Illustration of local property managers inspecting a traditional Japanese house, pruning garden trees, checking wooden shutters, and handling mail for an overseas owner.

Owning and managing

2026/10/13

Why Japan’s empty houses are not demolished, and what changed in 2023

Why Japan’s empty houses are not demolished, and what changed in 2023 Japan taxes land with a house on it at a fraction of the rate applied to bare land. Remove the building and the bill multiplies. That single rule produced the country’s vaca ...

2026/10/13

By the time it shows on the ceiling, the wood has been wet for a while

By the time it shows on the ceiling, the wood has been wet for a while A stain on a ceiling is the last stage, not the first. Water reached it by passing through the roof substrate, a rafter or a beam, and everything it passed through was wet before you s ...

2026/10/26

The morning after a typhoon, the damage is not where you are looking

The morning after a typhoon, the damage is not where you are looking You walk around the house. No broken tiles, windows intact, nothing down in the garden. From that you conclude there is no damage. It is the conclusion that costs the most, because Japan ...

2026/10/13

An empty house announces itself every day

An empty house announces itself every day Mail overflowing the box. Grass grown tall. No light at night, no footprints after snow. A house with nobody in it cannot conceal the fact, and some people are looking for exactly that information. By Toru Fujito ...

2026/10/13

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 ...

2026/10/13

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 ...

2026/10/13

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 ...

2026/10/13

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 ...

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