Morihiro Oguma's phone rang every day with calls from brokers representing foreign investors who wanted to buy his Japan Mineral water-bottling business. "In many cases I was told I could name my price," Oguma says, adding that he has no interest in selling the Hokkaido-based company. "It seems what they really wanted was our rights to groundwater." A two-decade slump in Japan's real estate prices and the country's lax rules on selling foreigners forestland with water rights attached are attracting overseas investors, with the Chinese leading the pack.
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