When Julia Chang, a 48-year-old Taiwanese who divides her time between Taiwan and Tokyo, decided to diversify her family's overseas investments, she settled on real estate in the Japanese capital, where prices have slumped for two decades.

Chang, a former flight attendant, is looking to buy her third apartment in Tokyo, which is increasingly attracting foreign buyers after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December with a pledge to end the deflation that's depressed real estate.

"Tokyo properties make a good investment because they are relatively cheap," said Chang in an interview at her ¥170 million ($1.7 million) three-bedroom apartment in central Tokyo. "It's a bargain."