Akiya

2026/11/7

The first thing to fail in an empty house is the water

The first thing to fail in an empty house is the water Open the door after six months away and what meets you is not a sight but a smell. Sewer, strong enough to notice from the doorstep. Owners put it down to the house being old. It is not that. It is a ...

2026/11/7

What five, ten and twenty million yen actually buy

What five, ten and twenty million yen actually buy Buy cheap in Japan and just do it up a bit, the forums say. Buying cheap is true. What "a bit" means, and what it costs, is the part nobody writes down. By Toru Fujito Published 11 September 2026 Last upd ...

2026/11/7

Why the house is so cold, and what fixing it costs

Why the house is so cold, and what fixing it costs Every foreigner who spends a first winter in an older Japanese house asks the same question. The answer is that there is almost no insulation in it. The more interesting answer is why, because it was not ...

2026/11/7

Owning Japanese property from another country

Owning Japanese property from another country Completion is where ownership starts. Tax, insurance, liability and maintenance all run from that day onward, in Japanese, by post, to an address in Japan. Japanese systems assume the owner is reachable here. ...

2026/11/7

The akiya bank is a noticeboard, not an estate agency

The akiya bank is a noticeboard, not an estate agency Looking for a cheap house in Japan? Try the akiya bank. The advice appears in a hundred English articles and videos, and it is correct as far as it goes. What it leaves out is what the system is, and m ...

2026/11/7

Akiya, kominka and rural property in Japan

Akiya, kominka and rural property in Japan Japan has millions of empty houses and they are cheap for reasons that are knowable in advance. Knowing which reason applies to a particular one is the whole exercise. A seller offering a house at the price of a ...

2026/11/7

Before you buy a kominka

Before you buy a kominka Massive beams, earthen walls, a beaten-earth floor. No category of Japanese property pulls harder on overseas buyers, and the pull is entirely justified. Beautiful, liveable and maintainable are three separate questions, and this ...

2026/10/26

What you must verify yourself before buying property in Japan

What you must verify yourself before buying property in Japan Public records will tell you what a property is permitted to be. They will not tell you what it is. These are the questions that decide whether a purchase works, which offices hold the answers, ...

2026/11/7

If you inherited Japanese property, there is a deadline

If you inherited Japanese property, there is a deadline Registering an inherited property used to be optional in Japan. Since April 2024 it has been a legal duty, it applies retrospectively to inheritances going back decades, and the grace period for thos ...

2026/11/7

Insuring a house in Japan that nobody lives in

Insuring a house in Japan that nobody lives in Japanese fire insurance classifies a building by how it is used, and a house with nobody living in it is generally not classified as a home. The class decides the premium, what riders you may attach, and whet ...

1 2 3 Next »