Jo Sawashiro (1961-) was a Japanese yakuza who served as patriarch of the Arakawa-gumi subsidiary of the Omi Alliance in 2019 (succeeding Masumi Arakawa) and Chairman of the Tokyo Omi Alliance in 2019 (preceding Reiji Ishioda). The father of future Tokyo governor Ryo Aoki, he loyally served Arakawa as his captain during the Arakawa Family's Tojo-kai years before rising to lead the family after Arakawa's murder in 2019. Sawashiro would play a central role in his illegitimate son's bid for political and underworld power in 2019, but he was arrested by the Kanagawa Prefectural Police after murdering Yokohama crime boss Ryuhei Hoshino.
Biography[]
Sawashiro as a young yakuza
Jo Sawashiro was born in Kabukicho, Tokyo, Japan in 1961. Abused by his alcoholic father due to his betrayal and hates his alcoholic father, Sawashiro took to the streets as a young man and became involved in street fights. At the age of fifteen, he left home and fell in love with a fellow street urchin named Ikumi, with whom he fathered a child that same year. Unable to provide for a child due to his young age and poor economics, Sawashiro neglected medical care with the hope that the baby would die, and he worked in road construction while Ikumi gave birth to their son. They ultimately decided to abandon their newborn son at coin locker number 99 at Shinjuku Station, only to witness the yakuza boss Masumi Arakawa bust open the locker and retrieve their child, easing Sawashiro and Ikumi's conscience. However, they also witnessed Jiro Kasuga and a soapland employee retrieve another baby from locker 99, causing them to realize that Arakawa had taken the wrong child. Over the next five years, Sawashiro and Ikumi broke up. In 1981, Sawashiro came across Arakawa walking through Kabukicho with his adoptive son, Masato Arakawa, who was being pushed in a wheelchair. Sawashiro overheard Masato bemoaning how he was unable to walk while his classmates could, and, haunted by his abandonment of his child, Sawashiro decided to join the Arakawa-gumi both out of economic necessity and to be close to his secret child.
Sawashiro as a captain
Sawashiro rose to the rank of captain and treasurer of the Tojo-kai's Arakawa Family, and his devotion to his illegitimate son caused Masato, unaware that Sawashiro was his father, to prefer him over his adoptive father. Sawashiro also looked after the other abandoned child, Ichiban Kasuga, from a distance as Kasuga, too, joined the Arakawa Family. In 1987, Sawashiro traveled to Hawaii at his boss' request after Arakawa learned that his former lover Akane Kishida was still alive, and, while Sawashiro initially planned to kill her to cover up the truth about her son Ichiban's survival, she asked Sawashiro not to tell Arakawa she was still alive. Sawashiro went on to remain in contact with Akane to help her deal with her homesickness. However, Sawashiro would be hard on her son as he worked his way up in the family, frequently issuing him impossible tasks and ordering him to commit yubitsume on 31 December 2000 after he failed to make two debt collections for the family. Only Arakawa's intervention spared Kasuga, who had been entrusted with serving as Masato's chaperone. On 1 January 2001, Kasuga was asked by Arakawa to take the blame for a murder supposedly committed by Sawashiro (actually carried out by Masato), and he loyally agreed to serve out the sentence, remaining imprisoned for 18 years. In 2004, Sawashiro and Arakawa would help Masato fake his death and reinvent himself as "Ryo Aoki," a Harvard-educated man whose lung transplant enabled him to be physically fit. Aoki founded the Bleach Japan non-profit organization before entering politics and being elected to the House of Councillors in 2010. As Governor of Tokyo from 2017, Aoki blackmailed his father into helping him dismantle the Tojo-kai to further his career, and the Arakawa Family defected to the Omi Alliance.
Sawashiro in 2019
In 2019, Sawashiro and Kasuga again crossed paths after Kasuga, freed from prison, interrupted an Omi officers' meeting in Kabukicho with the intention of returning to the Arakawa Family. Sawashiro, in charge of security, was beaten down by Kasuga after attempting to deny him entry, but Arakawa shot Kasuga and dumped his body at a homeless camp in Isezakicho, Yokohama, secretly intending for him to meet up with the bosses of the Ijin Three and thwart Aoki's plan to conquer the city for the Omi and Bleach Japan. Sawashiro would accompany Aoki to Isezakicho as the governor attempted to negotiate with Kasuga, and, when Kasuga refused to cease his efforts to sabotage Aoki's plans, Sawashiro and his henchmen were ordered to kill Kasuga. Kasuga and his friends escaped to continue their struggle against Aoki.
Sawashiro's arrest
After the "Great Dissolution", in which the Tojo and Omi yakuza federations were jointly dissolved in Osaka, Sawashiro met with the patriarchs of the Tokyo-based Omi families and proposed to found the Tokyo Omi Alliance and consolidate the alliance's control over Tokyo. He murdered the rival patriarch Toshinobu Kuriki for challenging his authority, and he blamed fellow Omi lieutenant Reiji Ishioda for the murder of Masumi Arakawa on the night of the Great Dissolution. Aoki agreed to make Sawashiro leader of the Tokyo Omi Alliance if he would kill Kasuga's ally, Yokohama crime boss Ryuhei Hoshino, but Sawashiro leaked the danger to Hoshino's Geomijul allies anonymously, hoping to be stopped. Aware that Sawashiro would likely fail him, Aoki sent another assassin ahead of Sawashiro, killing Hoshino by the time Sawashiro arrived. Sawashiro sat in Hoshino's office until Kasuga and his party arrived, and, convinced that Sawashiro had murdered both Arakawa and Hoshino, Kasuga bested him in a fierce fight. A defeated Sawashiro revealed that Aoki was his son, that Kasuga was likely Arakawa's son, and that he did not kill Arakawa. Sawashiro, remorseful for his actions, agreed to be sent to prison, where he was given a life sentence for his crimes. Aoki sent the assassin Mirror Face to kill Sawashiro in his cell, but Kasuga intercepted and defeated Mirror Face and Ishioda before they could do so.
In 2023, Seiryu-kai chairman Masataka Ebina provided the police with proof that Sawashiro was not Hoshino's killer, resulting in his release from prison. Sawashiro was then given a high rank in the Seiryu-kai, and, after Akane wrote to Sawashiro requesting to see Kasuga, Sawashiro reunited with his former foe and discussed his mother's survival and her desire to see him in Hawaii. However, Ebina also hoped for Kasuga to go to Hawaii and lure out his mother, whom he hoped to kill as a favor to his ally, Palekana leader Bryce Fairchild. Sawashiro later secretly met with Kazuma Kiryu and his party and informed them of Ebina's planned "Second Great Dissolution," only for Ebina to discover his treachery and hold him hostage at the Millennium Tower. Ebina heavily injured Sawashiro, who was ultimately saved by Kiryu and his group when they stormed the tower.
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