Take our user survey and make your voice heard.
More details emerged Thursday about Ginza property tycoon Genshiro Kawamoto, 81, who was arrested Tuesday for alleged tax evasion.
According to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office special investigation squad, Kawamoto spearheaded a plot to cover up earnings and avoid paying 862 million yen in taxes over the three financial years ending December 2011. Kawamoto, who lives in a 5-star hotel in Tokyo, owns the Marugen group whose logo can be seen on several buildings in Ginza and Kitakyushu.
TBS reported Thursday that prosecutors allege that Marugen reportedly had a variety of means of hiding earnings, such as failing to report real rent costs and claiming tenants had failed to pay their rent.
The flamboyant Kawamoto, who was once dubbed "Ginza's real estate mogul," has operated properties in high value areas, renting them to businesses such as clubs, bars and pubs. According to sources, Kawamoto began renting property in the late 1960s in Fukuoka Prefecture, where he grew up. From the 1970s, Kawamoto obtained properties in Tokyo, renting to businesses in upscale areas such as Ginza, Akasaka and Roppongi. He also owned a sprawling resort home in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, and regularly appeared in magazines.
During the bubble economy period in the 1980s, Marugen is thought to have operated around 60 buildings across Japan, with their 5,900 tenants paying over 10 billion yen a year. In the late '80s, Kawamoto invested in upscale homes and condominiums in Hawaii, but faced criticism from local groups attempting to preserve Hawaiian properties for people of Hawaiian ancestry. His assets are said to be worth more than 100 billion yen, TBS reported.
Recently, Kawamoto was reportedly dividing his time between his hotel residence in Tokyo and a resort home in Hawaii. He once boasted that "only fools" pay taxes.
© Japan Today
15 Comments
Login to comment
some14some
now what will he say, "old and fools pay taxes?"
kurisupisu
Well the homeless get a guaranteed penal sentence for theft....so this dude should get a government position???
Ewan Huzarmy
Marugen reportedly had a variety of means of hiding earnings, such as failing to report real rent costs and claiming tenants had failed to pay their rent
'Tenants had failed to pay their rents' .... and who do you expect to buy that little chestnut ? I'm sure your tennats who didn't pay up quick enough, soon got a visit from the sunglass wearing tattooed guys with four fingers. I wouldn7t be surprised if you were more than a little affilited with them.
Vernie Jefferies
I bet they carried a big load of cardboard boxes to his residence.
Wakarimasen
Agree that Yaks likely to be involved. Many Marugen buildings full of hostess bars and snack bars and the like.
Stephen Knight
The dozens of luxury properties he bought up over the past decade or so (spending as much as $165 million) in Kahala, on Oahu, are mostly sitting empty or defaced. They were never in the hands of Hawaiian people, despite what the article claims, and after the way he's torn them up (and down) and littered them with bizarre collections of faux Greek statues and Japanese-style concrete lanterns, I doubt even the Hawaiians would want them. He's basically a high-end slumlord, and if these charges get him out of Hawaii altogether, it won't be too soon.
papigiulio
he is 80, he enjoyed a good life and will probably never see any punishment. Lucky sob
TumbleDry
He must have pissed someone highly placed and only him has been arrested.
At this level, it is not like he was filling his tax return himself. He has people paied for that. Lawyers and accountants helping him to evade taxes.
Mocheake
Old fools who don't pay taxes may have to spend their golden years in the klink watching out for "Bubba."
falseflagsteve
Japanese prisoners need not fear "bubba" That fear is for third world judicial systems.
Elbuda Mexicano
He once boasted that “only fools” pay taxes. Yeah, he really fooled the J government and all of us?? Now he can enjoy the rest of your twisted life behind bars, maybe your TAXES will help feed you and others there including Bubba??
FPSRussia
This guy is untouchable. He won't spend a day in jail. However I'm glad to see him here. He is proof about my suspicions that Yaks don't dress cheap any more. They now control the government and this nations law enforcement.
25psot
May be he forget to pay. He is over 80 ?
LFRAgain
Wealthy asshats like Kawamoto desperately need to be made an example of by society.
If a homeless man can be sentenced to over a year in prison for "stealing" 10 yen (true story), then this bastard should have his assets stripped and diverted towards the national debt. No prison time necessary. It would be fitting for him to be free to see his lifetime's work go towards something good for a change.
fupayme
He's already 81 people, its not gonna happen. Also the fact that he is 81 and finally got caught, probably means he didn't pay even more the past 50+ years.
Pretty sure he dodged so much more than 860mil yen in taxes.
Plus he's lived the Grand lifestyle, its not gonna matter anymore, he had his fun, and played the system. Even though he got caught now, its already too late.
Trust me you ask any average crap pay worker, if they would rather live a crappy life live till 85-90, or live the life this guy had but get caught at 80, I think most people would choose what this guy did.