Hot-spring inn sells for 42 million Yen at public auction

In November 2018, a Gifu-based real estate company purchased a historic Japanese inn at a public foreclosure auction. The winning bid was 42,790,000 Yen. 

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City abandons foreclosure of five-storied pagoda and temple grounds

Katsuyama City in Fukui Prefecture has given up on their attempt to auction off a foreclosed pagoda and temple property due to a lack of buyers.

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[Foreclosed] House in Chiba’s ‘Beverly Hills’

Chiba One Hundred Hills 1

A 4-bedroom house in One Hundred Hills (Chiba Prefecture’s version of Beverly Hills) has been foreclosed on and will go up for public auction in May. The minimum bid is set at 51,656,000 Yen.

*Update: The winning bid was 65,126,000 Yen. Three bids were submitted and the winner was a corporate buyer.

One Hundred Hills is a high-end residential estate that was developed by Tokyu Land in the late 1980s. The first homes in the neighbourhood were between 400 ~ 500 sqm (4300 ~ 5380 sqft) in size and were priced from 500 million ~ 1.5 billion Yen when new. Tokyu had subdivided the 17 hectare estate into 60 lots and had sold 24 of the 49 homes they had built by the time the bubble burst. Read more


[Foreclosed] 1898 Ijinkan in Kitanocho, Kobe

Kobe Ijinkan Foreclosed

*Update: The property was withdrawn from the auction. This can occur when the creditor/s are either paid the outstanding debt or reach an agreement with the borrower. 

The former Moore residence in Kobe's historic Kitanocho district will go up for public auction this month with bidding starting from 45.6 million Yen (442,000 USD). 

The 2-storey western-style residence was built in 1898, with an extension to the rear added in 1980. It fronts onto Kitano Street, which is a popular spot for tourists.

Both the exterior and fence that face the street have been identified by Kobe City's Board of Education as traditional structures and any exterior alterations require permission (internal modifications, however, are allowed). Read more


Nara Dreamland foreclosed

Nara Dreamland 1

Before Tokyo Disneyland there was Nara Dreamland - a Disney-themed park in Nara Prefecture that closed in 2006 and has since become a popular spot for urban explorers. Due to unpaid property taxes, Nara City is planning to put the property up for public auction soon. 

Nara Dreamland was opened in 1961 by Nihon Dream Kanko. After meeting with Walt Disney at California's Disneyland Park,  Nihon Dream's president Kunizo Matsuo expressed a desire to build a similar theme park in West Japan to cater to Japanese. Disney was apparently okay with this idea and sent some experts to Japan to advise on park design. While Nihon Dream claimed to have a franchise agreement in place, Disney later denied any official affiliation as they could not come to an agreement on franchise fees.

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Final chapter for Tokyo's Chongryon HQ

Chongryon HQ TokyoRather than hold a third auction, the Tokyo District Court announced plans to sell the foreclosed Chongryon headquarters in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo to a real estate company from Takamatsu City in Kagawa Prefecture. If there are no problems with Marunaka Holdings' paperwork, the final decision regarding the sale will be made on March 24.Read more


Mongolian company's bid on Chongryon HQ rejected

Chongryon HQ TokyoOn January 23, the Tokyo District Court announced that they have decided against the sale of the foreclosed North Korean defector embassy building and land in Chiyoda-ku to a mysterious Mongolian company after documents submitted by the buyer were found to be colour copies and could not be authenticated as official documents issued by the Mongolian government.

In October 2013, 'Avar LLC' was the winning bidder on the property after putting in the highest bid of 5.1 billion Yen. Suspicions were immediately raised after it was discovered that Avar was created in January with a capital investment of just 60,000 Yen and was registered to an apartment in Ulaanbaatar (the occupant of the apartment had no knowledge of the company).Read more