Kamakura modernist museum to re-open this June
After a lengthy refurbishment and retrofit, the former Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, will officially re-open as the Kamakura Bunkakan Tsurugaoka Museum on June 8. The iconic modernist building was designed by Junzo Sakakura (1901-1969) and opened in 1951 as Japan’s first public museum of modern art.
Brutalist church in Kyoto to be demolished
The former Karasuma Church in Kyoto is facing imminent demolition. The 5-story concrete building is a local landmark for its unusual design.
New development in Niseko sees strong sales
Sales in a new resort project in Niseko are off to a strong start with all villa lots sold. ‘Intuition’ is a condo-hotel and holiday home resort development by Hong Kong developer Zekkei Properties.
Luxury villas planned for Miura waterfront
A waterfront district down in Kanagawa’s Miura Peninsula is being pushed as a potential luxury resort targeting wealthy foreigners. A current development proposal includes villas and high-end condominiums that could include their own berths for mega-yachts along with 20-minute access by helicopter from Tokyo. The villas could range in size from 340 ~ 1,120 sqm (3,658 ~ 12,000 sq.ft).
Miyakojima’s property boom
Land prices on this tropical island in Okinawa have increased by as much as 50,000% (no, that’s not a typo) over the past four years.
Japan's vacant house ratio reaches 13.6%
On April 26, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released their housing and land data as of October 2018. This survey is carried out once every five years. According to the report, the nationwide residential vacancy rate was 13.6%, a 0.1 point increase from 2013. The total number of vacant homes across Japan reached 8,460,000, an increase of 260,000 homes over the past 5 years.