Career
Motoya founded the APA Group real estate business in Ishikawa Prefecture in 1971. Its hotel division operates more than 70 properties across Japan. Motoya"s wife Fumiko is president of the hotel chain and is widely recognized in Japan, with her image appearing on billboards displayed prominently near major train stations around the country.
At least four of the company"s hotels in 2007 were temporarily shut down after it was discovered they failed to meet Japan"s stringent earthquake safety standards, and that an architectural firm had used flawed data in its safety assessment of the buildings" designs.
Motoya publishes a magazine called Apple Town, portions of which are translated into English, which is distributed through the APA Group"s network of properties and which focuses on economic and foreign policy issues. In the magazine Motoya, under the pen-name Seiji Fuji, has written essays urging increases in Japan"s defense budget and suggesting that Japan"s movement against nuclear power generation, which gathered momentum following the Fukushima nuclear accident, is part of a plot by the United States.
A book published by Motoya, "The Shocking Truth About Modern History," containing 13 essays selected from the competition field, including Tamogami"s winning entry, went on sale in late 2008 at bookstores and APA hotels.
