Tokyo-Area Condo Starts up 16.4%07/21/2012  The number of new condominiums put up for sale in Tokyo and its three neighboring prefectures rose 16.4 percent in June from a year earlier to 4,007 units, a research agency said Wednesday. The average unit price fell 1.1 percent to ¥44.58 million in the greater Tokyo region, the Real Estate Economic Institute said.  Japan is poised to overtake Germany and Italy to become the world’s second-biggest market for solar power as incentives starting July 1 drive sales for equipment makers from Yingli Green Energy Holdings Co. to Kyocera Corp. Industry Minister Yukio Edano set today a premium price for solar electricity that’s about triple what industrial users now pay for conventional power.  Just when you thought there was no more commercial land left on which to build in Downtown Tokyo, here comes Japan Prime Realty Investment Corp. with an announcement of a planned 47 story, 2.13 million square-foot office complex on a little more than 2.5 acres.   As Japan continues to rebuild after last year's devastating earthquake and tsunami, one company has developed an ingenious new method to protect homes from the shaking—let them ride it out on a cushion of air. The technology is already being implemented all across Japan – at 88 sites, to be exact (based on company data as of 06/2011). Air Danshin Systems Inc. was originally established in 2005 to market and sell the technology, which was invented by a man named Youichi Sakamoto. Makers of Roof Tiles Ride Postquake Boom10/14/2011  Makers of Sanshu Kawara roof tiles in Aichi Prefecture have been boosting production since the March 11 disasters to meet huge demand spurred by the reconstruction drive. Sanshu Kawara is the brand of roof tiles made in the cities of Takahama, Hekinan and Handa. The tiles have been manufactured in this region, which has the right kind of clay, since the Edo Period.
 TIS&Partners has developed a construction material called CO2 Structure, which hardens quickly and delivers 2.5 times the tensile strength of concrete. "When CO2 is blown into silica, it instantly converts the silica into a material as hard as brick. And a brick can be formed in a little less than a minute. That's what's special about this material.  The Japanese have long endured crowded cities and scarce living space, with homes so humble a scornful European official once branded them rabbit hutches. But in recent years, Japanese architects have turned necessity into virtue, vying to design unorthodox and visually stunning houses on remarkably narrow pieces of land. In the process, they are also redefining the rules of home design.  The international war of height continues as Japan reworks a plan to reach a new world record. Plans for the Tokyo Sky Tree have been changed in the hopes of making it the world’s tallest tower when it is scheduled to be opened in early 2012. | 
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