11/28/2005
The Asahi Shimbun
The president of a company linked to disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha
was found dead just before noon Saturday, and police said they suspected
suicide.
Police had been searching for the 55-year-old man, who headed the Morita
architectural office in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, since his family reported
him missing on Thursday.
He was found at the foot of a 20-meter cliff in Kamakura, Kanagawa
Prefecture. The body was near the water's edge in a coastal park in
Inamuragasaki 1-chome.
Police are treating the death as suspected suicide.
Morita had commissioned the Aneha architect design office, which
allegedly faked scores of reports on the quake-resistance of buildings,
to calculate structural-strength reports for apartment complexes it
designed in Yokohama and Fujisawa, both in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Suspecting his involvement in the growing scandal, officials from the
Ministry of land, Infrastructure and Transport had apparently planned to
file a criminal complaint against the dead architect's office for
suspected violations of the Building Standards Law.
Tokyo officials, commenting on an on-site search of the Morita office
last Tuesday, said the president told them he "didn't know that any
falsification had taken place."(IHT/Asahi: November 28,2005)
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An Architect Cuts Corners, and Shakes Japan's Faith
By JAMES BROOKE
Published: November 26, 2005
TOKYO, Nov. 25 - No buildings have collapsed, yet. No one has been hurt.
But the case of the architect caught cheating on earthquake building
codes has transfixed Japan.
Night after night, television news programs feature video clips of
tearful condominium owners moving out of their new apartments, while
construction company owners, inspectors and the architect involved in
the deficient buildings blame one another for the failings. So far,
seven hotels have been forced to close, including a 260-room tower that
opened in August near the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
cont'd....
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/international/asia/26japan.html?oref=login