At the time, I normally paid an owner of an illegal disposal ground
5,000 yen per truck loaded with construction debris. If I were to dump
the waste at an owner of a controlled disposal ground who possess a
legitimate government permit to process industiral waste, I would have
to pay 15,000 yen per truck. Although my initial cost is 5,000 yen per
truck I would charge my contractor 15,000 yen anyway, the legitimate
fee. So I was able to collect 10,000 yen profit for every truck loaded
with debris. I believe my firm roughly earned more than 100 million
yen a year at the time by the illegal disposal. So being arrested and
fined 600,000 yen was nothing compared to collecting 100 million yen
in the business. I thought authorities could arrest me ten more times
and fine me ten more times,if I could go on as the way it was, keeping
to earn money. I believe law enforcement authorities, from prosecutors
to courts, had no clue of what kind of business they were investigating,
therefore had no clue of what would be the appropriate charges against
people who violated the law. Police, on the other hand, was going through
the greatest difficulties, since they have had no previous experience
of investigating such cases. I remember police flying a helicopter to
conduct an aerial inspection of the disposal ground where I had dumpted
the debris. Such operations must have really squandered taxpayer's money.
The investigators at the time had some idea that they would have to
face more of these cases in the future, so they were making sure their
investigation was conducted in the right direction. And I may have been
made a sacrifice, for the police to show that anyone who violated the
law would be prosecuted.
Illegal disposal of industrial waste have since turned to a serious
social problem. This was caused by Japan taking its new economic course
of mass-production and mass-consumer economy. Pulling down a building
used to be conducted in a very delicate and environmentally friendly
manner. Rooftiles were taken off from a roof piece by piece by hand,
because they were re-used at other homes. Nails were pulled off from
pillars, beams and panels made of wood, each of them also being re-used
in other places. Yes, there used to be a true recycling system. However,
during the late 20th century, efficiency became the new virtue in conducting
everything. So at construction sites, machineries replaced human hands.
Instead of disassemble everything for recycling, tearing everything
down and dump the debris was considered as modern, cost-effective procedure.
As a result, the amount of industrial waste, most of them deriving from
construction sites, soared, with disposal grounds increasingly difficult
to find.
Pollution, of course, is the worst consequence of soaring industiral
waste. Toxic chemicals emitted from waste buried underground penetrated
deep into the soil and contaminated water sources. Heavy traffic at
roads leading to waste disposal sites caused noise and exhaust gas pollution
from trucks passing by, harming people's health living in the vicinity.
As a result, people began petitioning against disposal yards. I learned
that these days, if someone wishes to start a business and open an industrial
waste disposal ground or landfill, some municipal governments could
refuse even to file for issuing the license unless you possess an agreement
from 100% of the residents living in a certain radius of the planned
disposal ground.
I understand how people react to such a potentially hazardous business
springing up in your neighborhood, but as someone who used to be in
the business, I also feel sympathy towards people in the waste disposal
business. Mainly because the business is never eternal. A landfill,
no matter how deep a hole you dig, the amount of waste you could discard
within is limited. If the place is full, you would have to find somewhere
else for a new disposal ground if you wish to continue the business.
As I have mentioned earlier, the legislation concerning industrial waste
is frequently amended, making it ever more difficult to keep up with
the legal demand for pollution control. No wonder some people in the
business feel desperate that they have to earn money when they could.
And once you have started business, econommic loss would be considerable
if you are barred from conducting the business, even for a short period
of time.
As a result, the price of processing industrial waste have soared steadily.
Under the current market price, 60 percent of the expense necessary
to pull down a building would be the cost of dumping the debris. I learned
from sources that the processing fee is now 5 to 10 times more expensive
compared to the days when I had been in the industrial waste business.
Since the business have become so profitable, it is not difficult to
imagine that people in the industrial waste business would corrupt government
officials possessing the authorities for licensing and permitting their
business. There is no doubt that such a corruption was definitely behind
the scenes of the gory abduction in Kanuma.
Sources said that the executive of an industrial waste processing firm,
who commited suicide after learning that his arrest warrant had been
issued, testified to police investigators that he had been receiving
special favors from people in the Kanuma municipal government. His firm
is believed to have had priorities in winning city contracts to process
waste. The sources said Kanuma's mayor himself had signed a note, promising
that he would extend special favors for the firm. This indicates that
the firm had corrupted the municipal government to its core, with their
abundant cash. A former speaker of Kanuma municipal assembly and family
members of municipal government executives were hired to the firm as
its executives. Their monthly salary, I suspect, would have been a few
million yen.
It may sound extraordinary, but it should not have been so difficult
for the firm and its executive to spend that much money because the
business would continue to be extremely lucrative as long as the municipal
government gave them waste to dispose. So, anyone attempting to stop
such an institution, would become their strongest enemy. No wonder the
group masterminded Kosasa's abduction.
I must warn that similar cases involving industrial waste disposal
business are simmering, probably everywhere in Japan. There may be second
or third potential victims, confronting people running waste disposal
business. Finally, I would like to add that the suspects are believed
to have told investigators that they had dumped Kosasa's body somewhere
in Mt. Haruna, and although the investigators are combing the area,
the government official's body has not yet been recovered at this point.
Considering the fact that the suspects' are expert of disposing wastes,
it is possible that Kosasa's body has small chance of being recovered.
