Japan’s efforts to drag its public services into the digital age are getting some financial heft behind them. The government’s Digital Agency, established last September, looks set to have ¥472 billion to spend in the upcoming fiscal year, starting in April. Its budget priorities are heavy on technological upgrades: Promoting My Number ID cards (¥102.7 billion), subsidizing new industrial infrastructure (¥2.2 billion) and accelerating research into next-generation semiconductors (¥14.8 billion) and post-5G telecom networks (¥10 billion).

Japan saw its natural population decline accelerate by over 100,000 and logged its first population outflow in nine years amid entry restrictions on foreign residents due to COVID-19. Tokyo’s population shrank for the first time in 26 years, falling by 38,000 to 14.01 million, while all 47 prefectures except Okinawa posted a fall. Prefectures that had seen population growth in recent years saw their populations fall, including Chiba, Fukuoka, Kanagawa and Saitama.

The Japanese government relaxed coronavirus border restrictions in March this year, but after almost two years of severely limited entry, "there needs to be a concerted effort to restore Japan's image and lure back all the (international) talent that has been lost," one expert told the Mainichi Shimbun.

A resurgence in demand last year among Asia-based investors for commercial real estate in markets such as the US, Australia, mainland China, the UK and Japan, led to activity that surpassed 2019’s pre-pandemic volume. New data from CBRE shows that after a muted 2020, Asian outbound investment in the asset class rose 69% year-on-year in 2021, to $54.6bn.

The Japanese yen continued to weaken against the dollar on Monday to a more than six-year low — plagued by a combination of rising global rates plus low growth and inflation relative to the rest of the world.

Condo units, which come with a smaller land footprint (the building’s entire land footprint is distributed between the owners, proportionate to their units’ floorplan sizes), are usually the cheapest way to enter the market, and provide immediate turnkey profitability potential. The only cheaper asset type out there is rural land, with or without old, mostly abandoned houses built on it – but these types of properties rarely turn any profit upon purchase, and would require significant renovation and/or marketing work before they can be tenanted and start generating income - if at all.

The midcareer job market in Japan is changing fast, with an increasing number of workers trading secure jobs at large companies for new opportunities at startups. The trend is particularly strong among workers aged 40 and older -- the loyal backbone of corporate Japan -- and could serve as a catalyst for Japan's economic revival, said one expert.

As the Bank of Japan asserts its standing as a lone dove among its peers, the yen is reclaiming its status as the world's most popular funding currency. The trade comes with risks though, given the yen could revert to being a safe haven if tensions over Ukraine heighten or if an aggressive Federal Reserve triggers a markets selloff.