Japanese systems assume the owner is reachable here. Tax authorities write on paper. Insurers classify a building by whether anybody lives in it. Liability for a structure on land sits with its owner whether or not they knew there was a problem.

None of it is difficult. All of it assumes somebody is there.

These guides cover what arrives after you own the property, and what to have in place before it does.

Tax and paperwork

• The tax paperwork nobody mentions before you buy. Tax representatives, and why one appointment may not be enough.
• The bill that arrives five months after you thought you were finished. One acquisition tax case, month by month.
• If you inherited Japanese property, there is a deadline. Compulsory registration, the 2027 deadline, and the address change duty.
• Selling Japanese property from abroad. The 10.21 per cent withholding, the five-year rule, and the documents.

Risk and liability

• When your Japanese property injures somebody else. Why the owner has no defence for a wall, roof or tree that falls.
• Insuring a house in Japan that nobody lives in. Insurance classes, earthquake cover, and the duty to notify.
• The morning after a typhoon, the damage is not where you are looking. Inspecting twice, and the three-year claim limit.
• An empty house announces itself every day. Break-ins, metal theft, dumping, arson, and who pays.
• Why Japan's empty houses are not demolished, and what changed in 2023. How poor upkeep can cost the land tax reduction.

Keeping the building

• The first thing to fail in an empty house is the water. Dry drain traps, and the monthly fix that prevents what follows.
• By the time it shows on the ceiling, the wood has been wet for a while. Leaks, balcony waterproofing, and decay in a closed house.
• What five, ten and twenty million yen actually buy. Renovation budgets, and why the order of work matters most.
• Why the house is so cold, and what fixing it costs. Where heat escapes, what to insulate first, and condensation.

Using the property

• A second home you visit four times a year. Insurance class, resort infrastructure, and upkeep between visits.
• Owning a house where it snows properly. Snow load, roof clearing, frozen pipes and winter access.
• Whether you can run it as a holiday let is decided before you buy. The 180-night cap, local rules, and building restrictions.

If you are earlier in the process, start with the full guide to buying property in Japan as a foreign buyer.