Rice paddies that lay fallow for decades in some of Japan’s most far-flung regions are now its hottest properties. As prices surge, these areas are discovering the truth to the old adage: If you build it, they will come1. In Chitose, a city of 100,000 in the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, billboards seek recruits for the Self-Defense Forces, which saw a 50% shortfall last year. When I arrived on a fully booked plane from Tokyo packed with salarymen in cheap suits and expensive watches, it...