Inadvertently, Japanese people have suddenly found many Chinese people flooding the streets, Chinese neighbors appearing in the area, and many property owners having Chinese names. These Chinese residents are not tourists; many of them are wealthy Chinese individuals who have come to Japan with the intention of long-term residence to escape the rule of the Chinese Communist Party.
According to a report by Fuji TV, a woman named Miss Suo from Wuhan, China, is planning to invest 100 to 400 million yen (approximately $653,000 to $2.614 million) in purchasing an apartment building in Tokyo. A TV reporter followed her as she viewed a 200 million yen property and interviewed the real estate agent who showed her the property. The agent mentioned that due to the high demand from Chinese clients, the top-performing salesperson earned nearly $48,000 in salary last month.
The Toyo Keizai magazine also reported on a former ByteDance engineer who immigrated to Japan and bought a house in the country.
The Wall Street Journal reported on May 2 that Tomo Hayashi, a native Chinese who moved to Tokyo last year, is the owner of a metal trading company. He quickly adopted a Japanese name, spent around $650,000 to purchase a luxurious waterfront apartment, and reunited with his family in March this year.
At 45 years old, Hayashi has two sons attending a local primary school in Japan, and he is one of many wealthy Chinese driving the prosperity of high-end real estate in Tokyo.
Discontent with the authoritarian political system in Beijing suddenly erupted during the zero-COVID period, and post-easing of COVID control measures, more and more Chinese billionaires are accelerating their immigration to Japan. Real estate agents in Japan and others concerned about population outflow also mentioned that the slowing Chinese economy and a sluggish stock market are also pushing the wealthy to leave China.
While the United States and Canada also attract Chinese immigrants, Hong Kong residents often move to the UK. However, for affluent Chinese individuals, Japan’s cities just a few hours away from China are the top destination. Due to the weakened yen, property prices in Japan are relatively lower for foreigners, making property acquisition easier.
Desmond Shum, author of “Red Roulette” and former member of the Beijing CPPCC, also mentioned on the X platform that a friend said wealthy Chinese people are immigrating to Japan, ambitious Chinese individuals are moving to Singapore, and those with ambitions but no money are moving to Thailand.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data, by 2022, foreigners account for 2.2% of Japan’s population, with Chinese being the largest group at 29%. Reports indicate that in 2023, the number of Chinese citizens entering Japan with business manager visas reached a record high of over two thousand people.
As of the end of last year, Japan had approximately 822,000 Chinese residents, an increase of 60,000 from the previous year, marking the largest growth in recent years.
Osamu Orihara, a Tokyo real estate agent of Chinese descent and Japanese citizen, stated that his income has doubled or quadrupled compared to 2019 before the outbreak, largely driven by Chinese buyers.
“In contrast to the past, more Chinese people are seeking long-term visas,” Orihara told Huari.
Based on real estate records, about a third of the apartments in the 48-story building where Hayashi resides are owned by individuals with Chinese names or companies represented by individuals with Chinese names. Residents near the high-rise buildings in Tokyo Bay mentioned that a quarter or more of the occupants are Chinese.
In industry data, the average price of new apartments in central Tokyo rose by nearly 40% last year, reaching around $740,000. Market observers attribute the increase in property prices to a large number of new properties attracting wealthy Chinese buyers who are concerned about a sharp decline in the Chinese market.
Government statistics indicate that with the continued slower growth of the Chinese economy compared to previous decades, Chinese companies and households are transferring funds overseas at the highest rate in seven years.
Huari reported that Chinese individuals looking to immigrate to Japan and purchase apartments or houses typically face two challenges: transferring money to Japan and obtaining a Japanese visa.
The Chinese government limits the amount of money residents can take out of the country, but many Chinese individuals have companies engaged in international business or overseas investments. Orihara mentioned that his clients typically have bank accounts in Hong Kong or Singapore, allowing them to transfer funds through these accounts.
As for visas, individuals who invest at least $32,000 in a Japanese company with a permanent office and two or more employees can obtain an entrepreneur visa. Other Chinese individuals may obtain visas as advanced specialists in business, technology, or academic fields in Japan. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of Chinese individuals holding technology visas (such as software engineers) increased by 30%, surpassing 10,000 people, and these visa holders can apply for permanent residency in Japan within just a year.
On social media platforms like Weibo, Little Red Book, and WeChat, netizens are actively discussing the topic of purchasing properties in Japan. Despite strict censorship policies, Weibo prevents related searches by using the tag “Chinese investors rushing to Tokyo to buy property,” but users can search for the topic without using the tag symbol.
Huari reported that Hayashi intends to stay in Japan long-term. He mentioned that since last year, he has been paying taxes in Japan. As a holder of an advanced specialist visa, he expressed his desire to obtain permanent residency within four to five years.