Dubai: Kasumigaseki Capital, the listed Japanese real estate group, has established its regional headquarters in Dubai as part of its long-term international growth strategy. Mohammad Khalifa Majid Alabbar Alfalasi, Local Chairman of Kasumigaseki Capital MENA, explains why Dubai emerged as the natural base for the company's Middle East operations, discusses its investment philosophy, and shares how Japanese operational excellence can contribute to the UAE's evolving real estate sector.What strategic factors made Dubai the natural hub for Kasumigaseki Capital's Middle East operations?Mohammad Khalifa Majid Alabbar Alfalasi: Dubai was never really in question, and I say that as someone who has watched this city build itself. But let me answer from Kasumigaseki Capital’s perspective, because the process was quite deliberate.The group has a very specific way of assessing a market before committing capital for the long term. Instead of looking at cycles, it looks for structural demand, regulatory transparency and a clear line of sight over decades, and Dubai satisfies all three. It sits at the intersection of Asia, Europe and Africa, and the regulatory environment here is transparent and genuinely investor-friendly.The Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan, spearheaded by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, gave Tokyo the conviction that the demand underpinning real estate, hospitality and logistics is structural, not speculative. That is the kind of certainty a listed Japanese company needs before it moves.What made it a natural step rather than a leap is that the group had already been active in Dubai since 2022. By the time we formalised the regional headquarters in 2023, there was local knowledge, a team of 90 professionals working across real estate investment, asset management and hospitality operations, and a track record.My role, and the reason I took it on, is to ensure that Japanese discipline translates properly into this market; that we build here with the same rigour applied in Tokyo, but with an understanding of Dubai that only comes from being of this place.Why was this the right moment for Kasumigaseki Capital to formalise its regional presence in the UAE?Mohammad Khalifa Majid Alabbar Alfalasi: Kasumigaseki Capital does not rush market entries, and it did not rush this one. The group spent several years gaining first-hand experience in Dubai — acquiring properties, learning the market’s rhythms and building relationships — before committing to a permanent regional platform.That patience is characteristic of how it operates, and it is a large part of why I was willing to take on this role.The timing came together on both sides. In Tokyo, the parent company’s growth has given it real balance-sheet strength, with a total project pipeline and assets under management of US$5.17 billion as of February 2026. That enabled it to invest abroad with conviction rather than caution.Here at home, our economic diversification agenda, guided by the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Minister of Finance and Deputy Ruler of Dubai, has created exactly the kind of long-term, high-quality opportunity this group is built to pursue.The timing was right because two things aligned: a company with the discipline to build for the long term, and a country that rewards precisely that.How does the UAE fit into Kasumigaseki Capital's long-term international growth strategy?Mohammad Khalifa Majid Alabbar Alfalasi: The Middle East, and the UAE specifically, is now one of three key markets in the group's international strategy, alongside its home market in Japan and its recent entry into the United States through Miami.The group envisions growth in a sequenced, not scattered, manner, building a strong track record in one market before extending outward.I have been entrusted with this region's operations, with Dubai serving as the regional headquarters. Real estate development is our key sector here. It is where the group's expertise runs deepest and where our current pipeline sits.That is the lens through which the group views the Middle East: real estate first, out of Dubai. It is what distinguishes an anchor from an outpost, and it is the mandate I hold.What differentiates Kasumigaseki Capital's investment and development approach from that of other international real estate players entering the region?Mohammad Khalifa Majid Alabbar Alfalasi: Where we differ is in the model, not just the ambition.Most developers in this market are built around a single exit. They acquire, build, sell and move on. The parent company in Japan operates what it calls a circulation platform: land acquisition and development funded initially on its own balance sheet, then transitioned off-balance-sheet through development funds, management structures and ultimately REITs, generating revenue at every stage of an asset’s life rather than depending on a single moment of sale.What that means in practice is that they stay.The economics only work if the asset performs over decades, so the incentive to build properly is structural rather than reputational. That is a very different way of thinking about development, and it is what I intend to bring into how we build here.It is not just about the capital, but also about the discipline behind it.How do you see Japanese business values and operational excellence contributing to the UAE's evolving real estate landscape?Mohammad Khalifa Majid Alabbar Alfalasi: Japanese operational culture is built on precision, patience and an almost obsessive attention to detail.In Japan, this is not a marketing position; it is simply how things are built. Nothing is left to be corrected later because there is an assumption that the building will be standing, and performing, long after everyone involved in it has moved on.That translates directly into how we approach development here — whether in how a building is detailed, how materials are specified or how a plan functions once people are living in it.It is the difference between a design that photographs well and a design that still works 15 years from now. That discipline is not glamorous; it is felt by residents every day without them necessarily being able to identify it.The UAE is raising its own benchmark for quality across the board. What we bring is a rigour that complements the ambition and scale this market is already known for.The two are entirely compatible, and I would argue that the next phase of Dubai’s maturity depends on exactly that combination.Among real estate, hospitality, logistics and healthcare, which sectors offer the most promising opportunities for sustainable growth in the Middle East?Mohammad Khalifa Majid Alabbar Alfalasi: I will give you a straight answer: real estate development is the priority, and everything else follows.That is not a hedge. Development is where the group's expertise is deepest, where our pipeline sits today and the foundation on which the rest of the platform is built.Hospitality is the closest adjacency. A hotel is a developed asset with an operating layer on top, and the group has genuine depth in that sector.Logistics is where the region's own trajectory does much of the work for us. As the Gulf becomes an increasingly important trade and distribution hub, particularly around special economic zones, the demand is structural rather than speculative.Healthcare is the longest-term play. The parent company operates a model in Japan that reimagines care for an ageing population as dignified rather than institutional, and I think there is a philosophy there worth learning from.But I would not oversell it. It is still early. I would rather under-promise in a sector and deliver than announce four ambitions at once and execute only one.What role will partnerships play in Kasumigaseki Capital's expansion plans across the UAE and the wider region?Mohammad Khalifa Majid Alabbar Alfalasi: A Japanese company arriving in this region with capital and no partners would be building blind, and to its credit, Kasumigaseki Capital has never pretended otherwise.Its first Dubai development, Emerald Hills, sits within Emaar's master-planned Dubai Hills Estate. You do not enter a market like this in a better way than alongside the institutions that built it.In Miami, its first US project is located within Falcone Group’s master-planned Miami Worldcenter district. The pattern is consistent: they bring the discipline and the balance sheet, and they partner for the local knowledge.That is also, frankly, why I am in this role.My value to this company is not capital; it already has that. It is relationships, standing and the ability to open the right doors.In this region, the most important relationships are not only with other developers, but with the institutions shaping these markets — regulators, authorities and ministries.We build with them, not merely within their jurisdiction.How important is innovation in shaping the next phase of Kasumigaseki Capital's growth in the Middle East?Mohammad Khalifa Majid Alabbar Alfalasi: I would push back gently on the word because, in this market, innovation usually means technology, and technology is the easy part. Anyone can buy it.The group's principle is what it calls kakushin — innovation in service of people, not innovation for its own sake.In development, that means asking what genuinely improves the lives of people living in a building and being disciplined enough to ignore everything that does not.A great deal of what is marketed as innovation in real estate is specification, not improvement. It looks impressive in a brochure but changes nothing about how people actually live.Our innovation will mostly be invisible.It will be in how efficiently a plan uses space, how a building performs in its tenth summer and the systems that operate quietly in the background so residents never need to think about them.Removing friction without removing care — that is the ambition.In a market that is very good at announcing things, I think there is real differentiation in simply building better and letting people discover that once they start living there.Beyond business growth, what kind of legacy would you like Kasumigaseki Capital to build in the UAE?Mohammad Khalifa Majid Alabbar Alfalasi: Business results matter, but what I would like people to remember is that we built something durable and honest here.Dubai's transformation under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has been a story of long-term vision matched with disciplined execution, and that is precisely the standard we want to be judged against.If, 10 or 15 years from now, the buildings we developed have aged well — built honestly, with nothing hidden behind the finish, still functioning and still worth living in — that would be a legacy worth having.Looking ahead, what does success for Kasumigaseki Capital in the Middle East look like five years from now?Mohammad Khalifa Majid Alabbar Alfalasi: Success in five years looks like a genuinely regional platform, not a single-market operation.I would expect our UAE and wider Middle Eastern pipelines to be operating side by side, our first branded residential development fully realised and recognised as a landmark, and a fund or REIT structure in the region that mirrors what our parent company has achieved in Japan, where it has delivered total shareholder returns of 911.9 per cent as of February 2026 since its Tokyo Stock Exchange listing.Above all, I would want Kasumigaseki to be known in this region in the same way it is known at home: as a patient, disciplined partner rather than an opportunistic one.In one sentence, what message would you like to send to investors, partners and stakeholders about Kasumigaseki Capital's future in the UAE?Mohammad Khalifa Majid Alabbar Alfalasi: To our investors, partners and stakeholders: Kasumigaseki is here to build for decades, not headlines, and we intend to make that visible in every project we develop in this country.
