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November 22, 2024
 

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HOUSING

Despite bustling cities like Tokyo and Osaka, Japan faces a rising number of abandoned properties, particularly in rural areas, which pose risks to communities and economies.
EDITORIALS
May 3, 2024
Abandoned homes will be a big part of Japan’s future
Statistics reveal a significant increase in vacant and abandoned homes, with projections indicating a further rise unless addressed soon.
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
JAPAN
May 1, 2024
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
The preliminary figure jumped by 510,000 from 2018, when the previous survey was taken, and doubled from 4.48 million in 1993.
A man rides a scooter past apartment high rises under construction in Zhengzhou, China, in January 2019.
BUSINESS
Apr 30, 2024
Strained Chinese cities struggle to pay homebuying subsidies
Some local governments are unable to raise funds to pay promised subsidies, frustrating buyers and casting doubts over future support measures.
Protesters outside the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments in a legal fight over homelessness and a bid by Grants Pass, Oregon, to enforce local laws against people camping on public property
WORLD / Politics
Apr 23, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court scrutinizes laws used against the homeless
The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a case about whether a city in Oregon banning camping outside on public streets and parks violates the Constitution.
Demolition work is seen underway on a house damaged by the Noto Peninsula earthquake in Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, last week.
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2024
Quake-hit Ishikawa sees slow progress in housing demolitions
As of April 16, only three demolitions had been completed, despite 78,000 homes in the prefecture being damaged.
The average condo price in central Tokyo's 23 wards came to ¥104.64 million in fiscal 2023, topping ¥100 million for the first time on a fiscal year basis.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2024
Tokyo-area condo prices hit record high for third year in a row
In central Tokyo's 23 wards, the average condo price rose 5.7% to ¥104.64 million, topping ¥100 million for the first time.
A guest room at the Muji Hotel Ginza. Ryohin Keikaku, the brand’s parent company, now has a new business called Muji Stay, which brings under one umbrella the retailer’s existing hotels, homes and camps.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 12, 2024
Japan’s Muji bets minimalist retail will work for homes and hotels
Muji currently has three hotels — one in Ginza, one in Beijing and one in Shenzhen, with rooms often booked out months in advance
The outdoor version of an "instant house," developed and set up by architect Keisuke Kitagawa in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2024
'Instant Houses' used widely in Noto quake-hit areas
The structure, which can be erected in an hour, is 4 meters tall with a floor area of 20 square meters.
An Ishikawa prefectural official gives information on new places to stay for earthquake evacuees lodging at hotels and inns during a meeting in Kaga, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Feb. 7.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2024
Departure deadline approaching for Noto quake evacuees in hotels
The extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen on March 16 is expected to lead to a surge in bookings in hotels that have acted as secondary evacuation sites.
Japan is eyeing a system that would make it easier for rental housing owners to lease their properties to elderly people.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 13, 2024
Certification system eyed for rental housing with elderly watch services
For certified rental housing, watch services would be provided mainly by local social welfare corporations and nonprofit organizations.
Evergrande, the world's most indebted developer with more than $300 billion of total liabilities, sent a struggling property sector into a tailspin when it defaulted on its debt in 2021.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 29, 2024
Embattled China Evergrande ordered to liquidate by Hong Kong court
A liquidation ruling of the developer which has $240 billion of assets will likely jolt already fragile Chinese capital and property markets.
Australian Tayler Paulsen and her Kiwi husband Neil managed to purchase a fully-equipped lodge in Myoko, Niigata Prefecture, for only AU$110,000 (about ¥10 million).
COMMUNITY / The Foreign Element
Jan 29, 2024
In Niigata, a winter (and real estate) wonderland
For Australians and New Zealanders facing expensive prices back home, Japan’s snow country is a hotbed for cheap real estate.
The average price of a new apartment for sale in Tokyo and surrounding areas surged 29% to a fresh high of ¥81 million in 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 25, 2024
Tokyo apartment prices reach record high for third straight year
Prices are expected to keep climbing in 2024 even as the economy slows and the Bank of Japan looks to abandon its negative interest-rate policy.
Past warnings of a housing-market crash in China have never been borne out. But unless the government takes concerted action, this time may well be different.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2024
Fixing China’s real estate sector
Housing dreams to economic nightmares, the perils of China's real estate boom.
A worker builds a home in Lillington, North Carolina, in June. Appetite among Japanese companies in the U.S. homebuilding market is growing as they struggle with a declining population at home.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 19, 2024
A $4.9 billion Japan deal for a U.S. builder heralds more M&A
Appetite among Japanese buyers in the U.S. homebuilding market is growing as they struggle with a declining population at home.
A Khudi Bari tiny home in Char Shildaha, Bangladesh
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 30, 2023
Bangladesh's tiny houses tackle giant flood challenge
The Khudi Bari — resilient tiny homes made on bamboo stilts rising out of the floodwaters that are also easy to move to safer locations when needed — offers hope to millions.
French police evict migrants from a squat in a disused industrial building not far from the Paris 2024 Olympic Village in Ile-Saint-Denis, near Paris, in April.
WORLD / Society
Dec 25, 2023
Asylum-seekers and Roma evicted from Paris squats ahead of Olympics
Advocates and some officials say the evictions appear to be a policy aimed at beautifying the area for the sporting event.
Justinas Stankus, 38, who came to Canada from Lithuania in 2019 and is studying at the University of Toronto, walks his dog in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
WORLD / Society
Dec 11, 2023
Canada's surging cost of living fuels reverse immigration
The rate of immigrants leaving Canada hit a two-decade high in 2019
Evergrande has become a poster child for China’s property crisis since the builder defaulted two years ago. It reported a combined loss of $81 billion in 2021 and 2022.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 4, 2023
Evergrande winding-up hearing in Hong Kong adjourned again
The world’s most-indebted property developer now has eight weeks to convince offshore bondholders to agree on a restructuring.
Chinese tourists buy gold bars and gold accessories at LukFook, a jewelry store, in Hong Kong.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 28, 2023
Gold bars and Tokyo apartments: How money is flowing out of China
The outbound shift of money in part indicates unease inside China about the sputtering recovery after the pandemic as well as deeper problems.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Russia launched intercontinental ballistic missile during attack on Ukraine, Kyiv says
A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during a test from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Northern Arkhangelsk region of Russia, in this still image captured from video released on Oct. 29.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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