A security camera in Vientiane recorded the killing of Yoshihito Oshima on Oct 14, 2026: a minivan stops, a man steps out, and a figure in black jogs up to the driver's side, draws a handgun and fires three shots. Oshima falls face-first onto the pavement. The gunman runs off without taking anything, Tokyo Reporter reported.
Oshima was the eldest son of Kenshin Oshima, founder of the failed consumer lender SFCG. The two had been running Lao ASEAN Leasing Public Company (LALCO), a finance and leasing business in the Lao capital, where Yoshihito served as a director.
Kenshin Oshima has survived at least two attacks of his own in recent years, according to people with knowledge of the family's finances. The shooting is being treated as a targeted hit rather than a robbery.
A lender famous for its collectors
Kenshin Oshima founded Shoko Fund in 1978 and built it into an empire by lending at high interest to small and medium-sized companies that banks had turned away. The firm became notorious for pursuing joint guarantors — the people who co-sign a loan and become liable when the borrower defaults — and the tactics became a national scandal.
The outcry brought Oshima before the Diet to testify. SFCG collapsed in 2009 with 548 billion yen in debt. Prosecutors arrested him in 2010 on suspicion of hiding billions of yen in assets ahead of the failure; the Tokyo High Court acquitted him outright in 2016.
By 2021 he had resettled in Laos, reportedly with some 46 billion yen in concealed assets, and set about rebuilding. He and Yoshihito launched a consumer finance and vehicle-backed lending business that later listed on the Lao Stock Exchange. Former employees described it as a Lao version of Shoko Fund, run on the same aggressive collection methods.
“The Laos authorities were viewing their forceful collection methods as a major problem. Until now, they were forgiven by handing over bribes, but they had reached the limit.”a former employee, in 2021
Silence from both governments
Photographs of Yoshihito Oshima lying in a pool of blood have circulated widely. Official responses have been minimal. Japan's embassy in Laos said it was "confirming facts," and the Lao embassy in Tokyo dismissed the footage as unverified rumor spread by anti-government dissidents.
On Oct 19, 2026, a statement signed by Kenshin Oshima appeared on the company's Facebook page announcing his son's death and naming Yoshihito's mother as the new president. The post was deleted soon afterward.
Reporters who took the footage to a Japanese affiliate where Yoshihito held an executive post found staff unaware of the killing. A representative broke down in tears when shown the video. Lawyers for the affiliate then sent the media a gag request, saying the case was still under investigation and warning that the family's lives were highly likely still in danger.
No motive has been established and the gunman has not been identified. People who followed the family's business in Laos said the violence did not come as a shock. "Considering the reputation of Oshima's company in Laos, they had a lot of enemies," one financial insider said. "There are stories that they had earned the resentment of government officials. But to be murdered like this…"