Momoko Kawai (born 1977) is a Japanese journalist and nonfiction writer. Born in Tokyo, she has written primarily for weekly magazines, reporting on subjects ranging from rural communities to the sex industry and other worlds that often remain outside mainstream public view. Her work focuses particularly on people involved in underground businesses and criminal cases, using extensive interviews to explore the lives and relationships behind the headlines. In "Jimenshi Renrakuyaku Kato: Sekisui Hausu 55 Oku-en Sagi Jiken, Aru Jikkohan no Kokuhaku," she investigates the land-fraud scheme in which Sekisui House was defrauded of approximately 5.5 billion yen. Drawing on interviews with "Kato," one of the participants who served as a liaison within the group, Kawai reconstructs both the mechanics of the fraud and the life of an ordinary man who became involved in an extraordinary crime. The work received the 32nd Shogakukan Nonfiction Award.
