In 1973, Asahi Shimbun acquired former state-owned land in Tsukiji through a land swap with the Ministry of Finance.
The Hamadayama property offered in exchange had been identified as a Jōmon archaeological site.
This essay examines the background and issues surrounding the transaction.
November 29, 2017
The chapter I published on November 29, 2017, titled “For Asahi Shimbun to have offered that land in a land swap is close to fraudulent conduct,” has now entered the top ten in goo search rankings.
The following continues from the previous chapter.
Asahi’s “headquarters site” in Tsukiji was formerly state-owned land that Asahi acquired in January 1973 (Showa 48) through a land swap with the Ministry of Finance (formerly the Ministry of the Treasury).
In that exchange with the Ministry, Asahi offered the “Asahi Hamadayama Ground” land located in Suginami Ward, which was owned by the Asahi Shimbun Company.
Locally in Suginami, it was commonly called “Asahi Farm,” and aside from the archaeological remains, it was merely land with a sports ground in the woods.
By contrast, the former state-owned land in Tsukiji had originally been the site of the Hydrographic Department of the Japan Coast Guard.
It comprised a vast 14,680 square meters and was one of the most prime locations in central Tokyo.
Its present market value, estimated from official land price data, would be around 30 billion yen.
The land of that “Asahi Farm” ground was dramatically transformed through the land swap.
It is presumed that an agreement was reached between Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and Asahi Shimbun President Tomoo Hirooka, and that the Ministry of Finance, acting on instructions from Tanaka as head of government, accepted the land swap.
However, even Hirooka was merely a salaried company president.
It is naturally assumed that Asahi owners Murayama and Ueno were involved behind the scenes.
Asahi is unlisted and essentially a private shop, and the crucial details of the negotiations have not been disclosed.
From the Ministry’s perspective, it agreed to the land swap with the plan of building public servant housing on the Hamadayama ground.
However, excavation surveys had been conducted from 1932 (Showa 7) to 1938 (Showa 13), and the site was where the mid-Jōmon period archaeological site known as the Tsukayama Site had been discovered.
Had the Ministry of Finance known this fact, it would have been obligated to protect it as a cultural property, making it unsuitable as official housing land.
Construction of buildings would have been impossible.
For Asahi Shimbun to have offered that land in a land swap is close to fraudulent conduct.
It was a property with almost no market liquidity and had little value beyond use as a sports ground or park.
To be continued.