Shangri-La buys land next to Nijo Castle
Good news coming out of Kyoto last week with word that Shangri-La Group has acquired a large development site on the northern side of Nijo Castle in Kyoto. The 4,700 sqm site is about 90 meters west of our restored machiya townhouse.
Compliance rules relaxed for house-to-commercial conversions
On June 25, 2019, the Building Standards Act was revised. One of the interesting revisions was regarding the requirements that must be met when changing the use of an existing property.
Two new luxury boathouse rentals surface in Ine, Kyoto
Two more traditional boathouses in Ine, Kyoto, have been refurbished into luxury overnight accommodation.
2011 disaster victims may soon see a hike in property taxes
Owners of vacant land in disaster-hit areas following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster may see a steep hike in their property taxes from 2022 onwards.
Tokyo second-hand apartment sales up 8.5% in June
According to REINS, a total of 3,490 second-hand apartments were reported to have sold across greater Tokyo in June, up 27% from the previous month and up 5.2% from last year. The average sale price was 33,610,000 Yen, up 1.1% from the previous month and up 1.3% from last year. The average price per square meter was 527,500 Yen, up 1.8% from the previous month and up 1.6% from last year. This is the 5th month in a row to see a year-on-year increase. The average age of an apartment sold was 21.96 years.
Mitsui Main Building turns 90
The Mitsui Main Building in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, turns 90 this year. Built in March 1929 to house Mitsui’s various companies, it remains one of the corporation's landmark assets to this day.
The 7-storey Classical Revival-style building was designed by Trowbridge & Livingston of New York and constructed by James Stewart & Co. It replaced the former Mitsui building that was built in 1902 but destroyed in the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake. The new building was designed to withstand twice the force of the previous earthquake. It more recent years it has been found to have been built to double the standard prescribed under the Act on Promotion of Seismic Retrofitting of Buildings (1995).
The door to the bank vault weighs 50 tons. Too heavy to be carried over Nihonbashi Bridge, it had to be transported by boat along the canal.
The land had been in the Mitsui family since the Edo period, having originally been home to a Mitsui-owned clothing store. That clothing store went on to become the neighboring Mitsukoshi department store, with the bank branch located across the street.
Between 1945 and 1947, the GHQ had temporarily taken over the 4th and 5th floors of the building. The 7th floor houses the Mitsui Memorial Museum which showcases over 4,000 items that have been collected by the Mitsui family since the Edo period.
Location
2-1-1 Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Source: Mitsui Fudosan News Release, June 4, 2019.
Rent rises 11% on Tokyo Stock Exchange Building
The rent for the Tokyo Stock Exchange Building in Nihonbashi is increasing for the first time in 25 years. Starting in April, the building’s annual rent has increased by 11.1% to 3 billion Yen (approx. 28 million USD).