Anonymous donor donates 46 pounds of gold bars to the Japanese city of Osaka to fund water pipe repairs

Tokyo —Osaka received a major donation of gold bars worth 560 million yen (about $3.6 million) from an anonymous donor requesting its specific use: to repair the Japanese city’s dilapidated water pipes.

The gold bars, weighing 46 pounds in total, were delivered to the Osaka City Water Supply Bureau in November by a donor who wants to help upgrade aging water pipes, Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama told reporters Thursday.

“It’s an astonishing amount and I was speechless,” Yokoyama said. “Tackling aging water pipes requires a huge investment and I can’t thank you enough for the donation.”

The mayor said his city will respect the donor’s wishes and use the gift to improve water works projects.

Concern over the safety of Osaka’s water supply systems increased after a massive sinkhole swallowed a truck and killed the driver last year.

The sinkhole, which was about 33 feet wide and 20 feet deep, was linked to a damaged sewer pipe in Saitama, north of Tokyo.

Osaka had 92 cases of water pipe leaks under city roads in the fiscal year that ended in March 2025, city waterworks official Eiji Kotani told The News on Friday. With a population of 2.8 million, Osaka is the country’s third largest city and serves as the capital of western Japan.

Most of Japan’s major public infrastructure was built during rapid postwar economic growth. Urban development in Osaka, a regional commercial hub, began earlier than many other cities and its water pipes and other infrastructure are also aging earlier, Kotani said.

Osaka needs to renew a total of 160 miles of water pipes, he said. Renewing a 1.2-mile segment of water pipes would cost about 500 million yen ($3.2 million), according to Kotani.