ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some of the characteristics of Japanese overseas real estate investment in North America during the peak investment years of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The North American apprehension that the Japanese investors would retreat as quickly as they came, and so exacerbate the sharp drop in property prices, appeared to be justified. As the Californian subsidiaries of Japanese banks operated fairly autonomously from head office control it was easier for property investors to raise funds from both Japanese and local North American sources. The fundamental differences in corporate modus operandi, as revealed in the survey, together with the lateness of Japanese 'internationalization' and inexperience of investors, often led Japanese firms and individuals to display seemingly 'irrational' behaviour in North American terms which fuelled 'investment friction'. The Japanese incorrectly believed that local conditions would apply in overseas markets and so habitually had the wrongheaded perception that North America was a real estate 'paradise'.
