. (Pool Photo)

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(6)Japan's GSDF advance team leaves for Iraq

TOKYO, Japan - Col. Masahisa Sato, head of an advance team of Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) troops to be sent to Iraq, speaks to reporters at the Defense Agency headquarters in Tokyo prior to his departure for Iraq on Jan. 16.

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Crown Princess Masako's sister weds Japanese lawyer in U.S.

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows Reiko Owada, one of Crown Princess Masako's twin sisters, who recently married Masahisa Ikeda, a Japanese lawyer operating in New York.

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GSDF unit head in Iraq returns to Japan to report

TOKYO, Japan - Col. Masahisa Sato, the logistics chief of the Japanese Ground-Self Defense Force (GSDF) detachment in Iraq, enters the Defense Agency in Tokyo on April 20 to report to the agency on the troop's activities in Samawah, southern Iraq. (Kyodo)

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(2) Japanese advance ground troops enter Iraq

KUWAIT-IRAQ BORDER - Col. Masahisa Sato (2nd from L), head of an advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) troops, talks with Dutch soldiers at the U.S. base near the Kuwait-Iraq border on Jan. 19. (Kyodo)

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(6)Japan's GSDF advance team leaves for Iraq

TOKYO, Japan - Col. Masahisa Sato, head of an advance team of Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) troops to be sent to Iraq, speaks to reporters at the Defense Agency headquarters in Tokyo prior to his departure for Iraq on Jan. 16. (Kyodo)

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(4)Japan's ground troops arrive in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (C), who heads an advance team of about 30 Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force, is surrounded by reporters on Jan. 19 after arriving at the Dutch Camp Smitty near the southern Iraqi city of Samawah. (Kyodo)

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Japan's GSDF team in Samawah

TOKYO, Japan - Col. Masahisa Sato (R), head of an advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, talks with a local representative of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Samawah, southern Iraq, on Jan. 20. Photo was provided by GSDF's Ground Staff Office in Tokyo. (Kyodo)

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(3)Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force in Samawah

TOKYO, Japan - An advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF), led by Col. Masahisa Sato, walks through central districts of Samawah, southern Iraq, on Feb. 2 to inspect security conditions there. The photo was taken by the GSDF. (Kyodo)

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Masahisa Takenaka

TOKYO, Japan - File photo of head of the Yamaguchi-gumi crime organization, Masahisa Takenaka. The date of the photo is unknown. (Kyodo)

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Miyazaki restaurants arrange Nobel Banquet dish for Kawabata

Masahisa Matsuki, chef at a Mediterranean restaurant in the southwestern Japanese city of Miyazaki shows on Nov. 5, 2015, a chicken saute resembling a lamb saute served at the Nobel Banquet for Yasunari Kawabata, the Japanese author awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968. It is part of a project aimed at revitalizing the local economy using local food. Kawabata stayed in Miyazaki to write for a TV drama. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Actress Sakai indicted over drug possession

TOKYO, Japan - Masahisa Aizawa, president of Sun Music Production Inc., speaks about the firing of actress and singer Noriko Sakai at a press conference in Tokyo on Aug. 28 after prosecutors indicted her for alleged amphetamine possession. (Kyodo)

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S. Korea refuses entry to 3 Japanese lawmakers

TOKYO, Japan - (From L to R, front) Tomomi Inada, Yoshitaka Shindo and Masahisa Sato, lawmakers of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, speak with reporters at Haneda airport in Tokyo on Aug. 1, 2011, after returning to Japan from Seoul's Gimpo International Airport, where they were refused entry by South Korea earlier in the day due to their plan to visit a South Korean island near a pair of disputed islets. (Kyodo)

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LDP lawmakers depart for Seoul despite entry ban

TOKYO, Japan - (from L) Masahisa Sato, Yoshitaka Shindo and Tomomi Inada, lawmakers of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, are surrounded by reporters at Tokyo's Haneda airport on Aug. 1, 2011. They left for Seoul despite South Korea's decision to ban their entry for planning to visit a South Korean island near a pair of disputed islets. (Kyodo)

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(2)Japan's advance team in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (3rd from L), head of the advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense noncombat troops in Iraq, inspects a war-damaged school building in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on Jan. 25. (Kyodo)

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(2)Japanese GSDF members in Samawah, Iraq

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (2nd from L), who heads the advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force in Iraq, shakes hands with a local tribe leader outside the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on Jan. 22 when he and GSDF personnel were invited to a lunch. (Kyodo)

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(2)GSDF in Iraq's Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (L), commander of an advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF), presents prizes to children who participated in a painting contest sponsored by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Samawah, Iraq, on Jan. 28. Photo provided by GSDF. (Kyodo)

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(1)Scenes from Iraq's Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (L), head of the advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force troops in Iraq, presents a sheep to the local social welfare bureau in Samawah, southern Iraq, on Feb. 3. (Kyodo)

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(1)GSDF in Iraq's Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (in back wearing camouflage), commander of an advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF), joins children during a photo session in front of paintings they made on the wall of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) facilities in Samawah, Iraq, on Jan. 28. Photo provided by GSDF. (Kyodo)

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(1)Advance GSDF team in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (4th from L), commanding an advance team of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) in Iraq, is briefed by waterworks officials at a water purification plant outside the southern Iraqi city of Samawah Jan. 24. A main GSDF unit is to conduct humanitarian and reconstruction work in Iraq. (Kyodo)

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Japanese core troop unit arrives in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Koichiro Bansho (R), head of a core unit of Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) noncombat troops, shakes hands with Col. Masahisa Sato, head of an advance team of group troops, on arrival in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah from Kuwait on Feb. 27. (Kyodo)

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Zakheim visits Japan's GSDF team in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Dov Zakheim (L) speaks with Col. Masahisa Sato, head of a Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) advance team, at a Dutch military base in Samawah, southern Iraq, on Feb. 19 after Zakheim arrived there. (Pool photo)(Kyodo)

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Welcoming meeting held for Japanese ground troops in Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato (L at the podium), who heads the advance team for a GSDF mission to Iraq, speaks at a welcoming meeting for Japanese ground troops in Samawah on Feb. 9. The meeting, sponsored by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority and Muthana Province, was attended by some 200 people, including local tribal leaders. (Kyodo)

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(4)Main Japanese ground troops arrive in Iraq's Samawah

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Yasushi Kiyota (R), who commands the first batch of Japan's main Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) contingent, shakes hands with Col. Masahisa Sato, who heads the advance team for a GSDF mission to Iraq, at the Dutch military's Camp Smitty outside the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on Feb. 8. (Kyodo)

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GSDF to hire locals in southern Iraq

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Col. Masahisa Sato, who heads the advance team for a Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) mission to Iraq, tells Kyodo News on Feb. 5 the GSDF plans to hire as many Iraqis as possible for its camp and relief activities in the southern Iraq city of Samawah and nearby areas. (Kyodo)