Every year, HAR awards the Top 20 realtors who are under the age of 40. The criteria includes excellence in the areas of sales, leadership, and community involvement. These young people are considered Rising Stars in Real Estate. Among the 20 winners this year was our very own Mariko Fujita of Annoura Realty Group! The award ceremony celebration took place on October 4 and all of our peers and partners were there to celebrate! We are incredibly proud of you, Mariko!
This year’s Japan Festival just finished and it was super special! Few people know that it was Glen Gondo who first came up with the idea of a Japanese Festival and he is the one who approached the City of Houston to ask for their support and was granted use of Hermann Park to hold it. It is thanks to Glen that the Japan Festival was born and that now today thousands of Houstonians can enjoy the rich cultural heritage of Japan that is preserved by the Japanese and Japan-American communities. This was the first time to have the Japan Festival without its founder and we are grateful for his efforts of getting the City of Houston on board (thank you Mayor Bob Lanier) and for getting the Japanese community involved.
The U.S.-Japan Council (USJC) Board of Directors selected Audrey Yamamoto to be the Council’s next president and chief executive officer. Before coming into this position, Audrey was the COO of The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Audrey will lead USJC’s staff in the U.S. and Japan, and will work closely with the Council’s boards in both countries in carrying out the Council’s mission of developing and connecting diverse leaders to strengthen the bilateral relationship.
The USJC Houston chapter was excited to meet Audrey on April 20, when she stopped by Houston and had dinner with us! We look forward to her leadership and seeing her again later this year in Tokyo, when the 2024 USJC Conference moves to Japan at the end of October.
At time of writing, we have 14 deals under contract and things are are just starting to get even busier!! March/April is always the busiest time of the year as the Japanese fiscal year changes over April 1 and new expats start pouring into Houston. Mariko has done a fantastic job of handling many newcomers including our new researcher at MD Anderson, Dr. Miyagawa who was referred by Dr. Manabe. Daido Steel is another new company Annoura Realty was blessed to be hired by and HITACHI is yet another new company that tapped us for help. We are expecting a newcomer from Nisseki Chemical as well as two from Mitsubishi, two from Mitsui, one from Kuraray, and one from Nippon Pillar (this will be a new company for us to take care of and we are excited!). Daikin, Mitsui Plastics, and Kaneka all had new expats come through our doors and all three of them are now under contract and expected to move in in the coming weeks. On the sale side, our Japanese investor iowners for Misty Meadows and Baltic both found buyers recently. We are navigating the contracts and repairs for both of those now. Shinobu san moved to Dallas and her Richmond home’s closing is delayed due to the buyer’s IRS transcripts having a small issue. Hopefully that will be cleared up in the next few weeks. Van and Chase are scheduled to close on their Conroe home on Tuesday of next week, and our Panasonic Family is still on track for an April closing in West Katy. One more bit of exciting news is Maika san and her husband coming to Houston for a quick home hunting tour. Mariko toured them one full day and they found the house of their dreams. We were able to get that under contract by the time they boarded their flight back to Japan!
We thank you all for your continued support of Annoura Realty Group. Your referrals mean the world to us as we strive to always be the #1 real estate company serving the Japanese expat relocation market here in Houston.
Feb 23 was the birthday of the Emperor of Japan, His Majesty Naruhito. Did you know that in Japan, the birthday of the Emperor is a public holiday? There is always a big ceremony open to the public at the Emperial Palace in Tokyo. Here in Houston, the Government of Japan had their own celebration, which took place at the Consul General of Japan’s private residence in River Oaks. It was so nice to see Mr. and Mrs. Murabayashi along with many of our Government of Japan clients who we helped find housing for in the past year. Wives were dressed in formal kimonos and the Japanese national anthem was played as the Consul General raised the Japanese flag. There was a delicious spread of Japanese food and desserts and it was fun to see many friends and colleagues in attendance. On a side note, Consul General Murabayashi announced his retirement from public service, adding that he would be leaving his Houston post in March. We are so sad to see him go and really appreciate the chance he gave Annoura Realty Group to sell the Japanese Government’s former official residence. He mentioned it was one of his biggest accomplishments while serving in Houston and that really made me feel happy. Good luck, Mr. Murabayashi and Aurora san on the next chapter of your lives!
