97-yr old building to be relocated
Don’t despair. The historic Toranomon Osaka-ya Sunaba Restaurant isn’t being demolished, it’s being shifted to make way for a road-widening project.
Harajuku’s Togo Shrine to redevelop vintage function hall
Togo Shrine will be redeveloping their 43-year old wedding and event building within the Shrine grounds next year.
Co-working spaces to open in two historic merchant houses
Kawagoe City in Saitama has converted two historic merchant houses into co-working spaces under a trial run. It is hoped that the recent telework trend might have the positive effect of utilizing long-empty buildings as well as preserving the traditional townscape.
Okinawa apartment prices up 108% over past 12 years
According to the Ryugin Research Institute, the average price of a 70 sqm (753 sq.ft) second-hand apartment in Okinawa as of October 2020 was 2.1 times higher than it was back in 2008.
Quick real estate news summary for the week
Tokyo’s office vacancy rate hits 4%, cash bonus for anyone who moves near the Fukushima nuclear plant, and apartment rents drop in Tokyo and Yokohama. Below is a quick weekly summary of some of the recent goings-on in the Japanese real estate market.
More people living in flood zones
The number of people living in flood zones across Japan has increased by 6.05% between 1995 and 2015, according to a survey by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The country’s total population over that same span increased by just 1.21%. Even prefectures experiencing depopulation saw growth in the number of residents living in flood zones.
1930s building in Shimbashi to be converted into share offices
An 88-year old heritage-listed building in Shimbashi is being converted by construction giant Takenaka Corporation into a share office for start-ups.