The Naked Island in Hiroshima for sale

Sukune Island Hiroshima 2Sukune Island will go up for public auction in February. The uninhabited island was featured in the internationally acclaimed 1960 film 'The Naked Island'. The director, Kaneto Shindo, passed away in 2012 and associates and fans of the actor are looking for donations to purchase the island to honour his memory.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Land foreclosed within Hakuba ski fields for first time

Hakuba Goryu Ski FieldThe ski resort town of Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture recently held an internet auction for several parcels of land within ski fields. This is the first time the town has foreclosed on land that forms part of a ski course.

Four parcels of land were within the Hakuba Iwatake Ski Fields and seven parcels of land were within the Hakuba Goryu Ski Area. They ranged in size from 500 ~ 9,000 sqm, but only made up a tiny portion of the total ski field area. Prices ranged from 1.3 ~ 3.9 million Yen. Read more

by Zoe Ward

Secondhand apartment prices in November - Tokyo Kantei

According to Tokyo Kantei, the average asking price of a 70 sqm (753 sqft) second-hand apartment in Tokyo's 23 wards was 40,610,000 Yen in November, down 0.1% from the previous month but up 3.4% from last year. The average apartment age was 20.6 years.

In central Tokyo's six wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku, Bunkyo and Shibuya), the average apartment price was 54,690,000 Yen, up 0.2% from the previous month and up 6.7% from last year. The average apartment age was 20.9 years.Read more

by Zoe Ward

November rental apartment transactions - AtHome

According to AtHome, 18,415 apartment rental contracts were signed in greater Tokyo in November, down 1.7% from the previous year. In Tokyo's 23-ku, however, the number of contracts increased by 0.9% to 8,415. Read more

by Zoe Ward

Shibuya City Office redevelopment to include new apartments

Shibuya City Office

The redevelopment of the ageing Shibuya City Offices will include a 37-storey apartment building with 414 apartments.

Part of the development site will be leased to a developer on a 70-year term. The revenue from the leasehold is expected to cover the costs of the city office redevelopment. Five developers are bidding for the project, and the final decision will be made in the next few months.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Tokyo Governor's Residence fails to sell

The unused official residence of the Govenor of Tokyo again failed to attract any bids during its second time on the market.

The 2-storey residence was built at a cost of 1.2 billion Yen in 1997 but was only occupied for a little over a year. It was first listed for sale in 2008 with a minimum price of 4.8 billion Yen, but did not attract any offers. It was listed again in 2013 seeking offers over 3.3 billion Yen.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Office vacancy rates in November - Miki Shoji

According to Miki Shoji's office report, the office vacancy rate in Tokyo's 5 central business districts (Chyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya) was 7.52% in November, down 0.04 points from the previous month and down 1.24 points from last year. This is the fifth month in a row where vacancy rates have fallen.

The vacancy rate in brand new buildings was 16.71%, down 0.33 points from the previous month and down 14.15 points from last year.Read more

by Zoe Ward