According to The Australian Financial Review, Lendlease chief executive Tony Lombardo has held talks with top executives at some of Japan’s biggest developers and banks over the past week as part of the Australian company’s strategy to direct more Japanese capital back into Australia’s property market.
Speaking in Tokyo during his first visit to Japan since the start of the pandemic, Mr Lombardo said Lendlease was looking at new joint ventures with longstanding partner Mitsubishi Estate and was also talking to other major players in Japan’s property sector.
While Lendlease has had a presence in Japan for 30 years, it is one of a growing number of ASX-listed companies looking to tap into the resurgence of Japanese investment into Australia as the country reopens after the pandemic.

https://www.afr.com/world/asia/japan-eyeing-more-australian-property-deals-lendlease-20230317-p5ct5p
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, the share of loss-making home sales across Sydney and Melbourne surged during the December quarter to levels not seen in four years, as the rapid drop in prices took their toll, CoreLogic’s Pain and Gain report shows.
But the recent stabilisation in home values could help slow down the rate of unprofitable resales in the coming months, said Eliza Owen, CoreLogic head of research.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/more-vendors-sell-for-a-loss-as-prices-fall-20230321-p5cty5
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According to The Asahi Shimbun, drawing all eyes in a business district in downtown Yokohama, the Port Plus building is fashioned solely from tidy wooden columns and beams instead of the standard steel and concrete. 
The 44-meter, 11-story Port Plus, located near the Kanagawa prefectural government's office, is the highest fireproof architecture created entirely of timber in Japan. It was completed in March last year. 
In comparison, the famed five-level pagoda of Horyuji temple in Nara Prefecture, the nation’s oldest existing wooden structure, stands 32.5 meters tall.

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14856719
 

According to The Asahi Shimbun, one of the largest net zero energy buildings (ZEBs) in western Japan will be constructed here, which is being touted as a commercial complex that is environmental friendly.
Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co. in Fukuoka obtained the ZEB certificate for a zone in which buildings are expected to be replaced under the city’s Tenjin Big Bang redevelopment program.
“We will be helping make the town even more eco-friendly,” said a Nishi-Nippon Railroad representative.

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14853163
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Japanese giant Idemitsu is back for a second helping at Queensland vanadium explorer Vecco Group, which wants to supply to battery players and renewables projects.
Idemitsu has cornerstoned a $20 million odd raising from Vecco, kicking in $8.26 million followed by a $4.9 million initial investment in October. The investment makes Idemitsu a 14.7 per cent shareholder and gives it a board position.
It’s early days still for Vecco’s project Debella near Julia Creek in Queensland; the raising would fund feasibility studies, environmental approvals, metallurgical test work and mining lease application costs. The resource is for 45.1 tonnes at 0.47 per cent vandium oxide.
But it is targeting 2024 production for vanadium, rare earth elements, and alumina. It also wants to build a vanadium electrolyte production facility to supply domestic market for vanadium batteries.

https://www.afr.com/street-talk/idemitsu-tops-up-at-vanadium-hopeful-vecco-group-20230324-p5cv1j
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Goodman Group’s focus on developing key pieces of infrastructure in big cities around the world has helped the industrial property powerhouse secure the rights to develop a 70-hectare air cargo logistics hub at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, with an end value of more than $4 billion.
An agreement struck with the state-owned Narita International Airport Corporation and Chiba Prefecture, the local government authority, paves the way for Goodman to partner with the nearby town of Tako to develop a vast business estate to handle cargo operations into and out of the airport.

https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/goodman-s-big-cities-focus-lands-it-4b-tokyo-airport-project-20230316-p5csk3

According to The Australian Financial Review, Sydney’s home values rose nearly 1 per cent in the past four weeks, the strongest gain over a four-week period since January 2022, and accelerating from the earlier-than-expected streak that started at the beginning of the year, data from CoreLogic shows.
In the past 15 days alone, Sydney prices have increased by 0.5 per cent and look set to edge higher, at least in the near term, amid low stock and strong demand.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/sydney-home-values-lift-1pc-in-four-weeks-20230315-p5cs6v
 

According to The Asahi Shimbun, workers at several major companies will see their heftiest paychecks in decades after management accepted the wage hike demands of unions in the annual spring labor offensive.
Labor unions were seeking the highest pay hikes in recent years to help workers deal with the surge in consumer prices caused largely by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
Major electronics company NEC Corp. agreed on the full 7,000-yen (US$ 52) monthly pay-scale hike demanded by its union. The increase was 4,000 yen higher than last year’s pay-scale raise.

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14861905
 

According to The Asahi Shimbun, services of a next-generation communications platform called the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) were made commercially available for the first time by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT) on March 16, the telecommunications giant announced. 
The new infrastructure system is characterized by “low latency,” or significantly reduced communication time lags, which could be only one-200th of the corresponding delays in existing optical communication systems.
There are hopes the IOWN services, which will be basically provided to corporate clients, will prove useful in a number of situations, including self-driving.

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14855789

According to The Australian Financial Review, Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Future Industries is understood to have submitted a bid to develop a major green hydrogen project in South Australia as the state government takes decisive action to be a first mover in the rapidly emerging space.
The green fuels arm of Fortescue Metals Group is expected to be among several attracted by South Australia’s plan to earmark $593 million of public funding for a green hydrogen plant.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/ffi-bids-to-build-south-australia-hydrogen-plant-20230314-p5cru2