The average price of land facing main roads in Japan fell for the eighth straight year in the 12 months to Jan. 1, the decline only marginally less than a year earlier, the National Tax Administration said Friday.

The average land price, based on National Land Agency data on some 400,000 locations nationwide, fell by 7 percent to 146,000 yen per square meter, the administration said. The drop was 7.1 percent the previous year.

The average land price is used to compute inheritance and donation taxes for 2000. In some parts of downtown Tokyo, land prices slightly increased or remained flat due to corporate demand for office space, but prices in other areas continued their downward trend.

The findings show the economy is still struggling to overcome the effects of the burst of the asset-inflated bubble of the late 1980s, analysts say.

For the 15th straight year, the nation's most expensive piece of land was in front of the Kyukyodo stationery store in Ginza.

The property was worth 11.68 million yen per square meter, the same as in 1999 but only about a third of the 36.5 million yen in the peak year of 1992, according to the administration. A postcard-size plot in front of the store was priced at 173,000 yen.

Land prices failed to rebound in all 47 prefectures. Forty-six prefectures saw declines in average land prices, while figures remained level in Shimane Prefecture.

Chiba Prefecture recorded the largest year-on-year decline, of 11.9 percent, followed by Nagasaki at 11 percent and Osaka at 10 percent.

There were 20 prefectures where the rate of decline in average land prices decreased, compared with three prefectures a year earlier, the administration said.

In the Tokyo area -- of Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures -- the year-on-year decline rate was 7.2 percent, down from 7.6 percent the previous year, while the figure for the Nagoya area, comprising central Aichi Prefecture and part of Mie Prefecture, declined from 8.8 percent to 4.8 percent.

The rate of decline widened from 8.1 percent to 9.6 percent in the Osaka region, consisting of key parts of Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto and Nara prefectures. In other regional areas, the drop rate grew from 5.9 percent to 6.3 percent.

In the Chugoku region of Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Shimane and Tottori prefectures, the average land price fell below 100,000 yen per square meter for the first time since 1992, the eighth consecutive year-on-year decline. The price was 98,000 yen per square meter, down 5.8 percent from 1999.

In the Tohoku region -- Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, Aomori, Yamagata and Akita prefectures -- the average price was 61,000 yen per square meter, down 4.7 percent from the previous year.

The most expensive land price among the respective prefectural capitals fell in 46 prefectures, with the price remaining constant only in Tokyo.

The number of prefectural capitals whose most valuable land dropped by more than 20 percent in price decreased from five to three -- Nagano at 22 percent, as well as Fukushima and Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. The average land price per square meter for commercial areas was 1,186,000 yen, down 12 percent from the previous year. for industrial regions 73,500 yen, a decrease of 6.2 percent; and for residential locations 107,000 yen, reflecting a drop of 3.6 percent.