Japan's two-address systems for land and buildings

Lot numbers indicated on a cadastral map. Different to the postal addresses.

Did you know that buildings and land in Japan can have two addresses? One for registration identification purposes and another to be used as the postal address. While this won't affect your day-to-day life, it always comes up as a question from buyers when going over the contract of sale documents, so it may be worth explaining it in detail below.

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Hyatt Regency Tokyo on the market for 100 billion Yen

On February 28, the Nikkei Shimbun newspaper reported that the Odakyu Electric Railway company is considering the sale of the Hyatt Regency Tokyo hotel. The total sale proceeds of the hotel, along with partial ownership of a neighboring office building, could be in the 100 billion Yen (approx. US$870 million) range. Several funds have already expressed interest.

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Land prices continue to recover in 2021

Land prices are on the rise again, according to the latest quarterly LOOK Report published by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). In the fourth quarter of 2021, a total of 55 of the 100 surveyed locations saw land prices increase. This is up from just 15 locations in the fourth quarter of 2020.

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Buying property in an Urbanization Control Area

If you are looking at purchasing property in the outskirts of cities, you may come across land that is in an Urbanization Control Area. This land comes with a very different set of building limitations than other classifications. Here’s why you need to pay careful attention to this difference.

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