A Key Figure in the “Amari Scandal” Set Fire to the Construction Site Office Himself… What’s Happening on the “Shelf Road” That Has Remained Unopened for 56 Years
Trouble at a Construction Company at the Center of the “Amari Scandal”
This photo shows a banner displayed on temporary fencing at a construction site.It bears messages condemning specific individuals and the government’s handling of the matter, such as “I will carry out a protest suicide,” “The evil bastards trying to profit off our tax money,” and “Takeshi Isshiki—the worst of them all—who used me to settle his own grudge and took my money.”
Shirai City, Chiba Prefecture. On the morning of June 23, a fire—believed to be arson—broke out at the office of a construction company located on the planned site of the “Chiba New Town North Ring Road,” which has remained unopened for 56 years.Hiroyoshi Teradoko, the representative of Satsuma Kogyo (now Mutsumi Construction), which had established its company at this location and refused to vacate the premises for many years, is believed to have set fire to his own office in an attempt to commit suicide by self-immolation.Satsuma Kogyo, the company where the fire occurred, is the very site that served as the stage for opaque compensation negotiations in the “Amari Incident,” which once rocked the political world.
The North Ring Road is an urban planning road that crosses the Chiba New Town area and connects Inzai City with Shiroi City.However, Satsuma Kogyo had established its office and materials storage yard adjacent to the planned road route, and the company’s buildings interfered with the removal of industrial waste buried underground and the progress of road construction, bringing the project to a halt. As a result, a section spanning approximately 450 meters has been left isolated and unopened.
Keiko Shibata, a city council member from Shirai City, explains:
“The North Ring Road is supposed to be a vital artery connecting the city center to the new town area in a short amount of time. Once opened, it will help alleviate chronic traffic congestion in the surrounding area and improve disaster prevention and crime prevention capabilities. For this reason, I myself have raised the issue of its early opening during general question sessions at the city council in the past.”
For many years, the biggest obstacle preventing the opening of this section was precisely the issue of Satsuma Kogyo’s refusal to vacate the property.
Just before the fire broke out, Mr. Teradoko had posted a message on his X (formerly Twitter) account hinting at suicide. The post read: “I will take my own life today.The ones who drove me to this…,” and it listed the real names of a representative from the Chiba Prefectural Enterprise Bureau, a lawyer representing UR (Urban Renaissance Agency), and landowners. Among them, the person singled out on a banner as “the worst of them all” was Takeshi Isshiki, who had served as the whistleblower in the “Amari Incident.”
The “Amari Scandal” refers to allegations of influence peddling surrounding eviction negotiations between UR—which had been commissioned by Chiba Prefecture to handle the practical aspects of relocation compensation negotiations related to road construction—and Satsuma Kogyo. It involves claims that Akira Amari (76), then Minister for Economic Revitalization, and his secretary received large sums of cash from Satsuma Kogyo in exchange for their intervention.In this case, Mr. Isshiki served as Satsuma Kogyo’s point of contact in his capacity as “general affairs manager” and acted as a liaison with Mr. Amari’s side.However, negotiations with UR regarding additional compensation showed absolutely no progress, no matter how much time passed. Fed up with the attitude of Mr. Amari’s secretaries, who continued to demand money despite this, he took recorded evidence supporting the exchange of money to *Shukan Bunshun* and decided to come forward with the allegations.
This website spoke directly with Mr. Isshiki.
“I was really upset when I saw the photo of the banner. Why am I being made out to be the bad guy? It’s sad, and I don’t understand why he holds a grudge against me. We’ve been in contact all along—I was the one who introduced him to Mr. Amari when he asked for help, and I was the one he asked to resolve the land dispute. I’m the one who’s been reaching out to him the whole time…”
Mr. Isshiki explained that, at Mr. Teradoko’s request, he had been working to resolve the issue.
The two of them had been scheduled to meet that day as well.
Originally, the land in question, which Satsuma Kogyo had been using, was “leased land” rented from the landowner.Initially, the company had agreed with UR to pay approximately 220 million yen as compensation for the reconstruction of its office building and had already received this payment. However, due to the impact of construction work carried out by UR, it became necessary to relocate the entire office and materials storage area to a different location, leading to negotiations regarding additional compensation beginning in 2015.
However, in 2018, while negotiations were still ongoing, the landowner entered into a preliminary sales agreement with a third party, and that third party filed a provisional registration (claim for transfer of ownership) on the land leased by Satsuma Kogyo.Consequently, UR argued—citing this provisional registration—that “until an agreement is reached between the landowner and the third party holding the provisional registration rights, we cannot conclude an additional compensation agreement with Mr. Teradoko, the lessee,” and brought the negotiations for additional compensation, which had been progressing up to that point, to a complete halt.
Regarding this complex web of vested interests surrounding the “leased land,” Mr. Isshiki states the following:
“On June 13, I met with Mr. Teradoko at a family restaurant in Kanagawa Prefecture and presented a concrete proposal for a resolution. UR is refusing to negotiate additional compensation on the condition that a settlement be reached with the third party who filed the provisional registration; however, the provisional registration was filed in 2018—after 2015, when the compensation discussions began.UR’s argument, using this retroactive provisional registration as an excuse, is absurd. To resume negotiations by pointing out this chronological contradiction, the two of us had arranged to go to the Secretary’s Office of the Chiba Prefectural Governor on the day of the fire (the 23rd) to make a direct appeal.”
On the other hand, a person close to Mr. Teradoko offers this perspective:
“In the appellate trial of the eviction lawsuit filed by the landowner, he lost the case in late May. Given that he hadn’t paid the monthly rent of about 180,000 yen for over a year, it was a trial where defeat seemed inevitable from the start. The forced eviction was only a matter of time.”
There seems to be no doubt that Mr. Teradoko had reached a complete dead end.
Regarding Mr. Teradoko’s current condition after setting fire to his own office, Mr. Isshiki stated, “I’ve heard he’s in an isolation ward and is not accepting visitors.”
More than half a century has passed since the urban planning decision was made, yet parts of the North Ring Road remain unopened and neglected. At this site, where the interests of various stakeholders are intricately intertwined, even after this incident, no solution has been found to bring about an early opening.
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