Japanese Billionaires
In spite of the Japan real estate investment bubble talk, a number of Japanese owners still maintain significant land holdings, particularly in the resort areas.
Kyo-Ya Ltd. a subsidiary of Kokusai Kogyo Co. Ltd. (No. 6) owns and operates hotels, parking lots, retail stores, restaurants and insurance agencies. Kyo-Ya started in Hawaii in the 1950s when the late Kenji Osano opened a Waikiki restaurant. Osano was an early investor in the hospitality industry, well before the Japanese ?bubble.? According to Land and Power in Hawaii, ?Japanese multimillionaire Kenji Osano became by 1974 the largest single hotel owner in Waikiki, having acquired one-fourth of all the rooms.?
Today, Kyo-Ya owns 14 strategic acres of Oahu land, including some of the land under the Sheraton Waikiki, Sheraton Moana Surfrider, Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Hotel, and Kyo-Ya restaurant. It also owns land under the Waialae Country Club?s tennis courts and parking lot.
The majority of parent company Kokusai Kogyo Co. Ltd. is owned by family members of the four late Osano brothers ? Kenji, Masakuni, Sakai, and Sadahiko. When Kenji Osano passed away, his brother Masakuni took over the helm and in 1999 made the Forbes list of the world?s richest people ? Forbes said he was worth $1.3 billion. Today, the late Masakuni Osano?s nephew, Takamasa Osano, is Kokusai Kogyo?s president and majority shareholder.
Other Hawaii resort properties have a controversial billionaire Japanese owner in Yoshiaki Tsutsumi. Tsutsumi owns Seibu Railway Co., parent company of Prince Resorts Hawaii (No. 10). He has been criticized for personally profiting from improvements made to Nagano for the latest winter Olympics. Forbes says Tsutsumi?s 2001 net worth is about $2.8 billion, and posts the following entry on him on the Web: ?His core holding company, Kokudo, controls the Seibu network of railways, Prince hotels and resorts, real estate, professional baseball and more. In 1990 he was the richest man in the world with a net worth of $16 billion. His empire continues to shrivel along with the Japanese real estate market.?
Prince Resorts Hawaii ? under president and former Gov. George Ariyoshi ? owns 270 acres on Oahu and more than 1,800 acres on the Big Island. Its holdings comprise the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki and Golf Club, Maui Prince Hotel and Golf Course, Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and Golf Course and Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and Golf Course for a total assessed value of $532 million.
The local company?s sales slipped a bit in 2000 to $146 million from $148 million in 1999. Earlier this year, Real Estate Finance and Investment reported that the Seibu Railways was interested in selling its Hawaii hotel properties for about $200 million each.
Shinwa Golf Hawaii Co. Ltd (No. 15), on the other hand, saw a 19 percent increase in sales from $60 million in 1999 to $71.6 million in 2000. Shinwa Golf Hawaii is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyoto-based Shinwa Golf Kabushiki Kaisha, a golf course operations company. Mitsuo Kokufu is the owner and founder of Shinwa Golf Kabushiki Kaisha. Shinwa Hawaii owns 1,600 acres on Maui and Kauai through subsidiaries such as the Wailea Resort Co., Wailea Golf Resort, Inc., and the Kauai Lagoons Resort Co.
Last on our list of the Top 20 landowners in Hawaii is Japanese real estate company Mitsui Fudosan Co. Ltd. (No. 20), through its Mitsui Fudosan America Inc. and subsidiary Halekulani Corp. The Hawaii company owns just six acres in fee simple including part of the Halekulani grounds in Waikiki and Amfac Center in downtown Honolulu, but the total value of the land and buildings is $205 million. Mitsui Fudosan Co. Ltd. had 51,704 shareholders as of March 2001. At press time, the Amfac Center was for sale. Mitsui Fudosan would move off the Top 20 list without that property.
Kamaaina Families
Kamaaina families own a good chunk of Hawaii. Some, like the Campbell and Damon Estates, are working against time to figure out the next incarnation of land ownership. Some, like Victoria Ward Ltd. and the Harold and Alice Castle Foundation have already morphed into new organizations.
Crap, not enough room............
http://www.hawaiibusiness.cc/hb11200...m?articleid=12