TOKYO - The average price of land in Japan rose 2.9 percent in 2026, climbing for the fifth consecutive year due to redevelopment projects in urban areas and booming tourism, government data showed Wednesday.
As of Jan. 1, the nationwide average price logged the fastest pace of increase since the calculation method was changed in 2010, according to the data released by the National Tax Agency.
A total of 36 prefectures recorded climbs, with Tokyo logging the sharpest rise at 9.4 percent, followed by Okinawa at 6.6 percent and Osaka at 5.1 percent, the data showed.
Just eight of the country's 47 prefectures saw a drop including Wakayama with a 0.5 percent fall and Niigata and Tokushima with a 0.4 percent slip. The price is used to calculate inheritance and gift taxes.
Among prefectural capitals, a street in the city of Saga registered the sharpest climb, with the price surging by 17.0 percent, followed by 13.0 percent in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, and 12.6 percent in Nara.
By tax office jurisdiction, the price of land in the mountain village of Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture recorded the highest increase at 32.7 percent, followed by the prefecture's village of Nozawa at 31.3 percent and the city of Furano near the Hokkaido ski area at 28.0 percent.
In central Tokyo, the price of land in the popular tourist district of Asakusa jumped 27.5 percent.
Meanwhile, a shopping street in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, which was hit by a major earthquake on Jan. 1, 2024, saw the steepest drop at 8.6 percent.
The land in front of Kyukyodo stationery store in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district was the most expensive spot in the country for the 41st consecutive year at 53.36 million yen ($328,000) per square meter, up 11.0 percent from the year before.
Zones designated as "difficult-to-return" in Fukushima Prefecture in the wake of the March 2011 nuclear disaster at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were not priced, as in previous years, because it is hard to calculate the value.
