Search - real_estate

 
 
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 22, 2015

Mitsui Fudosan to build office tower in Manhattan

Mitsui Fudosan Co., Japan's biggest developer, will build an office tower in Manhattan with an expected cost of ¥150 billion.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 21, 2011

Korean television dramas are not the real problem

On July 23, actor Sosuke Takaoka tweeted that he was sick of all the Korean dramas on Fuji TV, a network he "used to be indebted to," and demanded more "traditional" Japanese programming. "If anything related to South Korea is on," he continued, "I just turn it off." The backlash was swift, and the actor...
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2001

Kajiyama left behind 400 million yen estate

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama, who died last June at age 74, left behind about 400 million yen in taxable assets.
EDITORIALS
Jun 10, 2005

The real state of the economy

Japanese corporations, by and large, chalked up their biggest profit gains ever in the financial year ended March 31, breaking previous records for the third straight year. But numbers can be misleading. Earnings statistics indicate economic movements and trends but do not necessarily tell what these...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 28, 2022

From property crisis to 'COVID zero': What to watch for in China's Politburo meeting

There are some signs that authorities could tweak the rhetoric around economic targets or downplay its significance, rather than change it outright.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2019

The real problem in Hong Kong is inequality

The failure of the government to address the problem stems from the electoral politics to which the protesters are so committed.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2017

Hong Kong's handover hangover — a serious lack of real leadership

Hong Kong's leaders have let down both the city's residents and their Chinese overlords.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jun 4, 2017

Parking the car can drive you crazy

In the 1990s when we rented an old house in Saitama Prefecture, we needed a parking space since we had a car at the time. There was none on the property and so we talked the landlord into tearing down a decrepit prefabricated storage shed that stood next to the house. He did, and then, at our own expense,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Mar 4, 2017

Will we ever see no obstacles in our way?

Infrastructure in Japan is up to world standards in most areas, and in terms of public transportation it often surpasses those standards — but there's one field it falls way behind: utility poles and overhead cables that carry electrical power and telecommunications.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Apr 2, 2013

When remodeling isn't quite a home improvement

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 replaced. The realtor told us that the ¥11.6 million asking price included the cost...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2007

Horie handed 2 1/2 years

The Tokyo District Court sentenced Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie to 2 1/2 years in prison Friday for falsifying financial statements and violating the Securities and Exchange Law in a harsh ruling sure to raise questions about double standards in the justice system.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 24, 2003

Like real reforms, banking crisis this spring unlikely to materialize

Each spring in recent years, people have started talking about a financial crisis in Japan as the month of March draws near. In about five weeks, most Japanese firms will be closing their books for fiscal 2002, and I would like to discuss this year's situation from several perspectives.
EDITORIALS
May 8, 2001

The real test lies ahead

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday declared that his administration is determined to initiate the hard-hitting structural reforms needed for Japan's "resurrection and development."
BUSINESS
May 2, 2001

REITs banked on to ease market fears

As stock market woes and asset deflation continue to cast a cloud over Japan's economic recovery, a new type of investment trust will be introduced this month in a bid to solve these problems in one fell swoop.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2000

Farmers not the only ones allowed to live off the land

On May 23, the Diet approved a series of legal changes concerning securities investment trusts, securities investment corporations and SPCs (special-purpose corporations) that will further advance securitization of real estate in this country.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2021

Evergrande restructuring puts onus on China's Xi to limit contagion

For now, Chinese authorities plan to ring-fence Evergrande and limit contagion rather than orchestrate a rescue as they've done during past crises.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2004

Seibu execs arrested for 'sokaiya' payoff

Police arrested nine people Monday, including board members of Seibu Railway Co., over their suspected involvement in the firm's alleged payoff of a "sokaiya" corporate extortionist to ensure that its shareholders' meetings went smoothly.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
May 1, 2012

Who you buy a home from can make a big difference in price

We met the real estate agent at Honda Station on the Sotobo Line in Chiba Prefecture. As we drove to the property we talked about the area. Though a typically cramped Japanese bedroom community, it's a bit older than most, so the houses were more varied in shape and size, with wider spaces between them,...
BUSINESS
Jan 14, 2012

Builders tap postdisaster rush for quake-resistant homes

Ken Saishoji, a Tokyo real-estate agent, used to answer questions from potential apartment buyers about the proximity to train stations and prices, but that changed after the March disasters.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2007

Foreigners still dogged by housing barriers

Having arrived in Tokyo from Seoul about a year ago, Im Yeong Eun, like many foreigners who come to Japan, soon encountered a major difficulty — housing discrimination.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos
May 31, 2021

What's behind housing discrimination in Japan?

Japanese real estate agents sometimes don't want to try to deal with non-Japanese renters, which is why specialist companies are popping up to help.
A WeWork co-working space in New York
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 5, 2023

WeWork's troubles darken outlook for embattled office market

Media reports suggest the New York-listed flexible workspace provider — once valued at $47 billion — may petition for bankruptcy next week.
Donald Trump addresses the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, in July last year.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 6, 2025

Cashing in on his comeback, Trump rescues frail finances

Contrary to the president’s assertions, records filed in a fraud case against him suggest that his riches were not the product of a steady and strong empire.
Economists often struggle to predict business downturns and different economic theories may apply in different situations.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2023

What economists got wrong about the Great Recession

Macroeconomics faces challenges and limitations in predicting and understanding economic events.
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 7, 2025

Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable

Under certain circumstances, overseas inheritance can pass tax-free to foreigners who are residents in the country.
The No. 1 Poultry building, left, in the City of London
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2023

South Korean investors stung as bet on offices in financial centers turns sour

With a growing need for environmental credentials for corporate renters and downsizing due to the pandemic, office real-estate markets are seeing a "flight to quality" — leaving some exposed
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2023

Goldman, KKR and Blackstone join investor rush for Japan hotels

Compared with before the pandemic, visitors to Japan are spending more, with most of that money going on lodgings and hospitality.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past