Grand Front Osaka Owner's Tower
The massive redevelopment of the Osaka Station North District ("Umekita") is well underway. The 38,000sqm site will have commercial office buildings, retail stores, a hotel and serviced apartments and a residential condominium tower. The design of the "Osaka North Plaza" located at the southern end of the site will be supervised by famous Japanese architect firm, Tadao Ando Architect and Associates.Read more
The "World's Oldest Manga Cafe" to close down
Manrakuen Comic Paradise is a Japanese Manga-Kissa (a comic book library and cafe) near Jinbocho Station in Tokyo where customers pay 400 year per hour to sit and read from the collection of over 20,000 comic books.Read more
95% of apartments in Waterras Tower Sold Out
Sales of apartments in the still under-construction Waterras Tower Residence in Chiyoda-ku have been very strong with offers made on 95% of the 182 apartments offered for sale during the first sales period in August, 2011.
Approximately 30% of the sold apartments were priced over 100 million Yen (1.3 million USD) with the most expensive apartment priced at 300 million Yen (3.9 million USD). The average apartment price is 1,225,000 Yen/sqm (1478 USD/sqft). Over 1200 people visited the model room on August 22nd and there were over 6000 requests for property sales material.Read more
Kawasaki apartment block to be rebuilt after construction defects discovered
A 7-storey apartment building in Kawasaki City is due to be demolished and rebuilt after construction flaws were recently discovered that compromize the integrity of the structure.
A routine building inspection in 2009 uncovered gaps inside the beams and pillars of the building, as well as styrofoam and wood mixed in with the concrete pillars and walls. There were also fewer reinforced bars in the concrete than the construction blueprints indicated.Read more