February 26 was a big day at the newly named DAIKIN PARK! This will be home to the Houston Astros for the next 15 years. Daikin took over the baseball stadium’s naming rights from Minute Maid and now if you look up, you’ll see the DAIKIN name and logo on every wall. At Wednesday’s unveiling event, Astros owner Jim Crane, GHP CEO Steve Kean, Japan’s Consul General Zentaro Naganuma, and Daikin’s entire Executive Team took center state for a beautiful ceremony that included a “Kagami Biraki”. Susan was super excited to be invited to this special occasion, which was also attended by many members of the Japanese government, the Japanese American community, representatives from many Japanese companies, the Sports Authority, City of Houston, and many others there to congratulate Daikin on this momentous event. Daikin Park will be the FIRST major league baseball stadium in the United States with a Japanese name. Omedetou Gozaimasu!
The Emperor of Japan, Naruhito, marked his 65th birthday in Tokyo yesterday, addressing a large crowd from the balcony of the Imperial Palace. He stressed the importance of telling the tragedy of World War II to younger generations before the stories fade away from memory. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the war’s end, and many of the people involved directly in the war have grown older or have passed away, making it difficult for the younger generation to hear their firsthand stories. Naruhito was accompanied by his wife, Empress Masako, their daughter Princess Aiko and some of his younger brother’s family.
Around the world, Japanese Consulates and Embassies also celebrated the Emperor’s birthday. Here in Houston, Consul General Zentaro Naganuma held a beautiful reception at his official residence in River Oaks, inviting friends and members of the Japanese community, including Annoura Realty Group’s Susan and Mariko! It ws so nice to see the staff of the Consulate (our friends and clients) as well as colleagues and USJC friends like Donna Cole, Kathy and Robert Gondo, Akemi Saitoh, and Steve Sakanishi. Good times!
今週のトップニュースは、新たな商業物件のリスティングです！ ヒューストンの弁護士からの紹介により、Hardy Toll RdとTidwellの北東コーナー付近にある物件を市場に出すことになりました。物件には、大型の比較的新しい倉庫（複数のオーバーヘッドクレーン付き）、古い倉庫（こちらもオーバーヘッドクレーン付き）、そして複数のオフィスや会議室を備えたオフィスビルが含まれています。この$5.1Mのリスティングを成功させるため、今後数週間にわたりマーケティングに力を入れていきます！また、商業不動産関連では、先週マリコが辻産業との打ち合わせを行い、スーザンは大和ハウスとミーティングを実施しました。さらに、日本に本社を構える大手不動産会社から、ヒューストンでの短期住宅プロジェクトなどについての相談もありました。今後の展開が楽しみです！一方、住宅市場では、駐在員の入れ替わりが活発になるピークシーズンを迎えています。帰国する方、新しくヒューストンに来る方が増える中、当社のボードにはJAPEX、JOGMEC、RENOVAといった新しい企業が加わり、引き続きDAIKIN、MOFA、Baylor College of Medicineの皆様のサポートも続けています。売却に関しては、日本の投資家の一人が5軒目の賃貸住宅を売却完了！ 残る1軒も、3月に現在のテナントの契約が終了次第、案浦不動産が市場に出せるよう準備を進めます。また、3月4日には2件のクロージングを控えており、さらにClear Lakeに新しい売却物件も近日公開予定です。こちらは、日本人投資家が所有する3ベッドルームのフルリノベーション済み住宅となります。さらに、Bay Knollでの賃貸リスティングとRoyal Oaksの美しく改装された住宅も間もなく市場に登場予定です。案浦不動産にとって、今は非常に活気ある時期となっており、皆様からの信頼とご支援に心より感謝申し上げます！
Top news for Annoura Realty Group is a new commercial listing! Thanks to a referral from a Houston lawyer, we are bringing to market a property near the northeast corner of the Hardy Toll Rd and Tidwell. In total the property has one large newer warehouse with multiple overhead cranes, an older warehouse (also with overhead cranes), and an office building with several office and conference rooms. We will be dedicating some extra time, effort, and resources into marketing this $5.1M listing in the coming days and weeks. While on the topic of commercial real estate, Mariko took a meeting with Tsuji Sangyou while Susan took a meeting with Daiwa House last week. We were also approached by another large Japanese real estate company based in Japan for some possible projects with short term housing in Houston. Exciting! On the residential side of things, we are leading into the peak transition time for expats, where many go home and many newcomers arrive. Our board is filling up with new companies such as JAPEX, JOGMEC, and RENOVA as well as our favorites from DAIKIN, MOFA, and Baylor College of Medicine. On the sale front, one of our all star investors in Japan sold his fifth rental home last week. He’s down to one more, that Annoura Realty will help get ready for the market as soon as the tenant’s lease ends in March. We have two closings coming up on March 4 and a new listing coming soon in Clear Lake for sale. It is a 3 bedroom home, fully remodeled home that one of our Japanese investors is selling. Speaking of upcoming listings, we have a lease listing coming up in Bay Knoll and a beautifully remodeled home in Royal Oaks coming soon. It is exciting times for Annoura Realty and we are so thankful for your trust and confidence in us!
2025年2月24日現在、攻はまだ日本に滞在しています。本来であればバレンタインデーに帰国する予定でしたが、福岡の新居の作業が完了せず、元の航空券をキャンセルし、新たに3月4日の帰国便を予約することになりました。ところで、新しい航空会社 Zip Air がヒューストンに就航するのをご存じでしょうか？ 3月4日から運航開始となり、攻はその便で成田から帰国予定です。驚くことに、片道わずか330ドル！ ただし、荷物や機内食、さらには飲み水まで追加料金が発生するとのことですが、それでも非常にお得な価格設定です。このおかげで彼は日本での滞在を延長し、必要な作業を完了させることができました。そしてついに、新居の最終支払いを済ませ、正式に家が私たちのものとなりました！ 攻のご両親も無事に新居へ引っ越し、これからの新生活がスタートします。残る作業は、現在の賃貸物件の片付けと修理を行い、2月末までに大家さんへ返却することです。また、住所がわずかに変更となったため、両親の各種書類、保険、銀行口座などの住所変更手続きを進める必要があります。一方、攻の不在中、スーザンは多忙を極めています。不動産の案内、送迎、イベント、会議、そしてまた送迎… まさに分刻みのスケジュールをこなしています。また、嬉しいニュースもあります！ ザックがWestbrook Intermediateのゴルフチームに選ばれました！ ただし、応募者が5人しかおらず、実際には選考会がなかったという裏話も（笑）。丈は大学のフラタニティの仲間と共にニューオーリンズへ旅行し、初めてのカジノ体験、マルディグラ見物、そしてタートルスープに挑戦！一方、泰はレスリングのコーチとトラブルがあり、現在チームから外されている状況です。今後の展開が気になります…。さらに、先週CCISDでは4連休があり、スーザンとザックはヒューストン近郊での小旅行を満喫しました！ メニル・コレクションでアート鑑賞を楽しみ、ヒューストン水族館で観覧車に乗り、Vossのカラバズで美味しいディナーを堪能しました。その後、オムニホテルに宿泊し、翌日はウィリアムズタワーとウォータウォールを訪れ、ガレリアでアイススケートをしました。ランチはSeiwaで、デザートはChez Kobayashiで楽しみ、その後はチャイナタウンでフットマッサージ。最後はザックのリクエストでJollibeeのディナーを楽しみました。ザックももう12歳。成長の早さを実感する今日この頃です！ ❤️
It is February 24, 2025 and Koh is STILL in Japan. It feels like forever, but his work at the new house in Fukuoka could not be finished so we made the decision to toss his original plane ticket home (was supposed to be on Valentine’s Day!) and buy a new return ticket on March 4. On a side note, have you heard about the new airlines, Zip Air, coming to Houston!? It starts on March 4 and Koh will ride on it from Narita. Incredibly, a one way ticket is only $330, but there are some extra fees for luggage, food, even water…HA HA! Still, it’s a great deal and was worth it for Koh to be able to stay a few extra weeks. The last payment was made to the builder, the house is officially our’s, and Koh’s parents have permanently moved into it! Remaining to do is to clean out the rental house, repair all the damages, and return it to the landlord by the end of February. And, now that our address has slightly changed, Koh has to change the address for all of his parents paperwork, insurance, bank accounts, everything! Good luck, Koh! As you can imagine, with Koh gone, Susan is running around like crazy, running to showings, to carpool, to events, to carpool, to meetings, and back to carpool for Zach. And speaking of Zach, he made the Westbrook Intermdiate golf team, though I feel like I have to mention there were only 5 kids that wanted to do it so the tryouts never happened! Joe went to New Orleans with his fraternity brothers to experience gambling at a casino, watching his first Mardi Gras, and trying his first turtle soup! Meanwhile, Ty got himself in some hot water with his wrestling coach and has been sidelined from the wrestling team until further notice. Oh no…
On a fun note, CCISD had a 4 (yes, FOUR) day weekend last week so Susan and Zach went on a great Houston area vacay. They hit the Menil Collection, Houston Aquarium Ferris wheel, Carrabba’s on Voss, overnighted at the Omni, then visited the William’s Tower/Water Wall, Ice skated at the Galleria, lunched at Seiwa, desserted at Chez Kobayashi, went for foot massages in Chinatown, and finally, went to Jollybee for dinner (Zach’s request). He’s 12 and he’s growing up fast! ❤️
It came as a text message and the title was “The Toll Roads Notice of Toll Evasion”. The message said I had an unpaid toll bill on my account and to avoid late fees, to pay within 12 hours or the late fees would be increased and reported to the DMV. That’s scary and sounds legit, especially since I was riding on the Hardy Toll Road at that time.
There is a new scam right now that almost tricked me!
The text also says to copy the link to your Safari browser and open it and to reply Y to the message. DON’T DO THAT!!!! It is a SCAM! Once you open the link from ezdrive, that bad site will probably take your credit card information and your personal information.
Please be careful of this link. There are many warnings about it in the news these days!
