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Asahi Kasei Construction Materials president apologizes to Hokkaido governor

19 Comments

The president of Asahi Kasei Construction Materials Corp, which is at the center of a widening scandal over falsified data about piling work in buildings, on Sunday apologized to Hokkaido Gov Harumi Takahashi.

Asahi Kasei Construction Materials Corp, which is a subsidiary of construction company Asahi Kasei, has built 422 properties in Hokkaido since 2005. So far, 10 cases of data fabrication have been found.

In his meeting with Gov Takahashi, Asahi Kasei Construction Materials President Tomihiro Maeda apologized to the people in Hokkaido for causing great them great anxiety and promised to fix any problems found in buildings, Fuji TV reported.

Data fabrication has now been found at 300 projects, involving 10 employees across Japan. The company is checking the piling work at 3,040 buildings nationwide constructed by Asahi Kasei Construction Materials Corp since 2007.

Asahi Kasei will give a report on how many buildings have been affected nationwide to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on Friday.

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19 Comments
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Fear of failure → failure to flag up shortcomings → greater failure.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Asahi Kasei will give a report on how many buildings have been affected nationwide to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on Friday.

Amid flashing cameras someone will hand over the papers with a deep, theatrical bow, looking contrite, to a man who bows a little less but looks strict and the impression will be given that official punishment has been meted out but, in fact, it will not be so. And probably never will be. Is there a law that has been broken? Or a penalty for breaking it?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Yep, just make sure your hand-picked kisha yes-men are present, flashing cameras in hand, and a simple bow will make all litigious threats vanish into thin air. What scandal?!

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The pressure to succeed in Japan is quite high.... to the point were companies often fabricate numbers. You might think this is Japan bashing.... but with so few agencies in Japan actually checking that standards are being followed.... heck, maybe its a risk worth taking. Also.... what will the fine be... paltry of course.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Oh good....an apology.

I think I'll just stop paying taxes for thenext ten years and then if it catches up to me, I will "apologize" with "deep remorse" and promise to "look into why the taxes weren't paid"

I should be able to get away with it right?

as long as I apologize, I can be forgiven yes? This IS the lesson to be learned?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Well at least this was found out before any big Quakers took down some huge mansions killing thousands of residents.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Asahi Kasei Construction Materials president apologizes to Hokkaido governor

And:

In his meeting with Gov Takahashi, Asahi Kasei Construction Materials President Tomihiro Maeda apologized to the people in Hokkaido

It would appear he made his apology to governor regarding the people. He didn't apologize to the people though. He should be out their visiting the affected people's homes one at a time and giving a personal apology.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

When he does it from behind bars I'll believe he's sorry. Until then, this is the usual way to get off Scott free in Japan.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

i still don't understand why this happened. were the employees told to do a rush job in building these condos and buildings? why only fabricate data on a few of the pilings and not all of them? odd stuff, man.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I believe this problem is not specific to Asahi Kasei Kenzai.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This could be to Japan as Volkswagen was to Germany. If the authorities screw this up, the price for Japan could be Very Very high. As someone who really likes it here in Sapporo, I hope they Really deal with the problem.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

odd stuff, man.

I agree. It's not clear to me how they have distinguished real data from falsified data.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

They can tell the falsified data for a given pile by comparing it with data for other piles. Basically squiggly charts are drawn as the piles are drilled into the ground, indicating the amount of resistance at each depth.

Where the data patterns for different piles match exactly, they know that one of them must just be a copy, because the structure of the earth being precisely the same at each point is highly unlilkely.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Nice article about construction materials.It would appear he made his apology to governor regarding the people. He didn't apologize to the people though.Thank you very much for this post.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@crustpunker

Oh good....an apology. I think I'll just stop paying taxes for thenext ten years and then if it catches up to me, I will "apologize" with "deep remorse" and promise to "look into why the taxes weren't paid" I should be able to get away with it right? as long as I apologize, I can be forgiven yes? This IS the lesson to be learned?

As long as you mention that it was 'regrettable'. That is paramount to getting out of jail time. It must be regrettable.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The company is checking the piling work at 3,040 buildings nationwide constructed by Asahi Kasei Construction Materials Corp since 2007.

Shouldn't another (independent) company look in to the piles? It seems ridiculous that they would have a dishonest company check on their own work.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

wontond: Shouldn't another (independent) company look in to the piles? It seems ridiculous that they would have a dishonest company check on their own work.

Maybe they're the only company with 'expertise'. Like TEPCO in nuclear arena.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Where the data patterns for different piles match exactly, they know that one of them must just be a copy

Thanks, fxgal. That would explain it. But it suggests they can't even falsify data competently. Or, this way, are they able to pass it off as an administrative error?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@sighclops

As long as you mention that it was 'regrettable'. That is paramount to getting out of jail time. It must be regrettable. -

Ah! Of COURSE!! thanks good sir/madam. it must be regrettable as well! Can't believe I didn't include the "regrettable" part...wait...should it be "deeply regrettable" or just plain "regrettable"?

I should definetly try to set up an official investigation to try to comes to some possible ideas that may lead to an attempt to find some factors that may have contributed to a regrettable situation. ;)

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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