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Contractor getting ready to demolish Tokyo condo

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Demolition workers start preparatory work ahead of the demolition of Stage Daimon in Minato Ward, Tokyo on Tuesday morning.

Preparation for demolition work started Tuesday at a condominium in Minato Ward, Tokyo, that was built using fudged earthquake-resistance data. The residents have already moved out of the building.

Stage Daimon, a nine-story condo with eight units for rent, was one of four buildings the Construction and Transport Ministry cited when filing a complaint with the Metropolitan Police Department against the former architect Hidetsugu Aneha, 48, on suspicion of fudging the buildings' design specifications.

The condo's quake resistance is only 26 percent of that required under the Building Standards Law. It is feared the building would collapse if hit by an earthquake with an intensity of upper 5 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7.

A demolition contractor assigned by Shinoken, a Fukuoka-based builder and developer, started to erect scaffolding around the building at 9 a.m. The contractor will begin ripping out the units' interiors on Jan. 10 and plans to demolish the building between Jan. 23 and April 1.