Tag - estate

 
Menu
Search
 
May 14, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

ESTATE

Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2015
Tilting condo may be tip of iceberg for shoddy housing construction nationwide
The scandal surrounding structural flaws and falsified data for a tilting residential building in Yokohama has cast a spotlight on loopholes in the real estate industry's entrenched system, according to experts who speculate the trouble may turn out to be just the tip of an iceberg.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Oct 3, 2015
Don't be green about the charm of tatami
When we were thinking of buying a condominium, we visited several old danchi — apartments built by Japan's former public housing corporation — because they were cheap and, we thought, easy to renovate. One of the units we inspected had bedroom floors made of tatami mats, and we wondered if we could replace them with real wood floors. The realtor told us that we probably couldn't. The tatami was mandated by the condo's management association because it acted as soundproofing. In fact, he didn't think we'd be able to install real wood floors anywhere in the apartment, because other than tatami only a certain type of sound-proofed laminate flooring was allowed in the building.
EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2015
Clouds on the horizon for land prices
Land prices are generally on the upswing, but the gap between urban and rural areas is growing worse.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Sep 5, 2015
Score eco points for your home ground
Several months ago we had most of the windows in our home replaced, even though the house is less than 2 years old. When we had it built we ordered standard double-glazed windows with aluminum frames and sashes, thinking it would be enough, but after the first winter we realized is wasn't, so we decided to buy windows that keep more heat inside during colder weather, while also reflecting more of the sun's rays when it's hot.
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2015
Smartphone game-maker DeNA, builder Haseko join Nikkei 225
DeNA Co., the social website operator that's working with Nintendo Co. on smartphone games, and condominium builder Haseko Corp. will join Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 18, 2015
Tokyo building boom causes debt fatigue as Sumitomo yields rise
Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. is forecasting a third-straight year of record operating income as "Abenomics," the name give to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policies, spurs a property market boom. That doesn't mean investors have unlimited appetite for its debt.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Aug 1, 2015
Your home may be your castle, but not all of it is yours
When we were thinking about buying a condominium some years ago, we looked at older units and brand new ones, and one of our least favorite features was pebbled or fogged window glass, which was ubiquitous. Early on, when we didn't know any better, we asked a real estate agent how much it would cost to replace a set of pebbled windows with transparent ones, and he said that was not possible. We reacted with confusion, thinking that as owners of the unit, not renters, we could make any changes we liked. But as he explained to us, some of the features of a condominium are considered "communal" (kyōyō-bu), meaning they are owned by all the residents of a building, and one of those common features are windows, which means they can't be changed.
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2015
Long history of money-losers for Japan Inc.
Here we go again?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jul 4, 2015
Temblors in the home insurance business
When we were looking around for a financial institution for a housing loan, we found that the major ones didn't really want to talk to us, but there were plenty of other places that would.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2015
Salarymen sidelined as Chinese descend on Japan property market
The trend has already hit Sydney, Vancouver and the U.S. Now it's happening in Japan: busloads of real estate buyers from China are coming in, buying up homes and pushing prices higher.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 1, 2015
Land prices rise in 10 prefectures, but overall trend is down
Land prices in Japan rose in 10 prefectures over the year to Jan. 1, the National Tax Agency said in an annual report released Wednesday. In the previous year of measurement, prices rose in eight prefectures.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jun 6, 2015
Watch out for hidden hazards of buying land
When we were looking for property we consulted topographical maps prior to checking a particular piece of land in person. Understanding the elevation of a plot is important if you're buying land near the coast or along a river. In the event of flooding or a tsunami, it's obviously better to be located on higher ground. Older topographical maps are also helpful because they can show you the contours of the land before it was developed for residential housing.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
May 2, 2015
Garden states: looking good on the outside
One problem with designing your own house is that you don't necessarily know what it's going to be like until it's finished. The company we hired to build ours doesn't make model homes the way some housing companies do. It's one of the reasons we chose them, since models add to the price of the product. All we had were two-dimensional printouts based on computer models.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 29, 2015
Tiny House documentary makes Tokyo apartments look like palaces
"Small is Beautiful" is a documentary about the TH (Tiny House) movement, the latest underground trend in housing and real estate in the U.S. In the next few years, though, TH could go mainstream thanks to a growing online community that shares information about what's on the TH market and how to actually build a micro-homes yourself. The average floor size of newly built homes in North America is over 200 sq. meters, but the TH movement proposes downsizing families of four to 18.5-sq.-meter wheeled homes — that's the standard size of a single-person apartment in Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Apr 4, 2015
Japan's public housing system has a shelf life
One of the most desirable properties in Tokyo is Chateau Mita, located in Minato Ward within walking distance of several embassies and Tokyo Tower and less than 10 minutes from four subway stations. The apartment building was constructed in 1964 and by 2000 there were persistent problems with plumbing and wiring, so the resident-owners decided to rebuild the eight-story structure in 2010.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 23, 2015
Norway sovereign wealth fund eyeing real estate in Tokyo, Singapore
Norway's wealth fund is making final preparations for its first Asian real estate investment as it builds a portfolio of properties in the world's biggest cities.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Mar 20, 2015
Mitsui Fudosan, Mitsubishi Estate among foreign developers grabbing major N.Y. deals
Mitsui Fudosan Co., Mitsubishi Estate Co. and a handful of other foreign developers are taking stakes in major real estate projects such as high-rises and commercial properties in New York as the U.S. economy recovers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Feb 6, 2015
Renting comes with guarantors, not guarantees
According to the most recent census, as of 2010 the population of Japan stood at a little less than 128 million, and if demographic trends continue at the current rate it will be 107 million in 2030 and 97 million in 2050. Despite this projected decline, 369,993 new rental units were built in Japan last year; up from 291,804 built in 2010, an increase that sounds counterintuitive given the population drop, though the trend could be a reflection of perceived changes in housing preferences.
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 / EXPLAINER
Jan 12, 2015
Residences left empty posing problems across the nation
The population keeps aging and shrinking, but new housing keeps getting built even though Japan has a glut of unused dwellings.
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
Three men rearrested over brokering of overseas prostitution
A woman speaks of her experience of being sent to Macau by an overseas prostitution broker during an interview in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on April 8.
Ex-METI bureaucrat given 10-year sentence for drugging and raping women
The Tokyo District Court on Monday sentenced a former industry ministry bureaucrat to 10 years in prison for drugging six women with sleeping pills and then raping or groping them in 2022.
Money stolen via online transfers up fivefold in Tokyo
Special fraud cases in Tokyo in which stolen money was sent via online banking services grew some fivefold from the previous year in 2023.
How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.
In a rare event, the Northern Lights show up in Hokkaido
The Northern Lights in Nayoro, Hokkaido, on Saturday
Is black the new green for Japan’s flagging tea farmers?
George Guttridge-Smith brews tea at Kyoto Obubu Tea Farm in Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture, where he serves as head of international development.
Japan's logistics firms seek partnerships to cope with driver shortage
Japan Post CEO Tetsuya Senda (right) and his Seino Transportation counterpart Satoshi Takahashi announce their companies' agreement on joint long-haul truck operations, in Tokyo on Thursday.
How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.
Unlike 10 years ago, Japan's new security bill sparks little debate
The Lower House starts discussing a security clearance bill on April 19 in Tokyo.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.
How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan
By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Cultural properties:A Fujiya Hotel insider’s view
Cultural properties:A Fujiya Hotel insider’s view

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER