Joseph Luster
September 7, 2021 
If the headline sounds like something that would happen in a movie by Beat Takeshi, you’re not far off. It actually happened to the famed director/actor/comedian—also known as Takeshi Kitano—in real life, as he found himself ambushed by a man wielding a pickax, who is also believed to be an actual yakuza member.
The incident went down around 11:40pm last Saturday night, when Takeshi was leaving the downtown Tokyo studios of TBS. The attacker had apparently been waiting on the premises before he approached the car with a pickax and swung it at the windshield of Takeshi’s car. Thankfully, the police arrived in time to subdue the man before any harm could come to Takeshi or his driver, and the suspect was placed under arrest for both the attack and for violating Japan’s Sword and Firearm Control Law.
In addition to the pickax, the man was found carrying a knife when the police searched him, hence the additional charge. After questioning the man and believing him to be a member of a Chiba-based yakuza organization, the police learned the motivation for the attack. Apparently the man previously encountered Takeshi after sneaking onto TBS property and asked him to become his mentor and teach him about the entertainment industry. After Takeshi ignored this request, the man became angry and developed a grudge that eventually boiled over into the attack.
According to Beat Takeshi, though, he has no idea who the attacker is, and clearly he won’t be mentoring this particular suspected yakuza member anytime soon.
Via SoraNews24
Top image via Takeshi Kitano’s Sonatine (1993)
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