It is the avatar for the infamous forum member "white ninja" (http://www.sherdog.net/forums/member.php?u=29887). The picture is of Dream Stage Entertainment president Sakakibara Nobuyuki and Kawamata Seiya. Kawamata is a promoter of martial arts events, pop music artists, and discotheques with close links to organized crime figures. If you followed white ninja's ranting on the forums, and his links to (or advertisements of) Zach Arnold's fightopinion.com, you know that it was Kawamata's stories (true or not) that were the backbone of a long series of articles in Shukan Gendai, a tabloid magazine. Even though Kawamata's stories have not been proven true by any media source, police investigation, court proceeding, etc., they cast a dark enough shadow that they may have forced Fuji Television to end its relationship with DSE and PRIDE.
However, the picture in white ninja's avatar is not complete. It has been cropped. Why did white ninja crop it? Was it for a stylistic reason? Or because it did not fit some agenda he might have? Who knows. But there is a third man in the original picture that has been cut from white ninja's avatar. The missing man is veteran martial arts journalist Takasu Motoji.
Takasu Motoji and his son Takasu Motoichiro, also a journalist, know a lot about the martial arts scene, especially the connection between promotion companies and organized crime. Their knowledge forms a lot of the content of a new magazine/book (in Japan, we call this a "mook") that is being sold everywhere. I bought a copy in a Family Mart convenience store in Kunitachi, in the middle of nowhere, when I was visiting my parents. It is called Hikinuki-Sensou Saizensen, or something like "At the Front Lines of the Poaching War."
The "Front Lines" magazine starts with a panel discussion featuring Takasu Motoichiro and several other sports and weekly magazine writers. The very first thing discussed is Shukan Gendai, and the journalists immediately raise doubts about the credibility of the Kawamata articles. As several of the journalists note, the main person for the articles on the Shukan Gendai staff is Tanaka Tadashi, and he knows nothing about the fight game. One writer observes that Tanaka is just a pro wrestling fan who cannot see the difference between a work and a shoot. So how would it be possible for someone like Tanaka to be able to figure out when Kawamata's stories are real or when they are faked to help out his image or legal situation? Takasu Motoichiro agrees with the panel's comments, and he should be familiar with the situation. After all, his father is a friend of Kawamata's, since he was in that original picture with Kawamata and Sakakibara. Moreover, there are a few pages in the "Front Lines" magazine detailing telephone calls between Takasu Motoji and Kawamata, who is still supposed to be in hiding in a foreign country.
How much of this new magazine can be trusted? My friend Nick says that this would be called a "gossip rag" in English. On the other hand, a lot of Shukan Gendai is also a gossip rag. You just have a gossip rag attacking another gossip rag. I know that some people say that Shukan Gendai is a publication of the Kodansha company, therefore it must have standards, but that is a misunderstanding. There are many weekly magazines in Japan, combining real articles, gossip and half-truths, naked pictures of ladies, and advice about seducing young women, etc., and Shukan Gendai's image is in the bottom half of this group. It is even below "Friday", which is another Kodansha magazine.
Also, even though we don't know if it's 100% true, the "Front Lines" magazine has a lot of interesting stories. At least somebody believed in them enough to publish them in a full book and attract solid sponsors, like boutreview.com and Samurai TV. In the next few days, maybe I will mention a few more stories from this magazine, just for your information and entertainment.
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