Industry
Update

The average price of a condominium in the 23 municipalities of central Tokyo was 111.8 million yen in 2024, according to the Real Estate Economic Institute based in the capital. This was a 2.6% year-on-year decline, but the figure remained firmly above 100 million yen as the cost of both labor and materials rose. A total of 8,275 units were sold, a decrease of 30.5% from 2023.

In the Tokyo metropolitan area as a whole—including the prefectures of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba—the average price for a new condominium dropped by 3.5% to 78.2 million yen. The major drop in sales in central Tokyo brought the overall average down, but prices rose across the board in western Tokyo (up 8.9% to 58.9 million yen), Kanagawa (up 6.0% to 64.3 million yen), Saitama (up 13.8% to 55.4 million yen), and Chiba (up 18.9% to 56.9 million yen).

The number of units sold throughout the Tokyo metropolitan area fell by 14.4% year on year to 23,003, reaching its lowest point since records began in 1973. The number of units priced at 100 million yen or higher dropped by 526 year on year, to 3,648.

Some 26,000 units are forecast to be sold in 2025, a rise of 13.0%, with high costs for construction and labor expected to keep prices elevated.

The value of Japan’s agricultural, fisheries and forestry product exports rose 3.7 percent in 2024 from a year earlier to 1.5 trillion yen ($9.6 billion), setting a new record, driven by growing demand for the country’s cuisine overseas, the government said Tuesday.


The 2024 figure marked a new record for the 12th consecutive year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and came as Japan aims to boost farm and seafood exports to 2 trillion yen by 2025, a goal established with the nation’s dwindling population in mind.


After the outcome was released, farm minister Taku Eto said at a press conference that the target is a ”high hurdle but by no means impossible to achieve, if we continue to develop production” in line with the needs of each country’s market.


In 2024, however, exports to China plunged 29.1 percent to 168.1 billion yen for a second straight year of decline, hit by its import ban on Japanese seafood in the wake of the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.


Fishery product shipments to China plummeted 89.9 percent to 6.1 billion yen as a ban on scallops and sea cucumbers, previously accounting for a large portion of seafood exports, weighed on trade. Japanese whisky sales also decreased in the aftermath of an economic downturn in the country.


Last year, the United States was Japan’s top export destination, followed by Hong Kong and Taiwan. Shipments to the world’s biggest economy jumped 17.8 percent from the previous year to 242.9 billion yen, making up nearly 20 percent of total exports.


While Japanese beef and sake gained popularity in the United States, scallop exports to the nation climbed on the back of a shift in seafood shipments from China.


Rice exports showed the sharpest pace of growth among all products, surging 27.8 percent to 12 billion yen, due in part to higher consumption at Japanese restaurants in the United States and Hong Kong.

The number of foreign visitors to Japan topped 36 million in 2024 in a new all-time high, boosted by a weak yen and the resumption of flight routes to Japan following the COVID-19 pandemic, while their spending surpassed 8 trillion yen ($50.8 billion) for the first time on record, government data showed Wednesday.


Foreign tourists spent a total of 8.14 trillion yen on accommodation, shopping and other expenses in 2024, surpassing the previous record of 5.31 trillion yen set in 2023, preliminary figures from the Japan Tourism Agency showed.


A record 36.87 million foreign tourists visited Japan in 2024 as peak travel periods, including the seasons for cherry blossoms and autumn foliage, contributed to annual visitor numbers from 20 markets setting new record highs, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.


Cumulative figures from January to November last year had already surpassed the previous full-year high of 31.88 million set in 2019, before the pandemic.


The largest number of travelers in 2024 came from South Korea at 8.82 million, followed by China at 6.98 million, up almost three-fold from 2023, and Taiwan at 6.04 million.


Chinese visitors spent the most amount of money at 1.73 trillion yen, comprising 21.3 percent of the overall total, followed by 1.09 trillion spent by Taiwanese and 963.2 billion by South Koreans.


The largest portion of total spending at 33.6 percent, or 2.74 trillion yen, went on accommodation, followed by shopping expenses at 29.5 percent and dining at 21.5 percent.

Visitors to Japan spent around 227,000 yen per person on average, with Britons spending the most at around 383,000 yen, closely followed by Australians at 382,000 yen and Spaniards at 370,000 yen.


In December alone, the number of visitors to Japan stood at 3.49 million, up 27.6 percent from a year earlier and hitting a record high for a single month. The surge was driven by travel demand during the school holidays, as well as the Christmas and New Year holiday seasons in many countries, the JNTO said.


Tourism spending is now second only to the 17.2 trillion yen generated by automobile exports in 2023, surpassing the 5.4 trillion yen from semiconductors and 4.5 trillion yen from steel, according to the Finance Ministry’s trade statistics.


The government aims to attract 60 million visitors a year and increase their annual spending to 15 trillion yen by 2030, but faces issues related to overtourism and labor shortages in the hospitality sector.


Efforts are also under way to attract more high-end travelers as well as encourage visitors to venture beyond major cities by improving access to regional airports.

The yen fell below the 154 line against the U.S. dollar on Monday in New York for the first time in nearly 34 years on receding expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates soon amid signs of persistent inflation.

The value of the Japanese currency depreciated against the dollar after Tokyo trading and hovered in the lower 154 range throughout the day in New York, levels last seen in June 1990, after hitting 154.45.

Investors have been selling the yen for the dollar amid the wide rate differential between Japan and the United States, as their central banks have been pursuing divergent ultraloose and tight monetary policies, respectively.

The yen was quoted at 154.22-32 per dollar at 5 p.m. Monday in New York, compared with 153.90-91 late Monday in Tokyo.

While caution over a potential yen-buying intervention by Japanese authorities has persisted, comments on Monday in Tokyo by Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki reiterating the possibility of such a move did little to stop the yen’s downward trend.

The yen has already weakened past levels where Japan previously intervened in October 2022 to arrest its rapid decline, when it inched near the 152 level.

The Bank of Japan recently hiked interest rates for the first time in 17 years, but it has signaled it will maintain an accommodative stance for the time being.

Meanwhile, the U.S. central bank has kept its benchmark interest rate at a 23-year high. A stronger-than-expected economic indicator for March, released earlier Monday, further diminished expectations the Fed will begin cutting rates as early as June.

The yen briefly hit a 34-year low near the 152 line against the U.S. dollar Wednesday in Tokyo on renewed expectations the Bank of Japan will maintain its accommodative stance even after raising interest rates for the first time in 17 years.

The yen fell to 151.97 per dollar, its lowest level since 1990 after Bank of Japan board member Naoki Tamura said short-term interest rates would remain near zero for the time being, despite the central bank ending negative interest rates last week.

”Mr. Tamura was considered one of the more hawkish members among BOJ policymakers, but his comments suggested that he is not as eager as expected to hike rates,” said Takuya Kanda, senior researcher at the Gaitame.com Research Institute.

However, the Japanese currency regained some ground later in the day after Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki vowed to take ”decisive steps” against excessive weakness in the yen, leaving investors wary of possible intervention by authorities.

The last time Japan stepped into the market was in October 2022, when it bought the yen against the dollar to defend its currency, which had fallen to 151.94.

”Given there is a precedent and the fall to 34-year lows, it was inevitable for the market to be cautious about a possible intervention,” said Kanda, noting that the minister appeared to have elevated his warning over the yen’s decline.

At 5 p.m., the dollar fetched 151.70-72 yen compared with 151.50-60 yen in New York and 151.32-34 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The euro was quoted at $1.0827-0828 and 164.25-29 yen against $1.0825-0835 and 164.10-20 yen in New York, and $1.0841-0843 and 164.05-09 yen in Tokyo late Tuesday afternoon.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond fell 0.020 percentage point from Tuesday’s close to 0.715 percent, as the debt was bought on expectations of prolonged monetary easing by the BOJ.

Stocks started higher and extended gains throughout the day as the yen’s depreciation boosted export-related issues, and investors scooped up shares to secure dividend rights before the end of the fiscal year, analysts said.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 364.70 points, or 0.90 percent, from Tuesday at 40,762.73. The broader Topix index finished 18.48 points, or 0.66 percent, higher at 2,799.28.

On the top-tier Prime Market, gainers were led by real estate, miscellaneous product and insurance shares.