The Return to Kyoto and the Promise of Vengeance

In July 2018, the terminal in Kyoto, Japan, witnessed the quiet arrival of a Filipino man returning after more than two decades.

Luis Mendoza, 35, had long resided in Canada following a family tragedy that shattered his young life. However, this return was not about visitation or finding peace; it was the calculated beginning of a plan he had meticulously constructed over many years.

Luis grew up in Bacolod, but his childhood was marked by hardship and unanswered questions.

His mother, Rosa Mendoza, had departed for Japan in 1996 to work as a domestic helper, promising to return in two years with enough savings to provide a better life for her family.

That promise tragically went unfulfilled. Instead, the family received the devastating news: Rosa’s body was found in a river in Kyoto in an unrecognizable state.

The official police report deemed the passing an accident, but numerous details simply did not align. Her belongings were missing, her documents were nowhere to be found, and she was discovered far from her place of residence.

The family was forced to accept the authorities’ explanation, but Luis, who was just a child then, remained consumed by doubt.

As he grew, he pieced together fragments of information from his mother’s old letters and her friends, gradually forming a deeper, darker picture.

According to these secret accounts, his mother was likely the victim of a syndicate involved in the illegal recruitment of Filipina women to Japan.

Rosa was forced into a life of exploitation—a truth she kept hidden in her letters home. Years of simmering anger and the desperate need for justice fueled Luis’s decision to return to Kyoto, the very place that once promised his mother a better life but became the center of his revenge.

The List and the First Target

In his possession, Luis carried a meticulous list of names—the individuals he believed were directly responsible for Rosa’s mysterious end.

Every name on the list was part of a powerful, secretive syndicate operating under the name Hikari, which literally means ‘light.’

On his first night back, Luis settled into a small guesthouse near the Gion District. From there, he began his surveillance on his first target: Daiki Tanaka, a former employee of a Kyoto recruitment agency, Kyowa Global Agency, known to be involved in illegal transactions.

The memory of his mother fueled his rage. For years, he had studied every move and connection of Tanaka from his base in Canada.

Under the brightly lit streets of Kyoto, no one noticed the quiet movements of the avenging son.

Tanaka remained oblivious that he was the starting point of a plan designed to systematically erase a powerful criminal syndicate. Luis carried one unwavering promise with every quiet step: to bring justice to his mother.

On July 14, 2018, two days after Luis Mendoza arrived in Kyoto, Daiki Tanaka’s body was found in an abandoned building near the Nishijin Textile District. Tanaka, 52, was a former employee of Kyowa Global, a company involved in recruiting Filipina women as entertainers or domestic helpers in Japan.

According to witnesses, his hands were bound, and a paper was affixed to his chest bearing Japanese words that translated to: “Payment.”

The Unraveling of the Syndicate

Three days before his body was found, Luis initiated his surveillance of Tanaka. Using a fake identity as a freelance journalist, Luis approached Tanaka for a false interview about the recruitment industry.

Initially cautious, Tanaka gradually divulged details about Kyowa Global Agency’s past transactions, revealing names still connected to the syndicate, including Hiroshi Nagata, the former manager of Kyowa.

That same evening, Luis followed Tanaka to an abandoned building where Tanaka was meeting a group of men.

Luis cornered Tanaka inside, whispered Rosa Mendoza’s name—a name Tanaka barely remembered, but which carried immense weight—and left the message “Payment” to signal the syndicate that its past had returned to collect.

The crime quickly became a major topic in Kyoto due to the clear link to a woman from Tanaka’s past. The syndicate, long hidden beneath the façade of legitimate businesses, remained silent.

Luis, despite the success of his first move, returned to the shadows, using an internet cafe to review his list. He knew his next steps would be far more dangerous.

Luis then began his surveillance of Hiroshi Nagata, who lived in luxury in Uji City.

Luis learned Nagata controlled the documents of recruited Filipina women and had direct connections to various nightclubs and employers in the Kansai region—the key to the deeper secrets of Rosa’s end.

Luis discovered that Nagata held weekly meetings at a high-end izakaya near Kyoto station. Luis waited for the opportune moment.

When Nagata remained behind to pay the bill, Luis followed him out, posing as a researcher interested in Kyowa’s history. Nagata’s slight change in expression when he heard Rosa’s name confirmed Luis’s suspicion.

Nagata quickly disappeared the next day, forcing Luis to seek other names on his list.

The Secret of Human Trafficking and the Final Cost

On August 3, 2018, Luis gained critical information through a fake online profile, contacting a former Kyowa employee named Kenji, who sought protection in exchange for speaking.

Kenji revealed that Kyowa was not merely a recruitment firm but part of a larger human trafficking and exploitation operation targeting foreign workers, especially Filipinas, through false promises.

Kenji revealed that in the 90s, Rosa Mendoza had posed a significant problem for the syndicate when she refused to comply with their demands and attempted to report them to authorities.

The syndicate leader then ordered the problem to be eliminated before it could affect their entire operation.

Kenji named the current leader: Taku Nakamura, the powerful figure who shielded the syndicate due to his connections with politicians and authorities.

Nakamura, according to Kenji, hid documents proving the syndicate’s illegal connections at a private house in Arashiyama, Kyoto.

Luis knew Nakamura was his final, most dangerous target. On August 25, during a high-level syndicate meeting at Nakamura’s Arashiyama house, Luis quietly slipped into the property.

He found boxes containing fraudulent contracts, transaction records, and a file bearing his mother’s name, Rosa Mendoza. The file detailed the final orders given against Rosa, confirming the syndicate’s direct connection to her de@th.

Luis escaped with the evidence. He then confronted Nakamura at a separate location, handing him the envelope containing the evidence. Luis mentioned Rosa’s name, and Nakamura’s confidence crumbled.

The Price of Justice

Using the documents and a video recording of their confrontation, Luis sent an anonymous tip to the Kyoto police.

Former cases of trafficking and missing workers were reopened, leading to the arrest of Nakamura in a raid on his office in Osaka on September 5, 2018. The Hikari syndicate was permanently dismantled.

However, Luis’s vigilante actions did not escape the law. Amidst the raids, authorities traced Luis’s involvement in the acts of violence against Tanaka and Nagata.

On September 8, 2018, Luis Mendoza was arrested by the Kyoto police at a guesthouse. He accepted the consequences, stating he was ready to face them.

In 2019, Luis was convicted by the Kyoto District Court on multiple counts of homicide and illegal possession of evidence.

While the court acknowledged his noble motive for seeking justice, it was not enough to justify his illegal actions. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in Japan.

In prison, Luis became quiet, but he received letters from the families of other syndicate victims. Their gratitude gave him a measure of peace.

Luis Mendoza’s story is not merely one of revenge; it is a profound story of sacrifice and retribution. He brought down the syndicate responsible for his mother’s life, but his own freedom became the ultimate payment for the justice he tirelessly sought.