Sōkaiya (総会屋) (sometimes also translated as "corporate bouncers", "meeting-men", or "corporate blackmailers") are specialized racketeers unique to Japan, and often associated with the yakuza, who extort money from or blackmail companies by threatening to publicly humiliate companies and their management, usually in their annual meeting (総会, sōkai).
Even after the Japanese laws included a limited liability, hence reducing the personal risk to the managers, these sōkaiya continued to prosper, and were often used to quiet down otherwise difficult meetings.
[2] In 1994, Juntarō Suzuki, vice president of Fujifilm, was murdered by sōkaiya after he stopped paying these bribes.
[3] Individual sōkaiya acquire enough stock from multiple companies in order to gain entrance to a shareholders' meeting.
Article 968 of the Japanese corporations code prohibits sōkaiya activity, imposing imprisonment of no more than five years or a fine of no more than ¥5 million for "receiving, demanding or promising a proprietary benefit with regard to" statements or the exercise of voting rights at a shareholder or creditor meeting.