International Real Estate: Real Estate in Japan

Ayumi Nakanishi for The New York Times

This crescent-shaped house built into a mountainside near Tokyo is on the market for $ 2.1 million (180,000,000 Japanese yen). The room in the foreground is the master bedroom. More Photos »

MINIMALIST HOUSE WITH MOUNT FUJI VIEWS OUTSIDE TOKYO

$ 2.2 MILLION (18 MILLION YEN)

This sleek crescent-shaped two-bedroom house on steel poles, dating to 2008, is built into the side of a slope in the Atami mountain range. Its flattened tubular contours and galvanized metal exterior give it a more-than-passing resemblance to a spaceship. It is built on a single level, principally of light Japanese cypress, and is entered from a central point below, via a glass-enclosed staircase. The ceiling is nearly 10 feet high in the middle, tapering down to eight feet at either end. Nearly every room abuts the elongated C-shaped rear wall; the glass wall across the front offers panoramic views of Mount Fuji. The architect, Shigeru Ban, is internationally known for his minimalist structures, and for his creatively designed temporary shelters built to house victims of war and natural disaster.

Designed with under-floor heating and central air-conditioning, the structure extends over almost 2,000 square feet. The entry staircase opens to a reception area in the spacious central living and dining room, whose floor-to-ceiling glass front wall looks out over treetops to mountains beyond. Its defining feature is a freestanding metal fireplace, which the architect designed to conceal a supporting beam. Sliding panels in the glass wall connect the living area to a terrace made of Japanese cypress and extending the width of the house.

The living and dining area adjoins the kitchen, which has a Gaggenau stovetop, a Miele oven and a peninsula topped in white Corian. The white-stained wood cabinets by the high-end Japanese company Kreis & Co. were custom-made to fit into the curved rear wall. Beyond the kitchen is a bedroom, currently functioning as a den and home office, with a 50-inch flat-screen television, which is being sold with the house. On the terrace just off the den, framed in a cypress box, is the onsen — or hot tub — designed by the Japanese company Hinokisouken to function on water from a natural hot spring.

On the opposite side of the living area, at the far end of the home, is the master bedroom, isolated from the communal space by a large rectangular wooden unit about the size of a travel trailer, its convex back fitting snugly into the concave rear wall. This freestanding structure, made of white-stained wood, houses the bath facilities: a tile-lined shower with a rain showerhead by the German company Hansgrohe, and a separate half bath with leatherlike black walls, a granite floor and an automatic flush toilet by the Japanese company INAX. The architect has hidden closets behind an exterior wall of the bath unit. Like its twin room on the other end, the space has two glass walls.

The terraced yard is landscaped with Japanese sago palms and jasmine, among other plantings. The property is part of a 570-acre private development called Dialand Resort Estate, comprising about 600 homes and a swimming pool, a clubhouse, tennis courts, golf courses and parks, all patrolled by security.

“All the houses are different,” said Norman Chong, the current owner, “that’s the beauty of it.”

The development lies between the towns of Hakone and Atami, which are known for their hot springs. Mr. Chong estimates that 60 percent of the homeowners are either weekend residents or retirees. Of the remainder, who are working residents, half commute to Tokyo. The express train to Tokyo takes about an hour — as does the drive, when traffic is light.

MARKET OVERVIEW

Japan is a buyers’ market, said Erik Oskamp, the owner of Akasaka Real Estate in Tokyo. “Owning property in Tokyo is probably half or a third of the monthly price than if you rent,” he said, “and still people are not buying; that’s how depressed the market is. You always have to explain to people, ‘We’re still here, Japan still exists.’ “

The housing stagnation dates to 1991, the year that diminished expectations about Japan’s economy sent property values into a nosedive.

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