More potential real estate second-home buyers will be coming from Japan for the traditional Golden Week holiday period this year as post-tsunami interest in travel continues to build.

Golden Week, which runs from April 28 to May 6 this year, is a traditional time when Japanese workers take vacation en masse. The period, which often brings a quick boost in tourist travel to Hawaii, is also known for putting a sparkle in the state’s second-home-buying market, especially oceanfront properties.

Members of Hawaii’s real estate community catering to Japanese buyers say they expect renewed interest in Hawaii’s real estate market for Golden Week and 2012. However, so far this year, they say that Japanese real estate buying in Hawaii appears to have switched from primarily oceanfront to more oceanview, with homes in the hills preferred.

Right after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Hawaii saw a boost in second-home rentals as Japanese visitors turned to the isles as a safe escape, said Sachi Braden, owner, president and principal broker at Sachi Hawaii-Pacific Century Properties LLC, which has a large base of Japanese buyers among its clients.

"Some people flew here to avoid the crisis right away. They came and they went back," Braden said. "Now things have settled for many of them, and life is more back to normal. The Japanese economy still faces a big deficit to rebuild towns and prefectures, but there are select people with the means to buy and many of them are coming here."

Buying attitudes have changed among Japanese buyers, Braden said. Many see life as short and figure that the currently favorable exchange rate might not last, she said.

"They want to take advantage of opportunities now," Braden said.

The ability of Japanese travelers to Hawaii to extend this year’s Golden Week to nine days by taking off from work on May 2 and 3 makes it a convenient buying time, she said.

The Japan Travel Bureau also has reported that a new posttragedy emphasis on family ties and the importance of lifestyle could help strengthen outbound travel during Golden Week and for the year, which could finish 3 percent above 2011.

"There is this sense that life is fragile," said Iku Honda, vice president at Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties. "If a client has been wanting a vacation home, I think that they’ll go ahead and do it. One of my clients from Japan had been looking for a $2 million-plus property for several years, and after last summer finally purchased something."

As such, buyers from Japan this year still are expected to make up about 35 percent of sales in Hawaii’s luxury market of homes above $2 million, said Jeffrey Fox, broker owner at Kahala Associates.

"The current exchange rate of 85.1 yen to a dollar gives buyers about a 30 percent discount compared to a few years ago," Honda said.

"Fewer luxury properties were purchased in 2011," Honda said. "Day by day in 2012, it’s changing."

However, lack of inventory could dampen demand, Braden said. Hawaii has a shortage of new condominiums on high floors or single-family homes in the hills that buyers from Japan want, she said.

"They want to be up high, and they want something well built and ready to live in," Braden said.

An emerging preference among some buyers from Japan for oceanview over oceanfront also could narrow opportunities, Fox said.

"I’m seeing a lot of interest from Japanese nationals and expats living in Japan," Fox said. "They want to see our gorgeous ocean, but they keep asking how far each property is above sea level."