Found something on an early SASUKE competitor

[r34gtr]

Remember Tadanori Fukayama, the former French Foreign Legion soldier who competed from SASUKE 4 to 6?

Ex-member of French Foreign Legion gets 14 years for gun-running


YOKOHAMA The Yokohama District Court on Thursday sentenced a former Japanese member of the French Foreign Legion to 14 years in prison plus a fine of 4 million yen for unlawfully smuggling and selling guns and ammunition. Tadanori Fukayama, 44, was found guilty of violating the swords and firearms control law that bans possession of such weapons in principle.

Court findings showed that Fukayama sold five handguns and a total of 320 live rounds to customers for 2.8 million yen from April 1999 through October 2006. He was also convicted of keeping five handguns and about 400 live rounds at his home in the seaside resort town of Hayama, Kanagawa Prefecture, in April 2007. Fukayama joined the French Foreign Legion in 1988 and retired as a sergeant after serving for five and a half years.

¥2,800,000 is about $30,500 today.

[lightningmatt]

That time includes his participation in SASUKE, right?

[YGK]

When was this published?

[r34gtr]

May 17, 2018 16:39:20 GMT -5 YGK said:

When was this published?

Late April 2007. His sentence will be over in four years.

[Eclipse]

Given that the Japanese government estimates the Yakuza and other organized gangs have over 100k members, which is about .09% if the population, it's statistically likely that they'd have a few in the show's history.

In relation to the insanely low gun violence rate in Japan, Japan has extremely strict gun control laws where you even have to pass mental health exams and do an ownership exam, so illegal gun smuggling is a pretty big deal. Glad they caught on, at least.

[YGK]

Went back to watch his run on SASUKE 4. Started late off the blocks, got stuck on the rolling log, nearly failed the rapid descent and cleared with just .08 seconds left. Pretty memorable run