Tokyo nearly doubled, the countryside's on sale

A resale apartment in central Tokyo — the 23 wards (the city's core) — now averages about ¥1.23M per square meter, up roughly 1.9× since 2005. (Local listings quote prices per tsubo, about 3.3 m², so you'll see this as ¥408万/坪.) The plot twist: adjusted for inflation, Japanese wages have barely budged in 20 years — even the record pay raises of 2024–26 got eaten by rising prices. So the average Tokyoite is chasing a finish line that keeps jogging away.

Drive out to a prefecture like Wakayama and the median house costs ¥6.6M — a fraction of a median Tokyo home (¥57M). Rural Japan is running a quiet clearance sale while the big cities throw a bidding war.

Land in Kutchan — the town hugging Niseko's ski slopes — is up 5.5× since 2008. Australian and Asian buyers want a chalet near the world's fluffiest snow, and they're happily paying tourist prices for plain dirt.