＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
1. Chinese Shopping for Land in Hokkaido
It seems that Chinese people continue to buy land in Hokkaido. Most of the purchases seem to be for “resale,” but there is a possibility that they are for “securing water resources” or for “military use.” Therefore, some kind of legal restrictions or measures, such as “laws and regulations concerning the sale of land to foreigners,” may be necessary as soon as possible. Currently, the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and other countries either prohibit or strictly regulate land ownership by foreigners.
One of the reasons why wealthy Chinese want Japanese land is for “asset preservation. This is because “land cannot be owned” in China.
Ski resorts around Niseko used to be developed mainly by Australian capital, but in recent years, Chinese and Malaysian capital have been developing large-scale resorts.
According to TV Asahi’s news commentary program “Justice no Mikata,” the following Chinese land purchases are taking place in Hokkaido.
(1) National Tangible Cultural Property
Yubari Rokumeikan, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Yubari City, was also purchased by a Chinese company. It is a historic facility where the Showa Emperor and the Emperor of Japan once stayed, and was used for the filming of NHK’s serial drama “Suzuran,” but now it remains abandoned and cannot be entered.
It was probably an unavoidable decision as a result of Yubari City’s financial collapse and becoming a “financial reconstruction organization,” but I am tempted to say, “Why even mess with a nationally registered tangible cultural property?”
(2) Golf Course
A golf course purchased by Chinese capital near Lake Toya, where the “G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit” was held in 2008, has a water source in the whole area; in 2017, Yubari City sold four facilities including a ski resort and a hotel to a Chinese company for about 200 million yen. The Chinese company did not use it as a golf course and left it abandoned, but resold it to a Hong Kong company for 1.5 billion yen in 2019.
(3) Residences in a villa area
The land right next to the Self-Defense Forces base in Chitose City is a villa land exclusively for Chinese people.
If the land was purchased by wealthy Chinese as a vacation home, there seems to be no particular problem, but various forms of “parabolic antennas” that do not seem to be necessary for ordinary housing have been installed there, and people are said to visit the site in large numbers by bus.
Furthermore, the land next to the New Chitose Airport next to the Self-Defense Forces base is also being offered for sale on “Alibaba” (a Chinese shopping site) for 4.9 billion yen.
2. the danger of Chinese buying up land in Hokkaido and the shadow of the Chinese government
Taiwanese critic Wen-Hsiung Huang warns the Japanese government, based on the reality of Chinese land purchases in Hokkaido, that “the visa deregulation should be reviewed in light of the danger that local governments will be controlled by the Chinese and that the ‘National Defense Mobilization Law’ will be issued in case of emergency (Chinese neighbors could suddenly become volunteer soldiers in China). The report also warns that “the visa deregulation should be reconsidered.
According to the “Results of Survey on Forest Acquisitions by Foreign Capital” released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on April 28, 2017, the acquired forest area in 2016 was 202 hectares, a threefold increase compared to 67 hectares in the previous year.
Moreover, most of these “forests” are in “Hokkaido,” and the area acquired by “Chinese (including Hong Kong and Taiwanese) acquirers” accounted for 81% of the total.
According to Mr. Masashi Miyamoto of Sankei Shimbun, 2,411 hectares of land in Hokkaido (equivalent to 400 Tokyo Domes) have already been acquired by the Chinese. Furthermore, this data is limited to “water source land,” and if other land is included, the amount is more than 10 times that amount.
According to Mr. Miyamoto, Chinese language and cultural studies are being conducted in the vicinity of the land acquired by the Chinese, and there are concerns that the Chinese will “take over” Hokkaido and turn it into a “hub.
Chinese nationals are said to enter Okinawa by taking advantage of the 2011 deregulation that “if you visit Okinawa, your tourist visa will be extended for 90 days,” and then travel to Hokkaido to establish a corporation in 90 days, find land to purchase, and purchase it in the name of the corporation.
Then, if the corporation is capitalized at 5 million yen or more and has two or more permanent employees, the Chinese business owner can obtain a “Management and Administration Visa” for mid- to long-term residency, and after 10 years of stay, a “Permanent Resident Visa”.
There have also been acquisitions by Chinese companies and Chinese sovereign wealth funds. Hoshino Resort Tomamu” was acquired by ‘Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart’ (which continues to be managed by Hoshino Resort). Sahoro Resort also became a subsidiary of Chinese capital.
In Japan, local governments have become increasingly concerned about the acquisition of water source land by Chinese capital, and have enacted “water resource conservation ordinances” to restrict land transactions involving water resources throughout Japan. In Hokkaido, this ordinance was enacted in 2012, and since then, Chinese state-run companies and others have been accelerating their efforts to acquire Hokkaido’s tourism industry.
3. Korean Capital Purchases Land Adjacent to GSDF Tsushima Camp
Currently, a hotel by Korean capital is being built next to the GSDF’s Tsushima Garrison.
Recently, the number of tourists from South Korea may have decreased due to the cooling of relations between Japan and South Korea, but before relations between Japan and South Korea deteriorated to such a degree, the area was very crowded with tourists from South Korea.
Tsushima was a military port of the Allied Fleet that defeated the Russian Baltic Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War. Behind the hotel is a harbor, but it is not visible from the JGSDF base.
It is now a hotel, but I shudder to think that it could be converted to military use by the South Korean military or illegally occupied in the future when the Korean Peninsula is reunified and the North Korean military enters.
4. the need to strengthen island defense
The Preamble of the Constitution of Japan contains the following sentence. This is an “idealistic statement based on the theory of sexual goodness,” but the current international situation is such that we cannot afford to be so carefree when we look at the movements of China, South Korea, North Korea, Russia, the United States, and other countries.
The people of Japan, deeply conscious of the high ideals governing the relations between mankind, and desirous of lasting peace, have resolved to preserve our security and existence, trusting in the justice and faith of the peace-loving peoples of the world.
(omitted)
We believe that no nation should be so devoted to its own affairs as to neglect those of others, that the laws of politics and morality are universal, and that it is the duty of each nation to obey these laws in order to maintain its own sovereignty and to stand on equal terms with other nations.
Recently, Chinese armed naval vessels have been making extremely frequent incursions into Japanese territorial waters and adjacent waters of the Senkaku Islands.
The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), a major research institute in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, has warned about this situation, saying, “If this situation continues, Japan will lose control of the Senkaku Islands. The U.S. side is becoming increasingly alarmed, believing that China is planning to seize the Senkakus and further attempting to gain control of the entire East China Sea.
There is no indication that the Japanese government has made a “stern protest” against these recent moves by China, and it seems that not only the Japan Coast Guard but also the Maritime Self-Defense Force has not yet been mobilized and placed on alert.
Although the Japanese government has issued a “statement of protest” against the unrestrained behavior of Russia, which is illegally occupying the four Northern Territories, including the construction of military bases and fish processing plants, and the landing of the prime minister and the appearance of the president in a video message, it does not appear that Prime Minister Abe is seriously making a serious protest. In fact, it appears that he is even refraining from making a statement.
There is no evidence of any serious protest against the repeated missile launches by North Korea, with only comments such as “It does not affect our national security,” perhaps out of concern for President Trump who is planning further talks between the U.S. and North Korea.
No concrete measures have been taken by the Japanese government to address the illegal occupation of Takeshima by South Korea. Simply stating that “Takeshima is our inherent territory” will not solve the problem.
There is a saying in the legal world that “those who sleep on their rights do not deserve the protection of the law.
We would like to request the Japanese government to “implement and further strengthen effective island defense measures” as well as “legal regulations on the sale of land to foreigners.
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