Japan Is Being Dug

This blog is written by a small builder based in northern Japan.
What you’re about to read is the English translation of my original Japanese article.

Finished drawing up the permit plans, and now I’m back to being a joiner again. (laughs)
Bit by bit, day after day… though honestly, I’m getting tired of construction work.
I was thinking, “Isn’t there any exciting story out there?”

Turns out, there is — and it’s a real one.

Believe it or not, foreign investors are seriously trying to dig for gold in Hokkaido.
Read the full Japanese article here.
This piece comes from a secondary source, but it’s based on the original English release from the mining company — so credibility is pretty high.

I came across this story on Yahoo News — they found gold again in Kōnomai, near Monbetsu in Hokkaido.
And not just traces — 24 grams per ton. Even the old Sumitomo Mine would raise an eyebrow at that figure.

So, who’s digging this time?
A Canadian company called Japan Gold.
Sounds Japanese, doesn’t it? But in reality, it’s a Canadian firm that set up a Japanese subsidiary to do the digging.

Back in the day, Japan mined with Japanese hands.
The gold and the taxes stayed here.
Now, foreigners dig — and Vancouver gets rich.
What’s left behind might just be holes in the ground and industrial waste.

Under the new Takaichi administration, Japan is moving to tighten rules on foreign land ownership.
But foreign investors are quick — they probably thought,
“Let’s dig and secure the data before new regulations hit.”
If it were Shinjiro, he’d still be sipping coffee and talking about sustainability by now. (lol)

Here’s the loophole: Japan’s mining law allows any “Japanese corporation” to hold mining rights.
So, if a Canadian company opens a branch here, it legally becomes a “Japanese” entity. Simple as that.

It’s the same trick we saw with water rights in Miyagi or real estate in Niseko — only now it’s about gold, and the stakes are much higher.

Right now, Japan’s water, gold, and even deer are being toyed with by foreigners.

Sure, hearing about gold in Kōnomai sounds exciting.
But if you think deeper, what’s really being unearthed might not be gold — it’s national wealth.

I know, I know — don’t ruin the dream, right?
But maybe it’s worth riding this wave.
In Takinoue, residential land of 100 tsubo (around 330 m²) still sells for about ¥500,000.
If this gold story turns real, that price could easily jump tenfold within a few years.

Don’t believe it?
Back in the early 2000s, land in Niseko sold for ¥10,000 per tsubo.
Today, some plots go for ¥3,000,000.
That’s not a myth — it’s a market fact.

Fake or fact — you decide.
Those who laugh at dreams are always the ones who never dig.

Just saying. (笑)