Business / Economy Oct 15, 2020
Record 96,000 Japan households receive rent support amid pandemic
The program originally targeted displaced workers, but the government relaxed conditions in April to cover people whose incomes had fallen.
Asia Pacific Sep 29, 2020
Some of Hong Kong's poor finally feel at home in prefabricated 'modules'
by Clare Jim and Joyce Zhou
When Lau Kai Fai, his wife and teenage son moved into a new Hong Kong flat last month, he thought the 290 square feet (27 square meters) of space in his "module home" felt like "winning the lottery." Among the first Hong Kongers to move ...
Business / Corporate Sep 28, 2020
Struggling apartment rental firm Leopalace21 Corp. said Monday its debts exceeded assets by ¥11.8 billion as of the end of June. The negative net worth reflected stagnant apartment occupancy rates apparently stemming from Leopalace21's shoddy construction scandal, which came to light in 2018. The company ...
Business / Corporate Sep 26, 2020
Struggling apartment rental firm Leopalace21 Corp. saw its debts exceed assets by about ¥10 billion at the end of June, it was learned Saturday. The negative net worth is due to falling occupancy rates for its apartments, reflecting a scandal over shoddy construction that came ...
National | Regional Voices: Hiroshima Sep 25, 2020
Rules on buying farmland eased in rural Hiroshima amid depopulation
Smaller plots are being made available in a bid to attract younger people from the cities to the countryside.
Asia Pacific Aug 6, 2020
Lost Seoul: Middle-class dreams spoiled by soaring house prices
Even with unemployment spiking as the coronavirus pandemic swept South Korea in February, Baek Seung-min asked his wife to quit her nursing job to help reach a dream they had spent a lifetime chasing: buying their own apartment. The 35-year-old interior designer said giving up ...
Social Issues Aug 2, 2020
More older single people in Japan turned away from apartment rentals
Welfare and health facilities often demand a guarantor or family member to provide security before admitting a new resident.
Business Jul 15, 2020
The number of new condominiums listed for sale in the Tokyo region in the first half of 2020 fell 44.2 percent from a year earlier to 7,497 units, the lowest level on record because of the closure of showrooms over the coronavirus pandemic, a ...
Business Jul 7, 2020
Japan's foreign student digs likely to survive — and thrive — after pandemic
by Kazuaki Nagata
Investors believe demand in housing market is here to stay, with Japan widely expected to remain an appealing option for those from abroad.
Asia Pacific May 26, 2020
Rich Chinese snapping up luxury homes from Singapore to Sydney
Rich Chinese investors are finding luxury real estate is a good hiding place from the economic fallout of the coronavirus. Across China and in some of their familiar hunting grounds in Asia, wealthy buyers are snapping up top-end housing, in many cases to guard their ...
National / Social Issues | Regional voices: Chubu Apr 24, 2020
More foreign workers in Mie losing jobs and homes in virus pandemic
As the spread of COVID-19 infections hits the nation’s economy hard, foreign workers at manufacturers are being severely affected, with some losing their jobs and homes. At a public employment security office in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, this month, foreign nationals visited the interpretation service counter ...
National Apr 3, 2020
3/11 survivors face loneliness after moving into public housing for disaster victims
In a recent poll of people in the March 2011 disaster-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima who moved to public housing for survivors, nearly half said they feel that interactions with neighbors have decreased since they moved to the housing complexes from temporary ...