was a Japanese right-wing ultranationalist and a prominent figure in the rise of organized crime in Japan. The most famous kuromaku, or behind-the-scenes power broker, of the 20th century, he was active in Japan's political arena and criminal underworld from the 1930s to the 1970s, and became enormously wealthy through his involvement in smuggling operations. Early life Yoshio Kodama was born on February 18, 1911, in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, Japan to a family formerly of samurai status. Kodama was the fifth son of a bankrupt Nihonmatsu businessman. Due to his family's straitened circumstances, in 1920 Kodama was sent to live with a married older sister in Korea and lived there for three years. He was treated badly, suffered from isolation and had to do child labor in a steel mill. Early right-wing activism Returning to Japan as a teenager, Kodama joined a variety of right-wing nationalist groups. At the end of the 1920s he joined the secret society Gen'yōsha. In 1929, he joined Bin Akao's "National Foundation Society" (建国会, Kenkokukai). In 1929, during a parade, he tried to give Emperor Hirohito a self-written appeal for increased patriotism. However, he was intercepted by the security forces and arrested for his role in the "Direct Appeal to the Emperor Incident" (天皇直訴事件, Tennō Jikiso Jiken). He was imprisoned for six months. During this time in prison he wrote his first book, a primer for fanatical Japanese nationalists. After his release from prison, he joined Tatsuo Tsukui's Radical Patriotic Party (急進愛国党, Kyūshin Aikokutō). Tōyama Mitsuru from the Gen'yōsha (Dark Ocean Society), a secret society founded in the late 19th century that first grouped extreme rightists and yakuza together, sent him to Manchuria. There he was involved in the suppression of the anti-Japanese resistance working under the chief of Japanese military intelligence in the region, Colonel Kenji Doihara. A few months later, Kodama returned to Japan. In 1931, Kodama was imprisoned again for his role in the "Diet Pamphlet Distribution Case" (国会ビラ撒き事件, Kokkai Biramaki Jiken). He was released in 1932. In 1933, Kodama formed his own ultranationalist group called the Independent Youth Society (独立青年社, Dokuritsu Seinensha), which planned to assassinate various Japanese politicians. Its main activity was opium export from Japan to Korea and Manchuria to break the resistance of the local population against the Japanese rule. His group, in collaboration with the group Tenkōkai (天 行 会, "Society for Heavenly Action") was responsible for the