7



The Mystery of the Hanging House

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SETAGAYA, TOKYO: THE MYSTERY OF THE HANGING HOUSE
Who Bought Jinxed Land After Family Suicide?
What's Going On in Posh Neighborhood?
[From The ---- Weekly, October 7]


Locals call this plot in----2-chome, Setagaya, the "hanging house." Located in a quiet
residential neighborhood, this 3,500-square-foot piece of prime real estate with fine southern
exposure is a virtually ideal location for a home, but those in the know agree on one thing:
they wouldn't take it if you gave it to them. And the reason for this is simple: every known
owner of this property, without exception, has met with a terrible fate. Our investigations have
revealed that, since the start of the Showa Period, in 1926, no fewer than seven owner
occupants of this property have ended their lives in suicide, the majority by hanging or
asphyxiation.
[Details on suicides omitted here]

Bogus Firm Buys Jinxed Land
The most recent in what can hardly be considered a coincidental string of tragedies is the
murder-suicide of the family of Kojiro Miyawaki [photo], owner of the long-established
Rooftop Grill restaurant chain, headquartered in the Ginza. Miyawaki sold all his restaurants
and declared bankruptcy two years ago in the face of massive debt, but thereafter he was
pursued by several nonbank lenders with ties to organized crime. Finally, in January of this
year, Miyawaki used his belt to strangle his fourteen-year-old daughter, Yukie, in her sleep at
an inn in Takamatsu City, after which he and his wife, Natsuko, hanged themselves with
ropes they had brought with them for that purpose. The Miyawakis' eldest daughter, a college
student at the time, is still missing.
When he bought the property in April 1972, Miyawaki knew of the ominous rumors
surrounding the place, but he laughed them off, declaring, "Those were just coincidences."
After purchasing the land, he had the long-vacant house demolished and the lot graded. To be
on the safe side, he called in a Shinto priest to exorcise any evil spirits that might still be
lurking there, and only then did he have his new, two-story home built. Things went well after
that. The family led a tranquil life. Neighbors agree that the Miyawaki home appeared to be
harmonious, the daughters bright and happy. But after ten years, the family fortunes took that
sudden, disastrous turn.
Miyawaki lost the house, which he had put up as collateral, in the fall of 1983, but
squabbling among his creditors with regard to the order of reimbursement kept final disposal
of it in abeyance until a court-mediated settlement last summer, which opened the way for


sale of the land. It was purchased initially by a major Tokyo real - estate firm, --Land and
Buildings, -at a price far below current market value. The company proceeded to demolish the
Miyawakis' house and tried to sell it as an empty lot. A prime piece of Setagaya property, it
attracted much interest, but every deal fell through when buyers heard about the jinx attached
to the land. According to Mr. M, head of -- Land and Buildings' sales division:
"Yes, of course we had heard some of the bad stories connected with the property, but
finally it's a great location, and everybody's so desperate for prime real estate these days, we
figured if we set the price low enough somebody was bound to buy it. We were being
optimistic. It hasn't budged since we put it on the market. People don't care about the price-
they back out as soon as they hear the stories. And talk about bad timing! The poor
Miyawakis committed suicide in January, and all the news reports mentioned the land. Quite
frankly, we didn't know what to do with it."
The lot finally sold in April of this year. "Please don't ask me the buyer or the price," says
Mr. M, so details are hard to come by, but according to the real estate grapevine, --- Land and
Buildings had to let it go for something far below the asking price. Better to take a fair-sized
loss than continue paying the bank interest on a property that would never sell. "The
purchasers knew exactly what they were getting into, of course," says Mr. M. "We are not in
the habit of deceiving our customers. We explained everything beforehand. They bought it
knowing the entire history of the place."
Which leads us to the question of who would choose to buy such a jinxed piece of land.
Our investigation has been far more difficult than we had imagined. According to the ward
office registry, the purchaser is a company with offices in Minato Ward known as Akasaka
Research, which claims to be involved in "economic research and consulting," their purpose
in buying the land being listed as "construction of corporate residence." The "corporate
residence" was, in fact, built this spring, but the firm itself is a typical "paper company." We
visited the Akasaka 2-chome address listed in the documents but found only a small plaque,
"Akasaka Research," on the door of one apartment in a small condominium building, and no
one answered when we rang the bell.

Tight Security and Secrecy
The present "former Miyawaki residence" is surrounded by a wall far higher than any
other in the neighborhood. It has a huge, solid, black iron fence built to discourage peeping
(see photo) and a video camera atop the gate pillar. We tried ringing the bell, but there was no
response. Neighbors have seen the electric gate open and a black Mercedes 500SEL with
tinted windows go in and out several times a day, but there has been no other sign of entry or
egress, and no sounds are ever heard from the place.
Construction began in May, but always behind high fences, so neighbors have no idea
what the house looks like. It was built with incredible speed: two and a half months from start
to finish. A local caterer who delivered lunches to the construction site told us: "The building
itself was always hidden behind a canvas screen, so I really can't say, but it sure wasn't a big
house-just one story, kind of like a concrete box, real plain. I remember thinking they were
building a kind of air-raid shelter. It didn't look like an ordinary house that ordinary people
live in-too small and not enough windows. But it wasn't an office building, either. The
landscapers came in and planted some really impressive trees all over the place. The yard
probably cost a bundle."
We tried calling every major landscaping firm in Tokyo, until we came up with the one
who had worked on the "former Miyawaki residence," but the owner could tell us nothing
about the party who had ordered the job. The construction company had supplied them with a
map of the garden and written orders calling for a good assemblage of mature, well-shaped
trees. "Our bid was high, but they accepted it and never tried to bargain."
The landscaper also told us that while they were at work on the garden, a well-digging


company was called in and dug a deep well.
"They built a scaffolding in one corner of the garden to bring up the dirt. I got a good look
at the job because I was planting a persimmon tree right close by. They were digging out an
old well that had been filled in. It still had the original concrete tube. They seemed to have an
easy time of it, because it had just been filled in not long before. The weird thing is, they
didn't strike water. I mean, it was a dry well to begin with, and they were just restoring it to
its original condition, so there was no way they were going to find water. I don't know, it was
weird, like they had some special reason for doing it."
Unfortunately, we have been unable to locate the company that dug the well, but we have
been able to determine that the Mercedes 500SEL is the property of a major leasing company
with headquarters in Chiyoda Ward and that the vehicle was leased for a year beginning in
July by a company in Minato Ward. The identity of their customer could not be revealed to us
by the leasing company, but judging from the confluence of events, it is almost certainly
Akasaka Research. We might point out that the estimated annual leasing fee for a Mercedes
500SEL is ---- yen. The company offers a chauffeur with every car, but we have been unable
to determine whether this particular 500SEL came with a driver or not.
People in the neighborhood were not anxious to speak with us about the "hanging house."
This is not an area known for its neighborhood socializing, and most people probably do not
want to become involved. Local resident Mr. A said to us:
"I used to keep my eyes open and tried to figure them out when they first came in here,
but I'm sure these aren't mobsters or a political organization. Too few people go in and out of
the place for that. I don't really get it. It's true they take some pretty impressive security
measures, but I have no reason to complain, and I don't think any of the other neighbors are
concerned. This is a whole lot better than having that vacant house with all the weird rumors."
Still, we'd like to know who the new owner is and what this "Mr. X" is using the place
for. The mystery only deepens.