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July 04, 2025
 

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HOUSING

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Mar 31, 2014
Japan's 30-year building shelf-life is not quite true
In the past decade or so, certain claims about Japan's housing market have come to be accepted as facts. One is that Japanese houses are only meant to last 30 years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Mar 29, 2014
North Korea realty market soars
One of the world's fastest developing property markets is also in one of its least likely places: North Korea.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2014
Temp workers threaten housing recovery
Momoko Suzuki quit her sales job in Tokyo and took a temporary position so she could pursue her film ambitions. Suzuki's employment change may force her to abandon another goal — owning a home.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Mar 3, 2014
In Japan, you can leave it all up to the moving company
It's often described as one of the most stressful events of human life — but in Japan moving house is virtually a breeze.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2014
SMBC angles for housing units for seniors before health care REIT IPO
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. is seeking to buy about ¥10 billion in senior housing properties before taking its health-care real estate investment trust public.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Feb 3, 2014
The housing conundrum: To own or not to own
The population is not increasing and there's a shrinking pool of potential buyers for the home you bought 20 years ago, or 10 years ago, or even yesterday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Dec 2, 2013
Water, water, it's not everywhere
There are aspects of everyday life that renters take for granted, such as access to utilities. Of course, renters pay for their own electricity and gas, and, depending on where they live, they may be billed for water and sewerage. Homeowners pay for these services, too, but there are extra financial...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Nov 4, 2013
Warming up for the winter chill
In 2000 we moved into an apartment in Tokyo run by the semi-public housing corporation UR. It was new and had a natural-gas heating system. Unlike other gas systems we'd used in the past, however, this one heated water that was then circulated to outlets in different rooms in the apartment. Direct gas...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 3, 2013
Housing market exemptions to offset tax hike impact
The housing market will weather a consumption levy increase because of a tax break on home purchases, according to Mizuho Securities Co. and Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Sep 30, 2013
The build-up to get that housing loan
Several years ago, we went to a bank in Tokyo that was advertising housing loans with easy terms. Though we weren't shopping for a loan at the time we wanted to see what was needed in order to apply for one. The bank's approval criteria seemed simple enough: If you made at least ¥3 million a year, you...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 17, 2013
After decades of growth, South Korea is now a land full of apartments
South Korea is a nation covered by apartments, so much so that from above, it resembles a coast-to-coast game of dominoes. Apartment buildings snake around mountains and form jarring clusters in the countryside. In cities, they align in grids that stretch for several kilometers.
EDITORIALS
Sep 13, 2013
Housing help for evacuees
The central and local governments must be ready to help both evacuees who want to return home and those who want to settle in new places.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2013
Tokyo bests New York, Paris for property rents
Tokyo is the best city for residential-property returns, broker Savills PLC said, because Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies are stimulating the economy and increasing investor confidence.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2013
The biggest Olympic beneficiaries? Tokyo Bay developers
Tokyo Bay area property prices stand to benefit the most in the lead-up to the 2020 Olympic Games, adding to the recovery in the capital's real estate values after 20 years of declines
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Sep 2, 2013
Housing loans: Nothing is 100 percent easy
The government has yet to confirm the timing of the approved consumption tax increase from 5 to 8 percent. It's slated to take place next April but there is still fear that the economy is too frail to withstand the effect the added tax might have on actual consumption. Consequently, the government is...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Aug 5, 2013
The aging issue of Chiba New Town
The Chiba New Town development project was begun in the late 1960s by the Chiba prefectural government, and a decade later, joined by the Land Development Corporation, the government housing organ that would morph into the Urban Renaissance (UR) Agency in 2004. It is located in the northern part of the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jul 2, 2013
Moved by the benefits of mobile-home housing
The model house sat on an empty patch of brown land along a commercial stretch of road in southern Ibaraki Prefecture. Few people would have identified it as a model house. It had a forlorn, out-of-place look to it. Technically, it was a mobile home — "trailer house," in Japanese parlance — propped...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jun 4, 2013
Sometimes it pays to look on the bright side
The flyers were provocative: New houses priced at more than ¥35 million, but the builder promised that the mortgage would amount to ¥0 a month. A free house is obviously too good to be true, but we decided to check out the merchandise to see what the story was.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
May 14, 2013
On uneven ground: landfill property pitfalls
After the real estate agent unlocked the front door, the musty smell told us that the house had not been aired for some time. He laid out slippers for us and proceeded to raise the shutters and open the windows. Then, upon entering the kitchen he exclaimed, "Katamuite iru" ("It's uneven").
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 23, 2013
Student seeking Kyoto flat told: No foreigners allowed
After spending 2u00bd years living the quiet life in Shiga Prefecture, Ryukoku University student Victor Rosenhoj was looking forward to moving to Kyoto, where things promised to be more lively and international.
Magnitude 5.5 earthquake jars Tokara Islands amid flurry of seismic activity
A strong quake struck off the Tokara Islands on Thursday afternoon, with the island chain having recorded around 1,000 earthquakes since a burst of seismic activity first began on June 21.
Onosato's yokozuna promotion causes rare quirk in new sumo rankings
Newly promoted yokozuna Onosato holds a copy of the latest banzuke ranking in Anjo, Aichi Prefecture, on Monday.
A prophesied disaster (likely) won’t strike Japan this weekend
A viral manga prediction of a July 5 disaster has gripped Japan with anxiety and triggered an economic impact, but experts warn that while such dates are unreliable, the threat of a massive earthquake remains real. 
Over 900 earthquakes strike Tokara islands in space of two weeks
A screenshot shows many quakes occurring in the Tokara islands over the past 30 days, in this image taken from the U.S. Geological Survey website.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

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