But watch the dynamics in New Zealand: retirees sell up in expensive places and retire to cheap places. That is the driver for house prices in lots of places outside of Auckland? The same thing must happen with retirees moving away from Tokyo?
It’s common for urban Japanese to have a big old family home waiting for them in the countryside when they retire.
Japanese invest in other things not in their housing (as housing is cheap, they can). Also I believe retirees do not as a rule move away from Tokyo? Here in Germany it's neither expected nor common for people to leave the cities they live in when they retire.