Photo/Illutration Takayuki Ohigashi, president of Ohsho Food Service Corp., in March 2011 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A businessman known as the “Gyoza King” who was gunned down in front of his office building in Kyoto in 2013 had voiced fears he might be killed but vowed he would not be intimidated by gangster elements, according to investigative sources.

A joint team of the Kyoto and Fukuoka prefectural police believe that Takayuki Ohigashi, the president of Ohsho Food Service Corp., had a premonition he would be targeted by gangsters, the sources said.

Yukio Tanaka, a 56-year-old member of a gang affiliated with Kudo-kai, an organized crime syndicate in Fukuoka Prefecture, was indicted for Ohigashi’s murder last month.

According to the sources, Ohigashi, 72, confided in those around him that he feared for his life at the hands of gangsters.

A former director of Ohsho Food Service who spoke to The Asahi Shimbun heard Ohigashi say he “may be killed” at their office and other venues a year or two prior to the slaying in December 2013.

At the time, Ohigashi was busy rebuilding his company, a chain of “Gyoza King” outlets serving gyoza dumplings and other Chinese food, which was reeling from interest-bearing debts. He also sought to settle shady business deals and dissolve ties with unsavory business partners. Ohigashi became president in 2000.

He was fatally shot about a month after an in-house committee tasked with putting an end to inappropriate business deals submitted an undisclosed report that identified problems with the transactions.

A third-party panel was set up following media speculation of possible gang involvement in the murder.

The panel said in a report released in 2016 that no connection had been confirmed between the attack and anti-social elements such as a yakuza gang.

But it did acknowledge that Ohsho Food Service chalked up inappropriate business deal worth about 26 billion yen ($193 million) with one business group. It noted that the transactions were made by directors who are members of the founding family of Ohsho Food Service.

“Ohsho Food Service was a company whose management was controlled by the founding family,” the panel concluded.

Police investigators questioned the first and second sons of the company’s founder on a voluntary basis about the murder. The second son returned from Hong Kong where he was staying to cooperate with the investigation.

Both sons denied involvement in the slaying, saying they knew nothing about the case.

A former representative of a business group believed to have engaged in dubious transactions with Ohsho Food Service told the Asahi that he was “friendly” with Ohigashi, denying any role in the attack.

According to the indictment, Tanaka conspired with others whose identities have yet to be established to murder Ohigashi, who took four gunshots to his body.

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