Ex-gangster locks himself in hospital room and commits suicide

He took the cowardly way out. It's too bad this couldn't have been prevented. It would have been better if society has a chance to hold him accountable for his shameful actions.

It's too bad this couldn't have been prevented.

I'm sure it could have been prevented, if the police were better prepared. He had time to go to his locker and get his gun before locking himself in, after all. This could have turned out a lot worse. Thank god nobody else was injured.

how could the police have been better prepared? i'm dumbfounded as to how the police could have prevented this.

Um, he was keeping a gun in his hospital locker? Seriously? Unbelievable!

Meh...If you want to off yourself....this is the way to do it. Alone!!

He had an injured leg and still managed to evade police? Really?

Nothing in this article makes me think he was an "ex-gangster", not at least until after the suicide.

He had an injured leg and has been in the hospital since May? That has to be a serious injury. His serious injury did not prevent him from evading the pollice? He kept a gun in a locker in the hospital? Is this report true or some kind of joke?

Glad no one else was hurt. Yoshioka, thank you for saving the tax payers money.

I HOPE HE PAID HIS BILL BEFORE.

As usual the Japanese police will file charges on suspicion of violation of the Swords and Firearms Control Law, and send papers pertaining to this criminal case to the Public Prosecutors Office.

People expressing surprise that a gangster had a weapon.

He had been there since May (and perhaps he's still present if there's a morgue in the hospital).

In another prefecture. Not that surprising the police were not aware where he was. Perhaps they got a tip or something didn't add up and questions were asked.

Saves the tax payers money, now they don't have to pay for his incarceration.

How was he able to keep a gun in the hospital? Really? Glad no one else was hurt. Saw this on TV this morning.

Good. One less yak is always positive. Saynonara.

That he kept a gun can only mean some joker looked the other way - either the police or the hospital staff, probably both.

Oh! the irony: he was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time of his suicide.

If he was an EX-gangster, why was he colleccting protection money and why does he still have a gun? Seems to me like he still IS a gangster

He was probably protecting somebody- loyalty to his mates in the gang, OR he knew they would kill him anyway if he talked.

Literal translation of the protection money- "aisatsu ryo" is

"greeting money" lol, very Japanese!

John Woo, your next movie awaits thee...

Somewhere there is the worlds smallest violin being played upon hearing this news...

However, when the commotion erupted, everyone took shelter or fled the hospital, and no one was harmed, police said.

Well... no one besides Susumi Yoshioka was harmed.

That he kept a gun can only mean some joker looked the other way - either the police or the hospital staff, probably both.

Not impossible one person from either party was involved. Suggesting both were in cahoots raises concerns about your intelligence.

Since he was there since May, it's also possible than an acquaintance or relative brought a gun, assuming he didn't have it on his person from the start.

Hospitals are not so much about security as they are about taking care of patients. I doubt they have metal detectors and regular checks for weapons, at least in Japan, unless they are prison hospitals. Add to that, Mimasaka is rural and in another prefecture. It's quite conceivable that nobody was aware of who he really was when he was admitted.

Logical thing to do is hide a weapon because if it's on your person, it will probably be found, or raise eyebrows if you act suspiciously. (What do you do in the case of taking a shower/bath/sponge bath?)

So he hid it in his locker. Perhaps it had a key, but even if it didn't, it's not that hard to hide from casual inspection, assuming one was ever carried out.

All of the above is speculation I will admit but I'd hope it makes more sense than the "well thought out" hypothesis that you suggested.

That he kept a gun can only mean some joker looked the other way - either the police or the hospital staff, probably both.

Ridiculous. They don't search your belongings when you put them in your locker. Do you expect the police and/or hospital staff to search the belongings of every in-patient? And how exactly would you expect them to justify that? If they tried to search mine, I'd tell them to screw off.

To all you people who find it hard to believe he kept a weapon in hospital, hospitals don't go through patient's closets. They are not prisons and Japan isn't America. There are no metal detectors and probably only a couple of security guards for an entire hospital unless it's a mental ward.

I think the issue isn't so much that he was able to keep a gun as it is that this supposed "former" yak had a gun to begin with.

Yoshioka was being sought by Hyogo prefectural police on suspicion that he had been collecting “aisatsu ryo,” or protection money, from a brothel.

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I wonder how he injured his leg. a former member of a yakuza gang in Himeji, Did he have his little finger chopped out?

I'm sure there will be plenty of good cheer in Soaplands after this nimrods demise! good riddance!