Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking, the trust subsidiary of Japan’s largest bank MUFG, has made headlines by acquiring a high-rise tower in Osaka City for over ¥100 billion ($681 million). The bank’s strategic aim: to create digital securities from the property and pave the way for both retail and institutional investors to access tokenized real estate, as reported by Nikkei.
On the institutional front, MUFG plans to offer this asset as a private real estate investment trust (REIT), specifically targeting leading Japanese life insurers.
While digital bonds are the dominant tokenization trend in Europe, Japan is fast carving a niche in tokenized real estate. The sector, however, remains in its infancy—the Osaka Digital Exchange’s START marketplace currently lists just six real estate tokens, reflecting modest monthly trades of about ¥23 million ($157,000).
Since 2021, Japan has seen 63 digital securities deals totaling ¥194 billion ($1.3 billion), with roughly one in five focused on bonds, and most of the rest centered on real estate assets.
A key player in this space is Mitsui Digital Asset Management—a firm actively driving direct-to-retail tokenized real estate via its Alterna platform. Alterna alone has been responsible for 14 of Mitsui’s 16 real estate token issuances, making it a market front-runner.
Until just last month, Mitsui leaned on MUFG Trust for the underlying trust structure needed for tokenization. Now, in pursuit of quicker issuance, Mitsui has established its own Alterna Trust. This puts it in direct competition with MUFG Trust, which until recently was its close partner.
Nevertheless, the two organizations remain linked through Progmat—the industry’s foundational digital securities platform. While MUFG spun out Progmat as a stand-alone company (and still holds a 42% stake), Mitsui has committed to using Progmat for most of its new security token offerings.
As Japan’s tokenized real estate market takes shape, MUFG and Mitsui are set to define the next chapter in democratized property investment—setting the stage for broader retail access and more dynamic digital asset innovation.
