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April 29, 2024
 

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PROPERTY

Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2013
Graffiti scratched into wall at iconic Horyuji Temple
Graffiti has been found gouged into Saiin-Ogaki, a wall at Horyuji Temple in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, the prefectural board of education said Wednesday.
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 ignition devices we'd bought for previous apartments were useless in our new one so we had to get rid of them and buy special stand-alone devices from Tokyo Gas that connected to these outlets. When we moved out of the UR apartment several years ago we also had to throw those away because our new apartment, also run by UR, had a different heating system and Tokyo Gas has no buy-back program.
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 were practically guaranteed a loan regardless of whether you worked for a company or were self-employed.
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 thinking of raising the ceiling for "Flat 35" housing loans from 90 to 100 percent. That means borrowers who qualify can have the entire cost of a home financed.
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 prefecture and takes in portions of the cities of Funabashi, Shiroi and Inzai.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 17, 2013
Property transactions jump 50% on 'Abenomics': JLL
Property transactions jumped 50 percent in the first half of 2013, headed for the highest level in five years, amid efforts by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to boost the economy, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. said.
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 up on car jacks and with a small porch attached to the entrance.
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 / 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 of remodeling, which would be carried out by a company already chosen by the owner, once a sales contract was signed. We said we preferred having the remodeling done to our own specifications and asked how much cheaper the apartment would be if we bought it in its present state. She checked with the owner and called us back: He'd knock off ¥600,000.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Mar 5, 2013
Buying property in the age of Abenomics
According to most business media, now is the time to act if you are thinking about buying a home. Though the Liberal Democratic Party has yet to confirm that it will go ahead with the consumption tax increases the Democratic Party of Japan passed last year, it seems likely that the first hike to 8 percent will go through as planned in April 2014. The prediction is that people will try to buy homes before the consumption tax goes into effect and interest rates rise as a response to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's effort to boost inflation. Because the consumption tax — which applies to new homes but not to land — is levied when the buyer takes possession of the property, experts are expecting a rush on new homes by the end of the summer.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Feb 4, 2013
Building your home can come at quite a cost
People in the market for new single-family houses usually don't worry as much about the land those houses occupy because they tend to work with developers, who purchase huge tracts and then subdivide them. The customer buys the land and the house as a package, though the authorities see it as two purchases and assess property taxes accordingly. In such transactions, either the new house is already on the property or the customer is obligated to buy a model from the developer or a partner and have it built on the land.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 28, 2008
Ups and downs on Japan's property ladder
Foreigners and the Japanese property market — the two sound like unlikely bedfellows, but in recent years their "liaisons" have been the focus of much media attention — and not all of it positive.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 28, 2008
Tales of experience from foreign homeowners
The following are the experiences of four foreigners who have ventured into property purchase in Japan.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Putin’s war will soon reach Russians’ tax bills
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

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Longform

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Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
By Alex K.T. Martin

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