You’d think a major corporation wouldn’t let its CEO destroy a fifty-year-old international reputation out of hate, right? Meet Han Chang-Woo
It’s getting louder and louder. The fact that Maruhan Corporation has embraced shame on an international level is being written about in London, New York, Los Angeles, Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong, Jakarta and more world capitals. The company is run by Han Chang-Woo, a Korean-born mogul in Tokyo who fought his way to the top of the brutal world of pachinko.
“You’d think a man like that would have pride,” said an analyst specializing in the Asian gaming industry. “I guess not. How do you piss on your own clientele of different nationalities and races–I mean, Maruhan does business in so many different regions, takes cash from so many different types of people across Asia and the Pacific Islands. It’s shocking.”
At the heart of the scandal is Mr. Han’s alleged theft of an estimated $300 million in company shares from his own daughter. Motive? Racism. Mr. Han is so full of hatred he has demanded that his daughter divorice her husband, who happens to be African American. Insiders even speculate that he used the Japanese equivalent of what is called the “N-Word” in America:
“Kuronbo.”
According to the Urban Dictionary, Kuronbo derives from Japanese for the color black and the word boy. It is clearly used in a derogatory fashion in Japan. The site Japanaddict agrees, calling the word the equivalent of the word “Darkie.” It’s even listed in the world Racial Slur Data Base.
“A guy who came up through pachinko? Yeah he uses that word,” said a researcher who writes about the history of gambling in Japan and its connections with North Korea. (Like our analyst she asked to have her name withheld out of fear or reprisals.)
The hatred has sparked a lawsuit in the United States. Because Maruhan does business in Guam, it has opened itself up to U.S. legal conventions, and Mr. Han’s daughter has the opportunity to sue him over the $300m theft and effort to cover it up.
Maruhan Corporation is facing more scandal as well. Its subsidiary Sathapana in Cambodia having been named to a list by Human Rights Watch of banks taking advantage of their own borrowers. ( A spokesperson for Sathapana told Shockya that she was unaware of the HRW list and believed the bank had upheld all regulations as specified by government regulators).
“In a time when Black Lives Matter has inspired real change in America, and holds influence across the globe, “ says our analyst. “Maruhan hides behind a flaccid statement about social justice on its website and instead leads by example. Hatred and intolerance.”
Inside Asian Gaming just demoted Mr. Han from the number 19 spot in it’s top 50 influencers list, to number 25, citing the growing scandal and his failure to stop the slide. No doubt, that ranking will continue to fall in the new year.