The Back that Protected Ginza: The Legacy of Ryoma Suzuki and the Ginza Police (1950-2002)

The Back that Protected Ginza: The Legacy of Ryoma Suzuki and the Ginza Police (1950-2002)

In postwar Tokyo, Ginza at night had "another kind of police. It was neither an official organization nor backed by the law. However, people believed in and even respected its judgment. The man's name was Teruo Takahashi - the first chairman of the Sumiyoshi-kai Sumiyoshi Family Dai Nihon Kogyo. Geishas, hostesses, and Ginza club owners called him the "Ginza police. Whenever there was trouble, they would say, "Just tell Mr. Takahashi and it will be over," instead of turning to the police. He was a chivalrous man who respected duty and never gave trouble to the authorities. He kept order in Ginza behind his back.

There was a man who served Takahashi since he was young. His name was Ryoma Suzuki. He eventually rose to the position of assistant to the chairman of the Sumiyoshikai, and then to the top advisor to Dai Nippon Kogyo. However, his path was not smooth. At the young age of 23, he experienced a gunfight and went through a number of rough patches, and he learned the principles of chivalry from his own experience. People call him "Takahashi Nisei. But only he himself knows the true meaning of the name.

In 2001, a shooting incident occurred in the organization's Akasaka office. Several executives were injured, and the Sumiyoshi family was violently shaken. Suzuki took full responsibility for the incident and was excommunicated. The following year, on October 21, 2002, in the bathroom of his home, he personally stabbed himself in the stomach with a willow-blade knife. A spectacular suicide. He was determined to fulfill his duty and responsibility, just as Takahashi had done. Even the local community was speechless at his gracefulness.

Teruo Takahashi created a phantom order called the "Ginza Police. Ryoma Suzuki followed his legacy and remained true to his principles to the end. Their names are still spoken of among those who lived in the nightlife district. Men who gave order to the darkness that cannot be judged by law. Their backs are quietly swaying with the lights of Ginza.