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April 25, 2025
 

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REAL ESTATE

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Apr 2, 2016
Low interest rates cause spike in refinancing
It has been more than a month since the Bank of Japan introduced negative interest rates in its bid to revitalize the economy. For consumers, the rate change is a mixed blessing. Obviously, interest on deposits will not go up any time soon, but anyone thinking of buying a house or condominium can get...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Mar 5, 2016
Tohoku is literally still waiting to move on
Earlier this month, the NHK travel series, "Tsurube Toasts Families," in which rakugo (traditional comic storyteller) performer Shofukutei Tsurube and a guest visit a town and talk to residents on an impromptu basis, went to some new communities in the area destroyed by the Great East Japan Earthquake...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Feb 6, 2016
The ups and downs of apartment elevators
In the 2014 American movie, "5 Flights Up," Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton play an elderly couple who think about selling their two-bedroom Brooklyn apartment. Since they have lived in the unit all their married life, the decision is a difficult one, and the premise of the plot hinges on the reason...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 29, 2016
Japan's 'quiet property bubble' faces end as transactions slide
The number of property transactions in the nation has tumbled, rents have been muted and inflation expectations have waned — all of which has prompted a growing number of analysts and economists to turn bearish on property prices, which have been recovering since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jan 2, 2016
Getting a high rise out of dodging taxes
About a year ago, we talked about using real estate purchases to lower inheritance and gift taxes. Obviously, people who are able to take advantage of these schemes are already well off — the average person doesn't have to worry about paying inheritance taxes when his or her parents die because for...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 12, 2015
Investors see big returns as Airbnb takes off in Japan
While many see Airbnb as a possible fix for two seious problems in Japan — the shortage of hotel rooms and a steady increase in vacant buildings — others see an investment opportunity.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 6, 2015
It should be home sweet home, but not in Japan
The destructive nexus between construction companies, bureaucracy and politicians is largely responsible for Japan's glut of rapidly depreciating houses.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Dec 5, 2015
Aota-uri: 'green' condominiums to be wary of
Each year between 1990, when Japan's asset bubble burst, and the 2007 recession, about 200,000 new condominium units were added to Japan's housing stock. After 2007, the number dropped to about 100,000, but, depending on the year, anywhere from 50,000 to 70,000 of these units were built in the Tokyo...
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2015
Nippon Life plans Japan's largest REIT as investors crave yields
Nippon Life Insurance Co., which is seeking to gather about ¥300 billion ($2.4 billion) for what would be Japan's largest private real estate investment trust, is targeting returns of 4 percent as yields on government bonds languish near zero.
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2015
Japan piling probe to expand to entire industry as data falsification fears grow
The infrastructure ministry says it will expand its probe into data management for piling work to the entire industry, as fears of manipulation involving building foundation piles continue to grow.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 16, 2015
Philippines' Aquino pushes infrastructure projects as term in office ends
With seven months left in office, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III is taking measures to strengthen his infrastructure legacy and boost the resilience of one of Asia's fastest-growing economies.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2015
Asahi Kasei piling scandal grows to at least 50 workers, 266 sites
The company at the center of Yokohama's tilting condominium reveals that over 50 employees falsified data on at least 266 piling projects over the past decade.
EDITORIALS
Nov 11, 2015
Piling scandal needs deep probe
The probe into the piling data scandal mustn't end with individual companies and workers; instead it should dig deep into the very foundation of the construction industry and get at the real root of the problem.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Oct 31, 2015
Not-so-friendly neighborhood associations
When the U.S. military took charge following Japan's surrender in 1945, one of the first things it did was ban jichikai, or community associations. The thinking was that these organizations had carried out the work of the military government at the neighborhood level and their continued existence might...
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Japan must correct Trump’s false data for trade talks, says Kono
Former Foreign Minister Taro Kono
Japan wants to 'separate' tariff and security issues. That may be tough.
Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, poses with a "Make America Great Again" cap at the White House in Washington on April 16.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026
Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game
Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.

Podcast

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

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

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