Foreigners and the Japanese property market — the two sound like unlikely bedfellows, but in recent years their "liaisons" have been the focus of much media attention — and not all of it positive.
First it was investments by foreigners driving up land prices; now they're supposed to be driving them down.
Of course, most of these investments are by foreign-owned or foreign-run corporations, as opposed to your run-of-the-mill individual gaijin. However, the number of foreign residents buying properties in Japan is certainly on the rise, and, like their corporate cousins, these buyers are bringing to the Japanese property market a set of presumptions and expectations that are often very different from the homegrown variety. That can play in their favor, but it can also lead to costly mistakes.