Due diligence

2026/10/22

Sometimes you buy the house and rent the ground it stands on

Sometimes you buy the house and rent the ground it stands on In Japan the land and the building are separate pieces of property, and they can have different owners. A listing that looks unusually cheap for its location is sometimes selling you the buildin ...

2026/10/22

Researching a Japanese neighbourhood from ten thousand kilometres away

Researching a Japanese neighbourhood from ten thousand kilometres away You can establish more about a Japanese location without leaving your desk than most buyers establish after visiting. Stations, schools, hospitals, shops, and the direction the populat ...

2026/10/13

What to check before you buy in Japan

What to check before you buy in Japan The questions that decide whether a Japanese property is worth buying, and which office holds each answer. Most of them are free to ask and almost none of them are volunteered. Japanese property is unusually well docu ...

2026/10/13

Japan’s hazard maps: what your broker must show you, and what they don’t

Japan’s hazard maps: what your broker must show you, and what they don’t Since 2020, a Japanese agent has been legally required to show you where a property sits on the flood hazard map. Landslide and tsunami are covered only as to whether a f ...

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, ...

2026/10/13

What a cheap Japanese house actually costs

2026/10/13

The wall holding up the land is part of what you are buying

The wall holding up the land is part of what you are buying The view is why people want the hillside plot. The retaining wall underneath it is what they acquire along with the view, and replacing one can cost more than the house standing on top. By Toru F ...

2026/10/13

The termite your five-year warranty does not cover

The termite your five-year warranty does not cover Treatment carried out, paperwork in the file, five years of cover. What the paperwork protects is the termite that comes up from the soil. Japan has another one that arrives by air, and it is usually writ ...

2026/10/13

The land area in the listing is a historical record, not a measurement

The land area in the listing is a historical record, not a measurement Ask where the figure comes from and the answer is usually the registry. In Japan the registered area and the surveyed area routinely disagree, sometimes by a great deal, and which one ...

2026/10/13

The two rooms nobody opens during a viewing

The two rooms nobody opens during a viewing A viewing of a Japanese house takes about thirty minutes. You see the rooms, the kitchen, the view from the windows. The underfloor space and the roof space stay shut, and they are the only two places in the bui ...

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