Government to create database of foreign owners of real estate
The national government is planning to create a database to keep track of the nationalities of foreign buyers of real estate in Japan in response to calls for tougher restrictions on foreign investors. Currently, buyers are obligated to notify local jurisdictions of their nationality only when acquiring large land parcels, farmland, and land near sensitive facilities (self-defense force bases, for example). However, there has been no requirement to report nationalities to local governments when purchasing other types of real estate such as apartments.
On December 3, the Liberal Democratic Party launched a Foreigner Countermeasures Task Force with an agenda of providing recommendations regarding regulating the acquisition of land by foreign interests, with the head of the task force noting that “Land is inseparable from national sovereignty, and knowing who owns it and how it is being used is an extremely important matter.”