The National Land Agency issued an annual report Friday discussing ways to make efficient use of idle or underutilized land in urban areas to increase property values.
The fiscal 1997 white paper on land, approved at the day's Cabinet meeting, uses case studies in several areas of Tokyo to demonstrate how to increase land value, which has been reduced significantly following the burst of the speculation-driven bubble economy in the early 1990s.
The studies come at a time when the government is taking a number of steps to facilitate land transactions and revitalize Japan's dormant property market.
Studies were made of both commercial and residential areas to analyze land that is underutilized or undeveloped due to limited size, narrow access roads or complicated multiple ownership.
For effective use of such land, the integration of small properties, full use of the floor space-to-land ratio and settlements of claims among deed holders are necessary, the report says.