So you’re ready to buy your first property in Japan? Or maybe you’ve already been down that rabbit hole and are wondering if you’ve done something wrong? One commonly overlooked concept in purchasing real estate around the world is due diligence. By definition, due diligence in terms of real estate is care taken by research and analysis of a property and its affiliations in preparation for a transaction. One of the quirks about the Japanese real estate market, however, is that the due diligence is only conducted once your offer is accepted.

Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated on Friday, July 8th, had aimed to transform and revitalize the economy. When his government took office it was faced with the daunting task of revitalizing Japan’s once dynamic economy, which was still in the shadow of the major slowdown during the so-called “lost decade” from around 1991 to 2001. Abenomics did help drive growth, though not at the pace that the country had seen during its post-war boom.

A common concept in Japan is known as mottainai, which essentially means that things should not be wasted. You might be thinking the same if you own a vacation property in Japan, but don’t spend enough time there. Have you been throwing around the idea of renting it out on AirBNB or another online listing site. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some have not been able to travel in and out of the country, and may be wishing to instead use their properties for lodgers in the meantime. Is it possible and if so, how?

With Tokyo & Osaka approaching their pre-1990's property bubble peak, and yields in other investment hot-spots such as Fukuoka, Kyoto and Nagoya also gaining in price and becoming more compressed, opportunity-seeking investors are on the lookout for smaller cities that may still provide higher, yet stable and reliable rental returns. However, in a country as insular as Japan, where cities other than those already frequented by international visitors remain veiled in language and cultural isolation, the quest for attractive investment destinations can be difficult.

Evacuation orders will be lifted in June for the first time in the residential zone considered the most heavily contaminated from 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture. Residents who fled from the Noyuki district of Katsurao village northwest of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant will be allowed to restart living there on June 12. The decision followed a meeting between central government officials handling the nuclear accident and Katsurao officials on May 16.

Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk has warned that Japan will perish if it does not reverse its declining birthrate, responding to a tweet of a Kyodo News article that said the country's population saw its largest drop on record in 2021. "At the risk of stating the obvious, unless something changes to cause the birth rate to exceed the death rate, Japan will eventually cease to exist.

Hongkongers are returning to the Japanese property market after a two-year absence, taking advantage of a weakening yen, which is at a 20-year low against the US dollar. “Inquiries for Japanese homes from Hongkongers have surged by up to 40 per cent this month,” said Anvy Cheung, chief executive of Sakura Global, which specialises in Japanese property. “In the past two years, most of them just stayed on the sidelines, adopting a wait-and-see approach [due to the pandemic].”

Foreign nationals with “specified skilled worker” visa status are once again entering Japan following the easing of border control measures in March related to the coronavirus. Foreign workers have sometimes waited years for permission to enter the country. Many have found employment at nursing homes, which have suffered labor shortages.