On a recent Sunday, a Honolulu matron answered the door of her stately home to find three Japanese businessmen who offered her $300,000 for it on the spot; they wanted it as a vacation center for their Hiroshima workers. When she refused, the group's spokesman replied: "Ah, I understand. The $300,000 was merely for the house. The grounds we can discuss later." Similar, if less startling, offers are being made all over Hawaii these days as Japanese businessmen step up their efforts to buy control of hotels, shops, travel agencies, land and private estates.
Yet the hard lesson that U.S. investors in...
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