<figure id="attachment_442100" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-442100" style="width: 793px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="d6f4b072"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/9880a75e20a2725f84cc5ab89be43d1a.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-442100" class="wp-caption-text">Defendant Tanaka, believed to be the perpetrator</figcaption></figure>
<p> Twelve years have passed since the horrific incident occurred. Finally, the trial to get to the bottom of the case is about to begin.</p>
<p> The Kyoto District Court on November 26 will hear the first trial of Yukio Tanaka, 58, a senior member of the Kudo-kai gang, a designated dangerous crime syndicate, who is accused of murder. Tanaka, 58, is the president of &#8220;Ohsho Food Service (hereafter referred to as &#8220;Ohsho,&#8221; including its predecessor companies),&#8221; which was established in December 2001. Tanaka is alleged to have shot and killed Takayuki Daito, then 72, the president of Osho Food Service Co.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> Early in the morning on the day of the incident, Mr. Daito was shot dead in the parking lot in front of the company&#8217;s headquarters. However, the investigation proved difficult. There were no witnesses and little physical evidence. The police carefully examined DNA on a cigarette butt left at the scene and security camera footage, and finally arrested Tanaka in October 2010, nine years after the incident.</span></p>
<h2> &#8220;Getting it all out.</h2>
<p> However, there are many unclear points, such as the motive of Tanaka, who is said to have had no close relationship with Daito, and whether he had a directing officer. One factor that may have influenced the case was the large amount of debt that &#8220;Ohsho&#8221; was carrying at the time.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The management of &#8220;Ohsho&#8221; began to look bleak around 1977, about 10 years after the company was founded. Mr. A was a well-known figure in the political and business world, and it is said that he was relied upon to handle problems as Ousho grew into a nationwide chain.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Even after the founder passed away, Osho continued to deepen its relationship with Mr. A. Mr. A&#8217;s illegal transactions with the corporate group amounted to 26 billion yen, of which approximately 17 billion yen was reportedly unrecoverable.</span></p>
<p> In April 2000, Mr. Daito, whose sister is the founder&#8217;s wife, took over as the fourth president in an effort to restore the company&#8217;s management. Mr. Daito set out to rebuild &#8220;Ohsho,&#8221; saying, &#8220;I&#8217;m going to get everything out of it.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> However, it seems that &#8220;Ohsho&#8221; was unable to sever its relationship with Mr. A. Mr. Daito was concerned about the situation, and he decided to take over as president of &#8220;Ohsho&#8221;. Concerned, Mr. Daito presented a draft of a report on inappropriate transactions to an extraordinary meeting of the board of directors in September 2001. The report was completed in November of the same year, but was kept secret due to various protests. At the time, Mr. Daito told those around him that he might be killed.</span><span class="strongInContent"> He was told that he might be killed.</span></p>
<p> It was about a month later that Mr. Daito was shot and killed by someone.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The Amazing Skills of a Hitman"></div>
<h2>I will regret this for the rest of my life!&#8221;</h2>
<figure id="attachment_442102" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-442102" style="width: 1230px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="467fed15"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/0c182292cd6ed6c96599509e51671274.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-442102" class="wp-caption-text"> Mr. Daito was interviewed by &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221; about a year before the incident.</figcaption></figure>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> Mr. Daito made it a routine early in the morning, before his employees arrived at work, to spray water around the head office in his boots and sweep the area. It seems that the perpetrator targeted that area. The incident occurred early in the morning before 6:00 am. There were no witnesses or anyone who heard the gunshots, and the investigation was difficult.</span></p>
<p> As mentioned at the beginning of this article, Tanaka, a Kudo-kai affiliated gang leader, was finally arrested about nine years after the incident occurred.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The perpetrator must have been quite good as a hitman. The weapon used was a .25-caliber automatic pistol, but it is palm-sized and has low killing power. You have to be very skilled to use it&#8221;.</span></p>
<p> The trial, to be held on November 26, is an unusual one. Former Kanagawa Prefectural Police detective and crime journalist Taihei Ogawa tells of the trial.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The Kyoto District Court has decided to exclude the case from the jury trial and have a panel of judges decide the case. The defendant is a Kudo-kai gang leader. In a past trial, the head of the Kudo-kai, who was sentenced to death, said to the presiding judge, &#8216;You will regret this for the rest of your life! You will regret this for the rest of your life! If ordinary people are involved in sentencing as judges, there is a risk of harm to themselves or their families.</span></p>
<p> Tanaka&#8217;s defense is expected to plead not guilty at the trial.</p>
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<figure id="attachment_442104" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-442104" style="width: 2485px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="5cdf392a"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/9e96930c2467c42ae5b2eecf38a1e96e.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-442104" class="wp-caption-text"> Tanaka was transferred from Fukuoka Prison, where he was serving time, to the Yamashina Police Station of the Kyoto Prefectural Police.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_442106" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-442106" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="d4bb7fe8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/7e674143a33d331584ef4c2f2672c7d1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-442106" class="wp-caption-text"> Taken immediately after the incident. The parking lot next to the headquarters of &#8220;Osho&#8221; where Mr. Daito was attacked. It was raining on the day of the attack, making it difficult to collect evidence such as footprints.</figcaption></figure>


 Yutaka Asai, Satoshi Taniguchi, Kyodo News, Jiji Press

 Twelve years have passed since the incident occurred. Finally, the trial of the shocking case is about to begin. It is the case of the president of "Gyoza no Ousho," who was shot to death in December 2001. The man charged was a Kudo-kai affiliated executive. We will report on the background of the mysterious case and the details of the unusual trial.

There is a fear of harm to the judges and their families&#8230;Kudo-kai affiliated executives may have been responsible for the shooting death of the president of &#8220;Gyoza no Ousho&#8221; in an unusual trial.

There is a fear of harm to the judges and their families…Kudo-kai affiliated executives may have been responsible for the shooting death of the president of “Gyoza no Ousho” in an unusual trial.

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