A serviced apartment block tailored to Japanese living will open here by the end of the year, the project's developer said yesterday.

The project, jointly developed by the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone Development Co and a Japanese real estate firm that asked not to be named, aspires to become a multipurpose living environment in the Pudong area for Japanese expats, he said.

Yao Jianliang, who works for Lujiazui Finance, said: "All 500 of the apartments are designed in line with Japanese aesthetics.

"Tenants will be ale to enjoy such features as tatami (traditional Japanese flooring) and sliding doors."

Yao declined to give details of the cost of the project or the leasing terms.

Japanese expats have been by far the largest group of foreigners in the city since 1996, Sun Hande, director of the labor and employment center for foreigners at the municipal labor and social security bureau, said.

"Although their overall percentage against the city's foreign population saw a slight drop last year, due to the strong rise in the numbers of expats from other countries, such as the United States and South Korea, there is a steady inflow of Japanese every year."

According to the Japan External Trade Organization, there are currently more than 40,000 Japanese expats living in Shanghai.

The new apartments are located in the hi-tech Pudong zone, with one of the selling points being that they are located close to the local Japanese school, Yao said.

"The Shanghai Japanese School opened here last year after learning about the new apartment project," he said.

"We are also planning to build clinics and even hospitals in the future to serve the needs of residents."

However, not everyone thinks the scheme is a good idea.

A 45-year-old worker at a Japanese trading company, who asked not to be named, said a Japanese-style apartment block has little appeal for him as he travels a lot between China and Japan.

"I spend nearly 50 percent of my time in Japan, so I don't think it's necessary to have this kind of apartment," he said.

(China Daily January 11, 2008)