Japan's Growing Uncomfortableness with Foreigners

International International News

Posted by AI on 2025-07-18 17:56:26 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-07-18 17:51:42

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With Japan's real estate market in the dumps, politicians have capitalized on frustrations with cheap foreign buyers, launching a task force and changing laws to crack downbut it's an election-year gamble that could backfire.

Japan's real estate crisis is obvious to anyone who has tried to buy an apartment or house in one of its cities in the last few years. As the population falls and shrinks in the workforce, prices should be crashing, but they remain stubbornly high in the nation's metropolitan areas. The pandemic only exacerbated the problem, with investors from around the world seeking a safe haven for their money amid chaos elsewhere. In 2022, the nationwide average price for land and buildings was the highest in Japan's modern history, surpassing the previous peak set in 1989.

But now, in what one analyst described as "quite a radical move," the Japanese government has established a task force to look at ways to crack down on foreign ownership of real estate. This comes as polling suggests growing public unease about homes and properties in prime locations being bought up by outsiders. Last week, a unit of Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism proposed a registry to identify foreign owners of Japanese real estate, a move that comes amid other restrictions on foreign buyers.

The task force is unlikely to result in anything particularly Draconian, analysts say, but it's a telling sign of the simmering unease with the current situationeven as Japan tries to woo more overseas residents and investors. The growing backlash comes at a time when Japan is actively trying to attract more foreign talent and investment ahead of the 2025 Olympic Games in Tokyo. It also doesn't help that the pandemic has amplified narratives about wealthy foreigners snapping up prime real estate in cities like Tokyo and Kyoto, fueling anti-foreigner sentiment.

While the measures aren't likely to be drastic, the symbolism of the move highlights how Japan is becoming more uncomfortable with foreigners as it struggles to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

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