2011 disaster victims may soon see a hike in property taxes

Owners of vacant land in disaster-hit areas following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster may see a steep hike in their property taxes from 2022 onwards. 

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Miyagi Prefecture’s vacancy rate set to rise

Local governments in Miyagi Prefecture are paying close attention to vacancy rate trends as demand for temporary housing following the Tohoku disaster is expected to be short-lived.

The prefecture has a vacancy rate of 9.4%, making it the lowest in Japan and the only prefecture with a single digit vacancy rate. The low number of vacant houses, however, can be largely attributed to a steep rise demand for temporary housing from residents displaced by the 2011 Tohoku disaster.

There are concerns that the vacancy rate will start to climb again as the public housing projects built for these residents are gradually completed.Read more


Out-of-date land titles slowing down redevelopment in Tohoku

Otsuchi Town Iwate

Reconstruction and relocation efforts in the disaster-hit areas in Tohoku are being stalled as out-of-date property records are making it close to impossible to locate landowners. 

In the town of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture, over half of the homes were either severely damaged or completely destroyed in the 2011 disaster. Barely any progress has been made on reconstructing the town and almost 4,100 residents (40% of the town’s population) are still living in temporary accommodation. Read more


Tohoku’s traditional homes slowly vanishing

Sendai Minamisanriku kominka
A 309-year old tsunami-hit kominka in Minamisanriku, Miyagi.

Repair bills up to 100 million Yen or more

Yoichi Haryu, 57, owns a 2-storey home and storehouse in Wakabayashi-ku, Sendai City. The buildings date back to the late Meiji ~ early Showa era. The 2011 earthquake caused the beams to twist and bend and the wooden posts to twist and come unstuck.Read more


Sendai's property bubble

Somewhat sensationalist magazine Nikkan SPA has reported that Sendai is experiencing a property bubble brought on by the reconstruction work following the Tohoku disaster.Read more


Govt urges landowners in Fukushima evacuation zone not to sell

The government is requesting that residents from the evacuation zones near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant refrain from any real estate transactions within the area until evacuation orders are lifted.

The warning is to avoid any potential trouble arising after Tepco pays compensation to landowners and to ensure a smooth reorganization of the zones. The Yomiuri Shimbun gave a slightly different, and perhaps more honest reason for the request, which is to avoid the land being acquired by various yakuza organizations who, seeing an opportunity, may make it more difficult and more expensive for the government and Tepco to negotiate the storage of contaminated waste on such land. This is not an unfounded fear, as local real estate agents have reported receiving inquiries with very similar intentions.Read more


Residents move back into 'completely destroyed' building

After a year and four months of waiting, residents of "Neo Heights Kuwano" in Fukushima's Koriyama City have been given the all-clear to move back into their apartments after the building was repaired following serious damage sustained during the Tohoku earthquake last year.

The first four floors of the building suffered damage to their exterior walls and the reinforcing inside the building's columns had broken. This led the city to declare it as 'completely destroyed'. As the majority of the apartment doors were jammed and could not be opened, the residents had to move out.Read more