Japan to Start Approval System for Security-Linked Land Deals

Tokyo, Oct. 23 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government Friday approved a bill to introduce a prior approval system for the purchases of land around facilities deemed important to national security, such as Self-Defense Forces bases.

Currently, those planning to buy such land are required to notify the government in advance. By starting the system, the government aims to prevent information on important facilities from being stolen and their functions from being disrupted, as new types of threats emerge, including drone attacks.

According to the bill to revise the law regulating land use around important facilities, the government would select some of the special monitored areas deemed critical to national security under the law and designate them as regulated areas where prior state approval is required for land transactions.

The designation would be given to special monitored areas within 1,000 meters of an SDF facility or a Japan Coast Guard facility considered vulnerable to drone attacks because they accommodate fighter aircraft or has a radar system, as well as to remote border islands.

The bill also envisions the establishment of a system allowing government personnel to conduct on-site inspections in regulated areas.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]