Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
How-tos | HOME TRUTHS Apr 2, 2013
When remodeling isn't quite a home improvement
by Philip Brasor and Masako Tsubuku
A year ago we looked at a 20-year-old apartment after it had just gone on sale in the city where we live, which is about an hour from Tokyo. It was large and sunny, but the walls needed to be re-papered and the floors ...
National Mar 9, 2013
State to build 20,000 housing units in disaster-hit areas by March 2016
The government said Thursday that it will build nearly 20,000 public housing units by March 2016 for people affected by the March 2011 megaquake-tsunami disaster in the Tohoku region and consequent nuclear crisis. The goal was stipulated in a plan for rebuilding homes and ...
How-tos | HOME TRUTHS Mar 5, 2013
Buying property in the age of Abenomics
by Philip Brasor and Masako Tsubuku
According to most business media, now is the time to act if you are thinking about buying a home. Though the Liberal Democratic Party has yet to confirm that it will go ahead with the consumption tax increases the Democratic Party of Japan passed ...
How-tos | HOME TRUTHS Feb 4, 2013
Building your home can come at quite a cost
by Philip Brasor and Masako Tsubuku
People in the market for new single-family houses usually don’t worry as much about the land those houses occupy because they tend to work with developers, who purchase huge tracts and then subdivide them. The customer buys the land and the house as a ...