The yakuza is Japan's version of the Mafia, a shadowy mob brotherhood that often operates behind a shield of what appears to be legitimate business fronts. According to Japanese press reports, one such business is West Tsusho, a Tokyo-based real estate firm that has bought into two American companies with the help of an unusually well-placed U.S. middleman: Prescott Bush Jr., 68, the President's elder brother.
Japanese police have been investigating West Tsusho, which press reports say is an arm of a company controlled by Susumu Ishii, onetime head of Japan's second largest crime syndicate. Documents filed with the Securities and...