MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th June, 2021) Japan's parliament approved a bill on Wednesday that will toughen the rules for the sale and use of land plots around strategically important facilities in terms of national security, such as military bases and nuclear plants, Japanese media reported.
As reported by the Kyodo news agency, the bill was approved by a majority vote but opposed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, whose deputy Hideya Sugio called the legislation "defective."
"It is necessary to take all possible measures to prevent security risks in the future," the minister in charge of territorial issues, Hachiro Okonogi, was quoted as saying.
The bill was initiated after Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party and a government panel asked for stronger restrictions with regard to foreign institutions owning land near major airports and bases of Japan Self-Defense Forces.
It proposes establishing a so-called observation zone of 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) around strategically important Japanese infrastructure. Furthermore, such land will reportedly be considered under government watch, and the government will be able to collect all information regarding current or past owners and ban land transactions.
Those wishing to purchase the land will have to provide Japan's government with their personal details, such as nationality, reasons as to why they would like to purchase the land, and what they would use it for, according to the report.
