Disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha told a Diet committee Wednesday that Akira Shinozuka, Tokyo branch manager for Kimura Construction Co., specified exactly how much he should reduce the reinforcing steel in the building plans he falsified.
Aneha, who was stripped of his first-class architect license last week, said Shinozuka, who threatened to take his business elsewhere, once showed him a list giving the amount of reinforcement steel for a building and told him to reduce each piece to 60 kg when 80 kg to 100 kg of steel should have been used.
"When I first submitted the building plan based on the correct (structural strength) calculations, Shinozuka said the plan did not suit the construction budget," Aneha told the Lower House Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee.