Miro Mijatović

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Miroslav Mijatović
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Born
Miroslav "Miro" Mijatović

(1967-05-05) May 5, 1967 (age 59)
OccupationLawyer, sports event promoter, athlete manager
OrganizationAlchemy Group KK
Known forAlleged role in the downfall of Pride Fighting Championships
TitlePresident

Miroslav “Miro” Mijatović (born 5 May 1967), is a former lawyer, Sports Event Promoter and Athlete Manager, most notable for his alleged part in bringing down the allegedly corrupt Pride Fighting Championships (“Pride FC”) in Japan ...[1]

He is currently President at Alchemy Group KK, a Japan-based firm.

Sporting Career in Japan

When Miro moved to Tokyo, Japan in 1992, he played for professional Japan League Division 2 basketball team Nippon Steel “Irons” in 1992 and 1993, and also played with Mitsui & Co’s team.

As a result of the burst of the Japanese economic bubble, Nippon Steel decided to discontinue using foreign players on its sports teams, so in 1994, Miro joined the Chiba Pierce Arrow Badgers, an exhibition team based in Chiba [2].

Miro retired as a player with the Chiba Badgers in 2003. At that time, the owner of the team, Masaru Komiya, intended to take the team into the pro leagues, and approached Miro about assisting with financing. Miro agreed, and in 2005, he became the funder and half owner of the Chiba Badgers[3].

The Chiba Badgers subsequently became 2 time back to back Japan League Champions in both the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons.

However, despite the success of the team, the Chiba Badgers were not accepted into the Japan Basketball League Super League by the Japan Basketball Association ("JBA"). They were, however, accepted into the Basketball Japan League ("BJ League") for the 2008 season [4], but did not end up joining, leading Miro to disband the Chiba Badgers on 9th April 2008[5] .

Professional Life

Miro was active in publishing legal articles in Australian and International legal journals, including the following:

  • The ATUG submission to the Government's telecommunications carrier review[6].
  • Risky commercial projects: need for independent financial advice[7].
  • Significant Liberalization of Australia's Foreign Investment Policy and Changing Trends in Foreign Investment [8].
  • Foreign Investment in Australia : The Law, the Facts and the Figures[9]

However, Miro was hooked on the international business of the Japanese trading companies and later in 1994, Nippon Steel Trading recruited Miro to head up their Project Finance team in Tokyo:

“Miro Mijatovic , formerly with Australian law firm Sly & Weigall is to become senior projects officer at Nittetsu Shoji in Tokyo . He will be responsible for structuring and analysis of project and trade finance in energy and resource .”[10].

ibizicube

In January 2000, Miro founded ibizcube Japan Ltd. as an internet start up incubator. Ibizcube received funding from a UK hedge fund and commenced operations investing in the then early stage web design industry in Japan.

One of ibizcube’s first investees, dot.com solutions inc. was able to win a major contract from Tourism Australia to re-launch Australia’s tourism marketing website, Australia.com[11].

Miro also looked at the Pachinko and Love Hotel sectors. With his partner at the time, Miro and ibizcube published various articles in industry publications, marketing funding through “whole of business securitizations”, including:

  • “Japanese Business Problems – From a Foreigner’s Perspective” Miro Mijatovic, Monthly Playgraph (Pachinko Industry Journal) July 2001, Vol 37, No.7[12]
  • “A New Form of Funding for Leisure Hotels” author – ibizcube Japan, Leisure Hotel, January 2002 Issue.
  • “The State of Financing for Restaurant Operations” author – ibizcube Japan, Leisure Hotel, October 2002 Issue[13].
  • “No Leisurely Undertaking – Leisure assets are the next in line for securitisation in Japan, pachinko parlours in particular” author – Leonora Walters interviewing Miro Mijatovic, International Securitisation Report, November 2002[14].

Miro identified the opportunity for an investment fund to come into the leisure/love hotel industry sector. He began to work with his partners to raise these funds, which culminated in the establishment in July 2002 of MHS Capital Partners and the development of the MHS Urban Resorts platform.

During 2004, MHS Capital Partners published extensively in industry and mass media to promote, market and raise US$10m for the first foreign fund for love hotels [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20].

Following full investment of the first fund; MHS Capital Partners performed well and looked to grow a new fund, leading Miro to establish Alchemy Japan [21] [22] [23] [24] [25].

Following the success of the first MHS Capital Partners fund, in 2010, Alchemy Japan was retained by the Cargill investment unit, Carval Investors Japan, who had acquired 10 love hotels (a value US$60m) but had inherited a yakuza related operator, who Alchemy Japan was retained to expulse, and thereafter take over asset management and operations.

Alchemy Japan was able to successfully expel the yakuza associated operator and performed well [26] [27].

However, due to various internal conflicts within Carval [28], Alchemy Japan and Carval came into conflict, leading to Carval selling the Love Hotels to a yakuza related entity, which subsequently came into dispute and law suits ensued with Alchemy Japan [29] [30].

Sports Industry Business

In 2002, Miro was appointed by the Croatian Football Federation (“CFF”) to represent them for their participation in the Japan/Korea FIFA World Cup 2002. Miro assisted the CFF in negotiations with host cities Toyama and Tokamachi, logistics for the team, arranging friendly games prior to the tournament, and arranging all logistics for Croatian media, CFF and team VIPs.

During this time, Miro was introduced by the CFF to former Croatian national team player, Igor Cvitanović who had joined Japanese J-League club, Shimizu S-Pulse.

Igor was having a dispute with the club, and Miro was able to resolve this dispute through using FIFA dispute resolution procedures. During this process, Miro and Igor became close friends [1] [31] [32].

Involvement with Pride Fight Championships

Management of Mirko Cro Cop Filipović: April 2002 – January 2004

Miro’s association with the Japanese fight industry began when he was appointed as Cro Cop’s Japanese agent in April 2002, a position he held until 7th January 2004 when Cro Cop announced the termination of the relationship by publishing his termination on the front page of Sankei Sports newspaper [33]. This was confirmed by the Japanese court in Miro’s lawsuit against Seiya Kawamata [34].

Alleged Extortion

Following the IBBY 2003 event [35], Miro alleges that he was held against his will and extorted in the Kobe Okura Hotel on 3rd January 2003 and the days thereafter, by Nobuyuki Sakakibara and the real owner of Pride FC, Kim Dok Soo (also known as Ishizaka), who is allegedly a ranking member of yakuza gang, Ota Kogyo, one of the main component gangs of Yamaguchi Gumi.

During this time, Miro alleges he was threatened and forced to sign his rights to Fedor and other fighters over to Pride FC for no value [36] [37] [38].

Aftermath

Legal Actions Against Pride FC

On 7th August 2004, Miro announced his law suit against his former co-promoter Seiya Kawamata [39], who had fled Japan after IBBY 2003 and escaped $6m of debts, including payments due to Miro for the 3 Golden Glory fighters. Miro was eventually successful and won a US$2million judgement against Seiya Kawamata [40].

Miro also commenced cooperating with the Kanagawa Police, who had accepted a criminal complaint from Seiya Kawamata, alleging that he too had been threatened by the Yamaguchi Gumi gangsters who owned Pride FC [36].

On 14 February 2005, Miro announced that he was taking legal action against Pride FC [41].

On 23rd February 2006, three Yamaguchi members were arrested by the Kanagawa Police in response to Seiya Kawamata’s claims [42].

However, Kim Dok Soo (Ishizaka) evaded capture by leaving Japan the day of the scheduled arrest [43].

On 16th March 2006, Asahi Shimbun published comments from the deputy public prosecutor in Yokohama, in which he stated that all three men arrested denied the charges of extortion made by Seiya Kawamata, and that there was not enough evidence gathered to prosecute them at that time [44].

With the collapse of the Kanagawa Police investigation, Seiya Kawamata was interviewed by the weekly magazine, Shukan Gendai and, from 13th March 2006, they published a series of interviews with Seiya Kawamata [45]. They also conducted further investigations into, and reported on, the relationship between Pride FC, Yamaguchi Gumi and Fuji TV.

Following the release of the arrested Yamaguchi Gumi gangsters and the collapse of the investigation, the National Police Agency expedited its separate investigation under Miro’s extortion complaint. As a result, the NPD and Toshiro Igari visited Fuji TV and met with its President, Hieda, and the Director of Compliance on 5th June 2006, during which they issued a “cease and desist” demand to Fuji TV, requiring them to terminate their relationship with Pride FC [36].

Immediately following that 5th June 2006 meeting, Fuji TV announced the termination of its relationship with Pride FC. Fuji TV’s PR department claimed that Pride FC had committed an “improper event” and that, after consulting with their lawyers, they had annulled the contract with DSE [46].

In addition to Fuji TV canceling their contract with Pride FC, Yomiuri Hochi (via Yahoo Japan) reported that the network had also issued an order stating that any Pride FC fighters or people associated with Pride FC could no longer appear on any Fuji TV shows. This included variety shows, sports shows, and other programming [47].

Nobuyuki Sakakibara talked about bringing legal action against Kodansha (publisher of Shukan Gendai) and Seiya Kawamata for the damage that they had caused against Pride FC by publishing the various articles exposing Pride FC’s yakuza relationships, but he never did [48].

Friendship with Toshiro Igari

After his alleged extortion by Sakakibara, Miro’s Japanese lawyer, who he had retained since leaving Nippon Steel, brought Miro’s case to “The Civil Intervention Violence Countermeasures Committee of the First Tokyo Bar Association”, also known as, in short, the "Anti Yakuza Countermeasures Committee", which he was a member of. This committee was chaired by Toshiro Igari, until his alleged suicide [49] [50] [51] [52]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wallace, Rick (7 December 2012). "Kick Back". The Australian.
  2. ↑ "2001-2002 Chiba Badgers Roster". www.nextftp.com. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  3. ↑ "2005-2006 Chiba Pierce Arrow Badgers Roster". www.nextftp.com. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  4. ↑ "JPN - The two top leagues change for the upcoming season". www.fiba.basketball. 2006-05-30. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  5. ↑ "Chiba Pierce Arrow Badgers News Archives". www.nextftp.com. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  6. ↑ Sharpe, Diana; Mijatovic, Miro (2020-12-07). "The ATUG submission to the Government's telecommunications carrier review". Communications Law Bulletin. 10 (2): 12–13.
  7. ↑ Mijatovic, Miro (2020-12-13). "Risky commercial projects : need for independent financial advice". Law Society Journal: The Official Journal of the Law Society of New South Wales. 29 (11): 70–72.
  8. ↑ BenDaniel, David J.; Rosenbloom, Arthur H. (1998). International M&A, Joint Ventures and Beyond: Doing the Deal. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-16036-6.
  9. ↑ ICSID Review. International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. 1992.
  10. ↑ Project and Trade Finance. Euromoney Publications. 1995. p. 72.
  11. ↑ "Ibizcube Home". www.ibizcubejapan.com. Archived from the original on 2001-03-31. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  12. ↑ Mijatovic, Miro (July 2001). "Japanese Business Problems – From a Foreigner's Perspective". Monthly Playgraph (Pachinko Industry Journal). 37 (7).
  13. ↑ "The State of Financing for Restaurant Operations". Leisure Hotel. October 2002.
  14. ↑ Walters, Leonora (November 2002). ""No Leisurely Undertaking – Leisure assets are the next in line for securitisation in Japan, pachinko parlours in particular" Leonora Walters interviewing Miro Mijatovic". International Securitisation Report.
  15. ↑ "Real Estate Fund Manager.com". www.presidiopenthouse.com. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  16. ↑ Nualkhair, Chawadee (28 May 2004). "Investors get into bed with love hotels – Offshore equity firm risks brushes with yakuza in search of 20% returns". The Japan Times.
  17. ↑ "MHS Capital Partners launches fund to invest overseas funds in Japanese Leisure Hotels". Property Management (47). June 2004.
  18. ↑ "Love hotels unlock doors to outsiders". Australian Financial Review. 2004-07-03. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  19. ↑ "Love hotel fund gets started: first specialist pink RE fund for Japan. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  20. ↑ "Investors focus on a sexy opportunity: the love hotel - Taipei Times". www.taipeitimes.com. 2004-05-30. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  21. ↑ Tribune, Chicago (2005-03-02). "Foreign investors drawn to Japan's 'love hotels'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  22. ↑ Staff, P. E. I. (2013-01-23). "Pleasure principals". PERE. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  23. ↑ "Your time starts now". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2005-09-03. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  24. ↑ "Investors find plenty to love about hotels". The Age. 2005-09-10. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  25. ↑ Wallace, Rick (23 June 2010). "Aussies lapping up Japanese love hotels". The Australian. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  26. ↑ "Alchemy Japan KK announces strong results in love hotel sector". Japan Today. 2011-01-26. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  27. ↑ "Alchemy Japan's KK Japanese Leisure Hotels' achieve revenue and earnings growth in Q1 2012 - Private Equity Wire". 2012-05-16. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  28. ↑ Commentary, Japan Real Estate (2012-12-13). "Japan Business Commentary: What Happened at Carval Investors Japan?". Japan Business Commentary. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  29. ↑ "Whistleblower". Whistleblower. 2014-05-14. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  30. ↑ Tabuchi, Hiroko; Strom, Stephanie (2012-10-02). "Conflict Over 'Love Hotel' Sale". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  31. ↑ "Miro Mijatovic Fightback Against The Yakuza - Weekend Australian - Page 2 | PDF | Gang Activity | Violence". Scribd. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  32. ↑ Commentary, Japan Real Estate (2012-12-07). "Japan Business Commentary: Miro Mijatovic Fight Back Against the Yakuza". Japan Business Commentary. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  33. ↑ "Miro Mijatovic - Contact Info, Agent, Manager | IMDbPro". pro.imdb.com. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  34. ↑ "Kawamata loses in court to Mijatovic | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  35. ↑ "(レポ＆写真) [イノキボンバイエ] 12.31 神戸：ヒョードル、永田を余裕の粉砕". www.boutreview.com. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 Igari, Toshiro (2010). 激突！Battle Royale! (in Japanese). Kodansha (published 17 September 2010). ISBN 9784334976262.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  37. ↑ "Miro Mijatovic: Fedor, Mirko, and PRIDE yakuza's loaded pistols | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  38. ↑ "Miro Mijatovic: The yakuza's contract to kill him & PRIDE's execution | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  39. ↑ "MMA: Mijatović tuži Inoki-Bom-Ba-Ye promotora - Sportnet". sportnet.hr. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  40. ↑ "Kawamata loses in court to Mijatovic | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  41. ↑ "消息筋: 2005年02月 Archives". www.fight-j.net. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  42. ↑ "The arrests are starting | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  43. ↑ says, FightOpinion com-Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry. "More on "the arrests are starting" | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  44. ↑ "Three accused yakuza members released | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  45. ↑ "Kawamata talks to Weekly Gendai | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  46. ↑ "Fuji TV cancels PRIDE for good | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  47. ↑ "Fuji TV blacklists anyone connected to PRIDE | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  48. ↑ says, Denis Martins. "Media wrap-up: Sakakibara, Fuji, and PRIDE | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  49. ↑ "The curious death of anti-yakuza lawyer Toshiro Igari | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  50. ↑ "Final book by famous anti-yakuza lawyer will be published; PRIDE rumored to be in book | FightOpinion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry". Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  51. ↑ "Death of a mockingbird". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  52. ↑ "The high price of writing about the yakuza–and those who pay. 猪狩先生を弔う日々". Japan Subculture Research Center. Archived from the original on 2012-03-09. Retrieved 2025-06-18.

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