
Junpei Fujita (died December 2012) was a Japanese professional baseball coach who coached the Nagoya Wyverns during the 1990s and, briefly, the Tokyo Gigants in 2012. Unbeknownst to the public, he was also the leader of the quasi-vigilante Nagoya-gumi, a citizen-led crime syndicate in Nagoya that engaged in match-fixing for the Kuroha-gumi in exchange for being allowed to keep the city otherwise yakuza-free. Fujita died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2012.
Biography[]

Fujita in 2012
Junpei Fujita was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, and he developed a strong love for baseball as a young man. He came to be the manager of the Nagoya Wyverns, coaching the high school prodigy Tatsuo Shinada when he joined the team in 1997. That same year, however, the Kuroha-gumi yakuza clan, led by Tsubasa Kurosawa, offered Fujita a deal: if he would agree to engage in match-fixing for the Kuroha Family, he would be able to put an end to the turf war between the Omi Alliance and the Tojo-kai that was devastating the city. Fujita agreed, and he was made the head of the Nagoya-gumi, a quasi-vigilante organization comprised of Nagoya's small business owners and average citizens. Fujita reluctantly agreed to have the Tokyoite Shinada serve as a sacrificial lamb for Kurosawa's plot to drive the Omi and Tojo out of the city, but he secretly asked Tokyo Gigants player and fellow Nagoya-gumi member Yuki Sawada to give Shinada a chance at the 7 June 1997 game by throwing him a fastball rather than a curveball during the seventh pitch, as he wanted to see genuine competition one last time before a scandal would ensue. While Shinada scored a home run with Sawada's fastball, he was ultimately accused of sign-stealing, and one of his high school teammates was bribed to make allegations of match-fixing. The ensuing scandal resulted in Shinada being banned from baseball, and a police crackdown forced the Tojo and Omi to flee Nagoya. Fujita, feeling deep guilt over his corruption of baseball, resigned as manager of the Nagoya Wyverns and quit baseball.

Fujita's return to baseball
In 2012, Fujita decided to re-enter baseball to coach the Tokyo Gigants, surprising Nagoya fans and even Shinada, who had, after struggling with homelessness, become a humble nightlife journalist in Sakae, Nagoya. Fujita, continuing to feel guilt over setting Shinada up, decided to right his past wrongs by setting up Sawada as his successor and, using his public platform, publishing a confession of his role in past match-fixing. After Tojo-kai chairman Daigo Dojima paid Shinada to investigate the match-fixing that cost him his career 15 years earlier, the Nagoya-gumi put up a half-hearted attempt to resist, with Kanji Manabe fighting Shinada despite knowing that the Nagoya Family would lose. Manabe then called Fujita and handed Shinada the phone, revealing that Fujita was responsible for the scandal. Shortly after, Shinada joined forces with Sawada, his former rival, to take down the Kuroha Family thugs who had been sent to murder Shinada and cover up the match-fixing scandal.

Fujita's deaths
Meanwhile, Kurosawa caught wind of the Nagoya-gumi's troubles and visited Fujita at his Tokyo office as Fujita finished his confession. Fujita showed his letter to Kurosawa in one last act of defiance before Kurosawa shot him in the head, after which Kurosawa planted the gun in Fujita's hand and burned the letter in Fujita's ashtray. Kurosawa left behind an Omi Alliance sigil to send a message to the Kuroha Family's enemies, while Fujita's death was investigated as a suicide.