Ashiya is one of the most famous celebrity towns in Japan… Ashiya madam round-table talk

Bringing a wad of cash worth 38 million yen

Ashiya City in Hyogo Prefecture overlooks the Rokko Mountains to the north and Osaka Bay to the south. Located less than 15 minutes by train from the center of Osaka and Kobe, the city is widely known as one of the most prestigious celebrity towns in Japan, where top executives of famous companies reside, as well as major celebrities and professional baseball players.

On the other hand, the lifestyles of the town’s billionaires are shrouded in secrecy.

This time, FRIDAY invited three celebrities living in Ashiya to a roundtable discussion: Eri, who runs a cosmetics company; Yumiko, who used to be a reader model; and Yasuko, who has a reputation as a “madam of a different order of magnitude” among her peers.

Nonfiction writer Kei Kato, author of “The Truth About Ashiya That Nobody Knows: What Kind of People Live in the Finest Residence Town” (Kodansha), gave us a lecture on how super celebrities spend their real money.

–Your friends who live in Ashiya spend an extraordinary amount of money, don’t they?

Eri: A friend of mine bought a 15 million yen ring when she went to Cartier at Kobe Daimaru because “the lady at the store was very friendly.

Yumiko There was also a friend who bought a 38 million yen necklace with cash. She put 38 million yen worth of bills in a big bag and said, “It was very heavy and hard work.

Eri By the way, your friend Yasuko was invited to the tour by the Cartier headquarters in Paris, right?

Yasuko I don’t know what criteria are used to select the tour participants, but there is a tour to which about 10 special groups of Cartier customers from all over Japan are selected and invited. The flight was first class. The flight was first class, and the travel expenses were paid for by the host country.

Eri: It was an amazing tour, wasn’t it? I guess that’s why they make you buy so many Cartier products (laughs).

Yumiko: There is more to this story. One year, her husband gave her a Cartier watch for Christmas and a Cartier diamond ring for her birthday in January of the following year. The total amount was 30 million yen just a month or so after Christmas (laughs).

A three-million-dollar dress comes out only once.

–Ashiya celebrities are associated with parties.

Yumiko: I had to wear a different dress every time, which was a headache. I would wear a “Vera Wang” dress or something like that (the lowest price as of March ’26 was over 800,000 yen), but Yasuko would wear a “Valentino” haute couture dress. The dress was so big that I had a hard time getting in the car (laughs).

(Laughs) — By the way, how much?

Yasuko: I think it was between 2 and 3 million yen. …… It’s only worn once and that’s the end of it, so it’s still hanging in my closet.

Eri: It seems that there are services to rent dresses for parties these days.

Yumiko You can rent a dress that costs about 1 million yen for a minimum of 100,000 yen. It seems that those who are not “real” are using this service, but the rented dresses are used so many times that the color becomes dull. You can easily recognize them when you see them.

Yasuko: I didn’t know about the party world at first, but I was influenced by Yumi and ……. For a while, I was going to parties all the time (laughs).

Yumiko: Actually, a company that sells pearls mainly in Hyogo Prefecture spread the party culture. Parties became popular in Ashiya after a meeting was held with a ″dress code″ of “please wear pearls from home to the party. That was more than a decade ago.

–You all have a lot of brand-name goods…do you ever sell them?

Yasuko: No, we don’t. I either throw them away or give them to friends.

Eri Going to sell them is a hassle, isn’t it? It takes a lot of time.

Yumiko I give them to my daughter. She might sell it to me, though (laughs).

(laughs) — What are the current trends among Ashiya celebrities?

Eri: I think it is going to LA to see Otani (Shohei Ohtani, 31) and taking pictures of the game. The cost of travel and tickets has gone up recently due to the depreciation of the yen, so good seats can cost millions of yen. I often hear people say that they saw Otani there.

Yasuko: There are many people around me who went to see Otani.

Eri Otani is exceptional, isn’t he? In Ashiya, no one calls out to celebrities or athletes even if they are walking around. I think that’s why so many celebrities live here.

–Lately, the price of land in Ashiya has been going up, and Narihira-cho and Funato-cho are over 3 million yen per tsubo. Isn’t it difficult to buy a house in Ashiya?

Yumiko: Prices have gone up, but even so, condominiums are sold as soon as they are built. New mansions are also being built.

Yasuko: Once, when construction work started, someone handed out Hermes plates to neighbors, saying, “We are sorry for the noise.

–I was wondering if you are worried about being burglarized?

Yumiko: Many people in Ashiya have SECOM, so if something happens, they will come to you immediately.

Yasuko: When my friend’s house in Okuike, Ashiya, where you have to go through a toll road, was burglarized, the SECOM came too late and didn’t arrive in time. He said, “Since then, I leave cash at the front door.” He seems to think, “If I leave 500,000 yen, the thief will be convinced to leave.

[Click here for the second part] Ashiya madam round-table talk: “We are just living a normal life” ″The real deal″ way of spending money.

From the April 17/24, 2026 issue of “FRIDAY