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An anonymous donor gifted $3.6 million worth of gold bars to help the city of Osaka, Japan, fund water pipe repairs
Concerns over Osaka’s aging waterworks system grew after a massive sinkhole swallowed a truck and killed a driver last year
“It’s a staggering amount, and I was speechless,” Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama told reporters of the anonymous gift
A Japanese mayor says he was left “speechless” by an anonymous donor’s generous gift to help fund much-needed repairs to his city’s waterworks system.
Osaka, a large port city and commercial hub on the Japanese island of Honshu, received a collection of gold bars worth 560 million yen (about $3.6 million) from an anonymous donor who asked that the money specifically be used to fix Osaka’s aging water pipes, per The Associated Press.
Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama told reporters on Thursday, Feb. 19, that the gold bars — which weigh 46 lbs. in total — were given to the Osaka City Waterworks Bureau in November 2025.
“It’s a staggering amount, and I was speechless,” Yokoyama said of the gift. “Tackling aging water pipes requires a huge investment, and I cannot thank enough for the donation.”
Osaka, Japan
RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP via Getty
The mayor said he will respect the donor’s wishes and use the gift as requested.
Concerns over Osaka’s dilapidated waterworks system grew last year after a massive sinkhole swallowed a truck and killed a 74-year-old driver. The incident occurred on Jan. 28, 2025, and rescue efforts became increasingly complicated as the sinkhole continued to expand until it reached at least 131 feet wide and 50 feet deep, The Japan Times reported at the time.
The search was ultimately suspended on Feb. 9, and the driver’s body was eventually recovered three months later on May 1.
The sinkhole was linked to a damaged sewer in Saitama, north of Tokyo, per AP.
Workers construct a slope to aid rescue operations at the site of the sinkhole in Osaka on Feb. 1, 2025
STR/JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty
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Osaka — which has a population of 2.8 million people — had 92 cases of water pipe leaks under city roads in the fiscal year ending in March 2025, Eiji Kotani, Osaka’s waterworks official, told AP on Friday, Feb. 20.
The majority of Japan’s main public infrastructure was built during the rapid postwar economic growth. Kotani said urban development in Osaka began earlier than many of the country’s other cities, and its water pipes and infrastructure are also aging earlier.
The waterworks official told AP that Osaka needs to upgrade a total of 259 kilometers (160 miles) of water pipes. Renewing a 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) segment of water pipes would cost roughly 500 million yen (about $3.2 million), Kotani said.
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