The Prince of the Diet Exposes China’s Real Estate Buying Spree in Japan
Sora Aoi, 43, is the most popular Japanese actress in China. When the then ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) administration of Yoshihiko Noda nationalized the Diaoyu Islands (the Chinese name for the Senkaku Islands) in 2012, there were huge anti-Japanese demonstrations in China. At that time, I couldn’t help but laugh a little at the placards held up by Chinese youths and the unique catch copy that appeared on the Internet. The Diaoyu Islands belong to China. The Diaoyu Islands belong to China, and Sora Aoi belongs to the world (everyone).
The Diaoyu Islands belong to China and Aoi Sora belongs to everyone in the world. His latest book, “What Japanese Should Know About China,” provides easy-to-understand explanations of the politics, economy, and culture of this near but far country. Let us introduce some of the contents of the book (some of Mr. Takeda’s comments in the book have been re-edited).
Chinese citizens are sexually oppressed
Among the younger generation in China, Japanese adult videos are often viewed. Of course, the authorities prohibit the viewing of adult videos, but there seems to be a loophole, and now they can also view Internet pornography sites.
The CCP is aware of this situation. But they are probably turning a blind eye to it to some extent. They know that cracking down too much on pornography will cause stress among the people. Adult videos are not political, and as long as there are no crimes or other problems caused by them, they do not cause a fuss.
The sexy actress who was popular among Chinese youth after Aoi Sora was Kaede Matsushima (42). Her popularity exploded after Han Han, the author of the bestselling novel Shanghai Beat (which sold over 2 million copies), posted a link to Matsushima’s blog on his own blog.
There is essentially no legal sex industry in China. There are no stores offering sexual services, at least not overtly, as is tacitly permitted in Japan. There are no adult videos, no sexy books. The people are sexually repressed. It is because they are usually suppressed that they have explosive power.
Buying a whole house of real estate in Japan with an average annual income of about 600,000 yen?
A little while ago, Chinese tourists would charter tour buses to visit Ginza, buying high-end brand bags and clothing one after another, and in Akihabara, they would purchase large quantities of electronics. This was the so-called explosive shopping phenomenon. Now, it seems that they are spending more money on experiences rather than material goods.
There has been a significant increase in wealthy Chinese individuals buying real estate in Japan. In socialist China, the government owns the land, and individuals cannot purchase land as their own. The closest equivalent in Japan is the land leasehold system. For residential properties, the maximum lease term is 70 years, and for other uses, it’s 40 or 50 years.
While it is essentially their own land, it is officially owned by the state, so it is still considered leased. Therefore, Japan’s proximity to China, along with the current weak yen, makes Japanese real estate an attractive investment. In Japan, when you purchase real estate, it becomes completely yours, which is a huge appeal to the land-oriented Chinese people.
According to a Chinese real estate company owner living in Japan, wealthy Chinese are buying entire apartment buildings in Japan to rent them out or register them for short-term rentals.
This story was shared with me before the pandemic—A taxi driver in Hokkaido was asked by a Chinese customer, whom he had driven from Sapporo to Chitose Airport, to just take 50 million yen and buy a suitable apartment by the time I come back.
The idea of entrusting 50 million yen to a stranger seems quite abnormal. The driver was scared and refused.
That feeling would likely seem strange to many Chinese people as well. Li Keqiang, who served as China’s Premier from 2013 to 2023, stated at a press conference in 2020, “The average annual income in China is 30,000 yuan (about 600,000 yen), but there are 600 million people with an average monthly income of just 1,000 yuan (about 20,000 yen).” This highlights the stark divide between the wealthy and the poor, and between urban and rural areas, with the gap in China’s economy being far greater than that of Japan.
How should we understand the Xi Jinping administration? Will China move forward with unification with Taiwan? What became of the author who brought a “forbidden book” depicting Mao Zedong’s tumultuous sex life into China? “What Japanese People Should Know About China” is currently available from Tatsumi Publishing.
Kazuaki Takeda, born in 1966 in Tokyo, graduated from Waseda University’s Faculty of Humanities with a major in Chinese literature. He was a former TBS Radio reporter covering the National Diet, where he became known by the nickname “National Diet Prince.” He was also a long-time guest on the political segment of “Sunday Japon”, gaining familiarity and affection from the public. In June 2023, he retired from TBS after serving as the editor-in-chief of the News Division. During his university years, he studied abroad at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and later spent three and a half years as a correspondent in Beijing during his time at TBS.
