Tokyo Tower Mortgaged to Meet Bubble Losses

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]Asahi: Capital's symbol mortgaged for billions
Tokyo Tower, a symbol of success in the capital since 1958, has been mortgaged for 10 billion yen by Nihon Denpato, owner and operator of the broadcasting tower. Amid the asset-inflated "bubble" years of the late 1980s, Fukusaburo Maeda, 64, Nihon Denpato's third president, invested in a golf course development that within a decade had collapsed. By 2000, Nihon Denpato was forced to assume Maeda's debts, which totaled 12.3 billion yen, and put the tower and its land up as security on a mortgage from several banks. Maeda was fired in December 1999...more...