By Peter Harris

Four interviews with four different foreigners about their varied experiences of buying or renting property in Japan.

J@pan Inc looks at an overseas investment opportunity

J@pan Inc is proud to present a new regular feature that focuses on an investment opportunity beyond the shores of Japan.

Being a good student of British history the word "gentrification" conjures up images of seventeenth century farmhouses and Oliver Cromwell championing the rise of parliament. But in real estate, the term is more related to high yield investment opportunities than the beginning of the end of aristocratic power. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines it in the following manner:

By Hirokazu Mukai, CEO, Minato Asset Management

To maximize cash-flow, you have two choices, one is to work harder at your office. The other is to make your money work for you and dedicate more of your time to your own concerns. And if you’re thinking about making an investment, the smart money is in real estate. Since Japanese interest rates are so low, and the Japanese currency is so weak against other currencies such as the Euro, or the Pound, you’ll find Japanese real estate a very attractive option.

Masatoshi ShiotaBy John Dodd
Nikko Inc Creates an Ubiquitous and Safe Surface Treatment

As any visitor to Japan will testify, Japan is the land of construction and concrete. It seems that few rivers, beaches, or mountain roadsides have been left untouched by the hand of bureaucracy and concrete trucks. Indeed, during the heyday of Japanese public works, from 1991 through 2000, the Japanese government tried kickstarting the moribund economy by pumping an unprecedented JPY430trillion (US$3.6trillion) into public works projects! Most of this went on people, corporate profits, some alleged kick-backs, and of course the basic raw material – concrete.