Asia today - China & Russia, Chinese property market, gold, miners and the Japanese sales tax

Quite a few stories to think about in Asia today despite the Japanese market being closed for a national holiday.  I liked this in the Financial Times about the realities of China-Russia relations:

From the same source I was intrigued by this article starter on the Chinese property market:

'Models dressed as imperial concubines, discounts for people who lose weight, appeals to patriotism and 1,000 live chickens for prospective buyers of apartments.' Link here (paywall).

Otherwise I see that China continues to buy gold (an asset class I continue to like).  This from GATA:

'China's annual non-government gold consumption has been officially confirmed as having reached 2,000 tonnes, gold researcher and GATA consultant Koos Jansen reports. That figure is close to annual world gold mine production...The figure, Jansen writes, was repeated several times by the chairman of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, Xu Luode, in an address to the London Bullion Market Association conference in Singapore in June'

Meanwhile in the markets continued volatility although one area I talked about last week as growing in interest (especially with regard to Billiton) was showing some form on higher commodity prices hopes:

Finally, Japan may be closed but the challenges continue:

'The Japanese government should decisively raise the consumption tax rate to 10 percent in October 2015 as planned to tackle its massive debts, Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, said'

That sounds like between a rock and a hard place call to me.