Shigeru Kobayashi

After pumping $2.7 billion into the United States over the past several years, Shigeru Kobayashi owns a large chunk of downtown Los Angeles and a string of landmark American office buildings. He hobnobs with presidents, dabbles in philanthropy and celebrates his achievements in a high-profile publicity campaign. But he has an image problem at home. Kobayashi, 62, founder and president of the real estate giant Shuwa Corp.

Relying on a controversial interpretation of Proposition 13, a Japanese real estate investment firm that three years ago stunned downtown Los Angeles with its purchase of the Arco Plaza twin skyscrapers is now seeking a $2-million-a-year property tax reduction. Shuwa Investment Corp.

Unlike his father, who makes headlines on both sides of the Pacific, Takaji Kobayashi prefers to keep a low profile. Careful not to outshine his father, the younger Kobayashi, known as T.K. at the company's U.S. headquarters in Arco Plaza in Los Angeles, has worked quietly for the past 10 years amassing $2.7 billion of prime U.S. commercial real estate holdings, 70% of which are in California. But earlier this month, he unexpectedly made the news when two former Shuwa employees sued the company.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley collected a $100,000 check to help pay for his proposed monument to immigrants on Monday--from a donor who said the cash represented a "small gift" of support for the city. "I'll take this kind of small gift any day of the week," the mayor responded, chuckling. The check was handed over by Shigeru Kobayashi, president of the Shuwa Corp. of Tokyo, Japan's biggest condominium developer.

A Japanese real estate giant with substantial holdings in the United States has rattled the corporate establishment at home, challenging an entrenched system of crossed share holdings in a hostile takeover bid that may help open Japan's financial markets to foreign investors. Shuwa Corp.

Relying on a controversial interpretation of Proposition 13, a Japanese real estate investment firm that three years ago stunned downtown Los Angeles with its purchase of the Arco Plaza twin skyscrapers is now seeking a $2-million-a-year property tax reduction. Shuwa Investment Corp.

Unlike his father, who makes headlines on both sides of the Pacific, Takaji Kobayashi prefers to keep a low profile. Careful not to outshine his father, the younger Kobayashi, known as T.K. at the company's U.S. headquarters in Arco Plaza in Los Angeles, has worked quietly for the past 10 years amassing $2.7 billion of prime U.S. commercial real estate holdings, 70% of which are in California. But earlier this month, he unexpectedly made the news when two former Shuwa employees sued the company.

Shuwa Co. Ltd. of Tokyo, the real estate conglomerate that formalized its $620-million cash purchase of downtown's Arco Plaza last week, wants to add another $1 billion to $2 billion worth of U. S. real estate holdings to its fast-growing portfolio, a top Shuwa official confirmed.

More than a decade ago a little-known Japanese builder and investor, Shigeru Kobayashi, was well on his way to creating a new dynasty in American real estate. During a headline-making shopping spree in 1986, Kobayashi's real estate company, Shuwa Investments Corp., purchased about $1 billion in U.S. property, including office towers in Los Angeles, New York and Orange County. In just a few short years, Shuwa's American holdings totaled nearly $3 billion. But Shuwa's bold plunge into U.S.

After pumping $2.7 billion into the United States over the past several years, Shigeru Kobayashi owns a large chunk of downtown Los Angeles and a string of landmark American office buildings. He hobnobs with presidents, dabbles in philanthropy and celebrates his achievements in a high-profile publicity campaign. But he has an image problem at home. Kobayashi, 62, founder and president of the real estate giant Shuwa Corp.

A Japanese real estate giant with substantial holdings in the United States has rattled the corporate establishment at home, challenging an entrenched system of crossed share holdings in a hostile takeover bid that may help open Japan's financial markets to foreign investors. Shuwa Corp.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley collected a $100,000 check to help pay for his proposed monument to immigrants on Monday--from a donor who said the cash represented a "small gift" of support for the city. "I'll take this kind of small gift any day of the week," the mayor responded, chuckling. The check was handed over by Shigeru Kobayashi, president of the Shuwa Corp. of Tokyo, Japan's biggest condominium developer.

The Orange County investment group that recently obtained an option to purchase the landmark Arco Plaza high-rise complex in downtown Los Angeles has quietly put its position up for sale. Kings Capital, a San Juan Capistrano-based company headed by investor Kenneth Picerne, announced in May that it had completed transactions involving Arco Plaza and assets in Japan held by affiliates of Arco Plaza owner Shuwa Investments Corp.

Depending on who you talk to, insider trading is rampant--or nonexistent--in Japan. In either case, authorities are now taking steps to ensure that investors here understand that trading stocks on confidential information is not acceptable. An advisory committee to the Ministry of Finance is scheduled to unveil today a proposal to revise Japan's securities laws to that end.