TOKYO, Sept. 6, 2022—Murayama Inc., which is at the center of public spotlight over the much-disputed state funeral for the late prime minister Shinzo Abe, is an unlisted company it claims as 120 years old since its founding in 1902 – and flush with unanswered questions.
Its website claims the company was founded on August 8, 1902 without reference to its founders saying it was the year when the Wright brothers flew their world-first manpower-driven aircraft from the Kitty Hawk hill. It was incorporated November 19, 1958, it said. It’s capitalized at 427 million yen and has 408 employees.
On March 31, 2022, Murayama Holdings Inc., which owns Murayama Inc., which was capitalized at 100 million yen, was fully acquired by Nippon Television Holdings Inc. from Rising Japan Equity Inc. Murayama Holdings was established on June 21, 2017.
Nippon Television’s March 31, 2022 news release said Murayama, which was fully owned by Murayama Holdings, was ‘a leading company’ with ample experiences at managing sports, ‘government related’ events and exhibition, and others, as well as amusement park management.
Murayama Holdings’ CEO as of March 31, 2021 was Toshihiko Yagura, the release said. Yagura’s detailed information was not available. An Internet site said he seemed to be instrumental in managing Nippon Television’s annual ’24-Hour Television’ show held Aug. 27-28 this year.
Murayama was the sole bidder for the Abe state funeral competitive tender, winning it for 176 million yen, according to the Sept. 2 Mainichi newspaper article. The government of prime minister Fumio Kishida budgeted only 250 million yen, clearly omitting to include other relevant costs. On Sept. 5, the government told opposition parties that the real budget was more than 1.7 billion yen.
Murayama had been winning government public tenders for the annual cherry blossom viewing ceremony that Abe hosted between 2015 and 2019, the year when the ceremony’s budget tripled, raising the specter of Diet (parliament) questioning of the Abe administration.
Murayama manages public museums, both national and regional, extensively, including the War memorial hall and the Police museum in Tokyo.
Murayama was the suppliers of cardboard-made partitions used at large-scale COVID-19 vaccination centers.
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