地上げ屋

Japanese

Kanji in this term
地	上	屋
じ Grade: 2	あ Grade: 1	や Grade: 3
on’yomi	kun’yomi

Etymology

地(じ)上(あ)げ (jiage, “buying land to resell”) + 屋(や) (-ya, “person who does”)

Noun

地(じ)上(あ)げ屋(や) • (jiageya) 

1. a real estate dealer who buys small parcels of land to consolidate and resell, especially an unscrupulous or coercive dealer; a landshark
   • 2007, Takashi Kadokura, Bakuhatsu suru chika bijinesu [Explosion of Underground Business], page 57:

     その際(さい)、金(きん)融(ゆう)機(き)関(かん)や企(き)業(ぎょう)が頼(たよ)りにしたのがいわゆる「地(じ)上(あ)げ屋(や)」である。「地(じ)上(あ)げ」とは一(いっ)般(ぱん)に不(ふ)動(どう)産(さん)業(ぎょう)者(しゃ)が土(と)地(ち)等(など)を購(こう)入(にゅう)することを指(さ)すが、バブル期(き)には、正(せい)当(とう)な権(けん)利(り)に基(もと)づいて建(たて)物(もの)や敷(しき)地(ち)を使(し)用(よう)している者(もの)に対(たい)して、その意(い)思(し)に反(はん)してこれらの明(あ)け渡(わた)しを要(よう)求(きゅう)する不(ふ)当(とう)な「地(じ)上(あ)げ」が横(おう)行(こう)した。

     Sono sai, kin'yū kikan ya kigyō ga tayori ni shita no ga iwayuru “jiageya” de aru.“Jiage” to wa ippan ni fudōsan gyōsha ga tochi nado o kōnyū suru koto o sasu ga, baburu-ki ni wa, seitō na kenri ni motozuite tatemono ya shikichi o shiyō shite iru mono ni tai shite, sono ishi ni han shite korera no akewatashi o yōkyū suru futō na “jiage” ga ōkō shita.

     When doing so, financial institutions and companies relied on so-called jiageya. Jiage [lit. land-raising] generally refers to the practice of real estate agents purchasing land and so on, but during the economic bubble, there was a proliferation of unscrupulous jiage in which agents demanded that people who were rightfully using buildings and land surrender such properties against their will.

References

• 地上げ, Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary 5th edition (2004), Tokyo: Kenkyūsha.