Source: Wall Street Journal
Author: miho inada
According to the real estate agent and people from the Chinese community here, more and more rich Chinese are coming to Japan.This highlights the tension of society and political atmosphere in China.
Hideyuki Ishi, a real estate agent in Hokkaido, northern Japan, said that he recently received a lot of Chinese citizens inquiries that they wanted to buy real estate as a foothold to move to Japan.
A client is AMANDA Wu, 62.She said that she had served as an executive of a state -owned enterprise, and she became rich through international real estate investment.She said that China's epidemic prevention restrictions and universal concerns about freedom of freedom prompted her to set her eyes to Japan.
Wu said that the previous seal control was severe.Now that the relevant restrictions have been lifted, she said that she will take this opportunity to return to Beijing more frequently, but she still plans to stay in Japan.She said that some of her friends were more interested in moving to Japan than ever before.
WU said she can say certain that as long as China cancels the current border control, there will be a large number of people going to Japan, whether it is a short -term stay or long -term immigration.She agreed to disclose her surname and her English name she used abroad.
After she made the above statement, China announced on Monday that it would cancel the isolation requirements for immigrants.
Since November, WU has been living in a four -bedroom house in Otaru. At the same time, she has closely paid attention to more than a dozen real estate purchased at the area at a price of about 300,000 US dollars.Otaru is a port city covered by white snow in winter.
WU went to Japan as a tourist, but this time she entered the country with a business management visa.
In the first 10 months of this year, 2133 Chinese people entered Japan with such visas, exceeding the annual record of the 1,417 people set in 2019. Shortly after that, the crown disease epidemic caused most of the between China and Japan.Travel interruption.The validity period for operating a management visa in Japan is generally at least one year and can be renewed.
Although the Japanese sometimes resist the community where foreigners move into their lives, Japan has many attractive advantages, including low criminal rates, usually clean air and cost -effective real estate.Weakened.
Wangqing, a Chinese female businessman who has lived in Japan for nearly 30 years, said that she talked to Chinese friends who wanted to move to Japan. She believed that the epidemic restriction measures and the government's severe policies made some people determine to do what they was originally unwilling to do.thing.
She gave an example that a public official broke into the luxury apartment of a friend and sprayed a disinfectant to the friends of her friends, damaging a expensive bag.
Wang said that no matter how rich they are, their human rights are not protected.
Wang said that even if the crown disease restrictions were canceled, she believed that many factors that prompted the Chinese people to consider moving to Japan have not changed.She said that the relaxation of travel in the post -epidemic era will make it easier for people to achieve immigration plans.
Japan is not the only destination for Chinese immigrants.In 2019, the 2019 United Nations data made from the headquarters in Beijing's global think tank shows that the number of Chinese immigrants in the United States is about 2.9 million; followed by Japan, 780,000; then Canada and Australia.These data are the latest data that can be obtained, showing the number of Chinese citizens, excluding the Chinese of these countries.
Today, the United States tighten immigration control and has prompted more people to consider going to Japan.If a foreigner invested in a Japanese company equivalent to $ 40,000 or more, such as purchasing real estate and establishing a property management company, it may be eligible to obtain a business visa.
In contrast, the minimum investment of a similar visa in the United States is 800,000 US dollars.Singapore is another destination that is popular with Chinese people. Similar minimum investment requirements are equivalent to about 1.85 million US dollars.
Chinese culture brought by immigrants from mainland China and the Korean Peninsula constitutes most of the foundation of Japanese civilization, such as text systems, rice cultivation and Buddhism.In another period of Chinese political and social instability in the early 20th century, many educated Chinese lived in Japan, including revolutionary leader Sun Yat -sen.
A few years before the outbreak of the crown disease, millions of Chinese people traveled to Japan.Some people bought houses in Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto as temporary residences, or invested in commercial real estate.
Some visa service providers in Japan said that this year, after several months of spring in Shanghai, etc., the number of consultations from China increased.
A Chinese man who has a real estate company in Tokyo said people are disturbed and frustrated because life may be disrupted at any time and may be caught in the future, so some people want to simply go abroad.
He said that all the leasing office he had recently had been rented out, and Chinese customers contributed.Having a physical office is one of the conditions for obtaining a business visa.
In Otaru where the WU is located, the population is decreasing, and many houses are vacant.
She said that the money you bought a house in Otaru was not even enough to buy a bathroom in Beijing.
Real Estate Broker Ishii said his institution recently sold a house on the seaside to a Chinese buyer at a price of $ 287,000. This price was more than three times that of the local agent's offer.
Not everyone in the local area is happy about this influx.
The 90 -year -old Shigemi Suzuki runs a clothing store with her husband and son. She said that she recently sold a holiday house in Hokkaido to a Japanese buyer, although the Chinese buyer is more bid.She said she was uncomfortable to buy real estate in so many Chinese.
IsHii said he believed that the new immigrants would contribute to the local economy.WU said she was considering entrepreneurship to export Japanese products to China.
She said that China has a huge demand for Japanese products; everyone feels suffocating during the epidemic.
