Osaka Company Under Investigation for Building Expo Pavilion Without Permit; Representative Says Firm Was ‘Too Busy’ to Submit Application

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:12 JST, August 13, 2025

OSAKA — Osaka Prefectural Police on Wednesday began searching the house of the representative of Iroha Kensetsu, an Osaka City-based construction company, among other places, on suspicion that the company undertook a contract for construction work on the Angolan pavilion at the Osaka-Kansai Expo without a permit, in violation of the Construction Business Law.

The Osaka prefectural government in July ordered the company to suspend operation for 30 days after an investigation brought to light the possibility that they may have been doing unauthorized work.

Investigators say they suspect that, around January, the company received an order for about ¥120 million to perform work, including interior construction, on the pavilion despite not obtaining the required permit from the land, infrastructure and transport minister and the Osaka governor. They also said that the company’s office was closed recently, and that on Wednesday morning, the police began searching several places related to the company, including the Osaka City residence of its representative, a man in his 40s.

The Construction Business Law requires companies undertaking construction work worth ¥5 million or more to obtain an operation permit. Failure to do so may be punished with up to three years in prison or a fine of up to ¥3 million.

The representative, admitting that his company undertook the work without a permit, told The Yomiuri Shimbun, “We met the requirements to undertake the work, but a former accounting person did not submit the application, and we were too busy to check for it.”

According to the representative, the company as it currently exists was launched by several people in June last year, after they took over a then inactive corporation. As for the Angolan pavilion work, the company first received a contract to work on the interior and other parts from another construction company and then subcontracted this out to six companies. The work started in mid-February and was more or less completed by late March. The pavilion accepted visitors on the Expo’s opening day on April 13, but it then closed for “technical adjustments” and reopened on June 26.

The Yomiuri Shimbun contacted the construction company from which Iroha Kensetsu originally received its contract for work on the pavilion, but the company has not responded.

There are three other cases also currently under investigation by the Osaka prefectural government in which construction companies are suspected of having undertaken work on foreign countries’ Expo pavilions without authorization.