Natsuo Kanzaki (1972-) was a Japanese businessman and cabaret club magnate who owned Club Sunshine and the Kanzaki Group during the 2000s.
Biography[]
Natsuo Kanzaki was born in Osaka, Japan in 1972, and he worked at Club Sunshine before buying out his bosses Kunio Youda and Yuki Natsume and firing them from the club to alleviate its major loan debts. As the new owner of Club Sunshine, Kanzaki proceeded to take advantage of other clubs' debts to buy them out and consolidate them into his Kanzaki Group. Kanzaki closed in on all of Dotonbori's cabaret clubs during the early 2000s, and, in 2006, he attempted to drive Yuki's Club Four Shine out of business, even poaching the club's prospective manager Mitsunari Kiritani on the club's doorstep in December 2006. He also had Club Four Shine entered into the Cabaret Club Grand Prix, anticipating a defeat which would forever cripple Club Four Shine's reputation and drive it out of business; additionally, Kanzaki bribed the Grand Prix's host Buono Isozaki to rig the competition in his favor. With the help of Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima, however, Club Four Shine was able to rise up and defeat Kanzaki in several Grand Prix matches; Isozaki was also fired as commentator after his corruption was revealed, and Majima took his place. Ultimately, all of Kanzaki's top hostesses went over to Club Four Shine, and Kanzaki and Isozaki were ultimately arrested for their crimes, which included attempting to kidnap Club Four Shine's top hostess Koyuki Sasaki.