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Generalreview

Japan runs first current account deficit in 5 months

The world’s third-largest economy ran a current account deficit of 132.4 billion yen ($980 million) in June, government data showed, reversing 872 billion yen from the same month a year earlier. The current account surplus has declined for four fiscal years in a row through March 2022. While yen weakness has inflated the cost of imports, its boost to the value of exports has not been as great as it once was due to an ongoing shift of exporters’ production abroad.

GeneralInvestors/Business
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Generalreview

Due Diligence Series Part 1: Investment Properties

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.

GeneralInvestors/Business
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Generalreview

Due Diligence Series Part 2: Family and Vacation Homes

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.

GeneralHoliday/Home Makers
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Generalreview

How Shinzo Abe aimed to revitalize Japan’s economy

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.

GeneralInvestors/Business
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Holiday/Home Makersreview

AirBnB or Bust?

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?

Holiday/Home MakersInvestors/Business
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Japan Properties
Investors/Businessreview

How to Find Under-Priced Japanese Assets

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.

Investors/Business
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Generalreview

Some Residents to Return to Fukushima 11 Years after Evacuation

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.

General
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Japan Properties
Generalreview

Musk Foresees the End of Japan if Birthrate does not Increase

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.

General
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Japan Properties
Investors/Businessreview

Weakening Yen Makes Tokyo Investments more Attractive

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].”

Investors/Business
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Japan Properties
Generalreview

Japan Prioritizes Digital Transformation to Public Services

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).

General
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Japan Properties
Generalreview

Could Tokyo’s Declining Population be a Much Needed Change?

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.

GeneralInvestors/Business
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