Tetsu Tachibana (1963-18 December 1988), born Li Hua, was a Chinese-Japanese real estate broker who served as President of Tachibana Real Estate in Kabukicho, Tokyo during the 1980s. He played a central role in the yakuza's "Empty Lot" dispute in 1988, during which he allied with the former yakuza Kazuma Kiryu against the Dojima-gumi clan.
Biography[]
Tachibana introducing himself to Kazuma Kiryu
Li Hua was born in Manchuria, China in 1963 to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother, and he and his younger sister Xiao Qiao experienced discrimination because of their mixed parentage. Li Hua was weak as a young man, and he decided to join the Triads for protection against the physical harassment he and his sister had faced. In 1978, he left behind his mother and sister to emigrate to Osaka, Japan, where he became involved in the criminal underworld and changed his name to "Tetsu Tachibana". One night, he got into a fight with Jun Oda's gang after brushing shoulders with one of its members, and he beat down the powerful Oda in a fight, earning Oda's respect and leading to Oda successfully convincing Tachibana to become the gang's leader. The gang engaged in several small-time crimes, and Tachibana lost his right hand protecting Oda from a rival Chinese crime syndicate.
Upon hearing that his sister had come to Japan to search for him, however, Tachibana asked for help from Shintaro Kazama in finding her, and, through Kazama, he founded "Tachibana Real Estate", an extortion ring which muscled in on the Jinsei-gumi's protection racket in Kabukicho, bribed, harassed, or threatened local business owners into selling their businesses to Tachibana Real Estate, and aimed to prevent the Tojo-kai from taking over Kabukicho and selling it to the government for a revitalization project. Tachibana became immensely powerful in Kabukicho, even taking on the Tojo-kai yakuza clan, and controlling an army of hired homeless men whom he sent to intimidate business owners into selling their businesses to him in order to prevent the Tojo-kai from buying them out instead. He was popular among local residents for fighting for their right to live in their old neighborhoods, and he built up a large information network with the help of fellow Chinese immigrants to Japan, as well as allying with Little Asia's community leader Elder Chen.
Empty Lot dispute[]
In December 1988, Tachibana recruited Kazama's adoptive son Kazuma Kiryu into his scheme to prevent the other Dojima-gumi lieutenants from acquiring the Empty Lot in Kabukicho, as the reward promised to the top-performing lieutenant by their boss, Sohei Dojima, was Kazama's Kazama-gumi family, now that Kazama was in prison. Tachibana took Kiryu under his wing as an employee after Kiryu proved himself in a fight with Jun Oda, and he later informed Kiryu of his past and stressed how important it was to ensure that Kazama himself received the Empty Lot. However, Dojima ultimately sent his Chinese assassin Lao Gui to capture Tachibana after the Shibusawa-gumi failed to capture Makoto, and Oda secretly betrayed his boss to the Dojima-gumi rather than face his boss' wrath should Tachibana discover that Oda had earlier sold his sister into sexual slavery before he even met Tachibana.
Tachibana's body in Kiryu's arms
Tachibana was later kidnapped from Little Asia by Lao Gui after Lao Gui wounded Kiryu with his silenced pistol, and Tachibana was then taken to the Crescendo Building and and tortured by Daisaku Kuze's henchman Gengyo Yoneda. Tachibana was defiant in spite of the loss of several of his toes, angering Yoneda into striking a fatal sledgehammer blow to Tachibana's head when Tachibana appeared to mockingly laugh at Yoneda for failing to break him. Kuze, enraged by Yoneda's insubordination, smashed his skull into the ground and killed him. Kiryu later attempted to rescue Tachibana, only to find him dying of his wounds. Tachibana revealed to Kiryu that Sohei Dojima was responsible for the entire conspiracy against Kazama, and he then died of his wounds, never having lived to reunite with his sister.
Gallery[]
