Career
Foreign that entry, see Manabu Miyazaki (photographer). Manabu Miyazaki (宮崎 学, Miyazaki Manabu, born October 25, 1945) is a Japanese writer, social critic and public figure known for his underworld ties. He was born in Kyoto, Japan.
His father was a yakuza boss in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, and his mother came from an Osaka yakuza family.
In September 1986, he was almost killed in a yakuza shootout at a Kyoto restaurant. As a teenager and college student, Miyazaki became involved in the left-wing politics of the Japanese Communist Party but dropped out in 1969 to pursue an underworld life, including running his family"s yakuza-connected demolition business.
In 1985, Miyazaki was named by the Tokyo police as the prime suspect in the Glico Morinaga case, a 17-month saga of kidnapping and corporate extortion. He was later cleared.
Miyazaki is the author of several best-selling books in Japan, where he is considered a "celebrity criminal".
His autobiography Toppamono sold 600,000 copies and has since been translated into English. Manabu Miyazaki; Toppamono: Outlaw. Radical. Suspect. My Life in Japan"s Underworld (2005, Kotan Publishing, ).
