Each week here at osaka.com, we bring you a selection of some of the top stories about Osaka making the local and national news here in Japan. Sometimes its serious, sometimes its funny, but its always direct to you, from Osaka.
Police Arrest Former Expo Construction Manager
Osaka Prefectural Police arrested a former manager at construction giant Takenaka Corporation on August 19 over an alleged breach of trust involving the Osaka-Kansai Expo’s Grand Ring.
Police claim that 61-year-old Tatsumi Kawai instructed a subcontractor to exaggerate construction costs, causing Takenaka to lose approximately 13.7 million yen. Investigators suspect that Kawai diverted part of the money towards renovations at his own home.
Kawai worked as the overall site manager at Takenaka’s Osaka headquarters and supervised the company’s contribution to the Grand Ring. He also appeared on television as a representative of the joint venture responsible for the work.
Expo organisers divided the ring’s construction into three sections. A consortium led by Takenaka secured the contract for the western portion, which covered around 700 metres of the ring and several surrounding facilities. Contracts related to the consortium’s work reached approximately 35 billion yen.
The alleged 13.7-million-yen loss represents a small fraction of that total. Nevertheless, the arrest creates another unwelcome controversy as Osaka dismantles much of the Expo site and considers how to preserve the event’s legacy.
Takenaka, one of Japan’s largest construction firms, has deep roots in Osaka. The company dates back to 1610 and maintains its headquarters in Chuo Ward. Its portfolio includes Abeno Harukas, which dominated Osaka’s skyline as Japan’s tallest building until Tokyo’s Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower surpassed it in 2023.
The company apologised for the concern caused by the arrest and promised to cooperate fully with investigators. It also said it would respond strictly once it established the facts.
Japan Executes Osaka Pachinko Parlour Arsonist
Japan carried out its first execution in more than a year on August 21, hanging the man responsible for a deadly arson attack at an Osaka pachinko parlour.
Sunao Takami, 58, killed five people and injured ten others when he set fire to the Cross Nichiei parlour in Osaka’s Konohana Ward on July 5, 2009. Takami poured petrol across the floor of the crowded business and ignited it with a match.
Fire quickly engulfed the building, leaving customers with little opportunity to escape. The calculated nature of the attack and the number of casualties made it one of the most shocking crimes in modern Osaka history.
The Osaka District Court convicted Takami of murder, attempted murder and arson in 2011. The Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in 2016.
Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said he ordered the execution after careful consideration of the crime’s severity. Takami became the first prisoner executed since June 2025 and the first under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration.
The case also returned Japan’s capital punishment system to the national spotlight. Japan and the United States remain the only G7 countries that continue to carry out executions. Japanese authorities usually tell prisoners about their execution only on the morning it takes place, a practice that domestic and international human rights groups have repeatedly criticised.
For many people in Osaka, however, the news will reopen memories of an attack that devastated five families and left ten survivors facing lasting physical and psychological injuries.
Government Calls Time on the Cool Japan Fund
The Japanese government has decided to dissolve the troubled Cool Japan Fund after it accumulated losses of approximately 54 billion yen.
Officials created the public-private fund in 2013 to help Japanese food, fashion, tourism and entertainment businesses expand overseas. It invested in 83 projects and committed a total of around 204 billion yen, with taxpayers supplying most of its capital.
Several ventures failed to deliver the expected returns. The fund recorded a net loss of approximately 15.7 billion yen during fiscal 2025 alone, while its revenue fell sharply to 4.4 billion yen.
The decision also carries local significance. The fund supported Cool Japan Park Osaka, a theatre complex in Osaka Castle Park designed to promote Japanese entertainment and culture. The complex opened in 2019 and includes three performance venues.
The fund’s closure does not mean Osaka will stop promoting its food, comedy, theatre and popular culture abroad. In fact, the city’s international profile has grown considerably through tourism and the Expo. However, the losses raise questions about whether government-managed investment offered the best way to turn that cultural appeal into sustainable business.
Osaka’s entertainment companies have built audiences through commercial instincts, distinctive local identities and direct connections with fans. Future projects may need to follow that example while relying less heavily on large injections of public money.
And Finally…
A fourth-grade pupil in neighbouring Wakayama Prefecture made an unusual discovery in late July: bamboo in bloom.
The young observer spotted the flowers in a mountainous part of Hashimoto, a city close to Osaka Prefecture and easily reached from the city via the Nankai Koya Line. Experts identified the plant as hachiku, a species of bamboo that flowers only once every 60 to 120 years.
Bamboo flowers bear little resemblance to Osaka’s spectacular cherry blossoms. They look more like small, drooping heads of grain, which makes them very easy to overlook. Most people could walk straight past them without realising they had encountered something that may not appear again during their lifetime.
Bamboo also tends to die after flowering, making the event both a botanical wonder and a slightly ominous turn for the plant itself.
The discovery offers a useful reminder that children often make the best local reporters. While the adults of Kansai spent the week following alleged construction fraud, government losses and a grim criminal case, one observant schoolboy simply looked closely at the countryside—and found the week’s rarest story.
That’s all for now but be sure to check back again same time next week for another round of This Week in Osaka!
