Japanese Real Estate Glossary
100 terms every foreign buyer meets in listings, contracts, and registry records — with kanji, readings, and plain-English definitions.
住所と土地の特定
Addresses & Finding Land
Japan runs two parallel systems for identifying property — postal addresses and registry lot numbers. Understanding the difference is step one of any property research.
不動産登記
The Property Registry (Touki)
Japan's property registry is public: anyone can pull the official record for any parcel and see its owners, mortgages, and liens. These are the terms you will meet on the record itself.
売買の流れと関係者
People & the Buying Process
Who does what in a Japanese property transaction, and the documents you will sign along the way.
価格・税金・費用
Prices, Taxes & Fees
Japan publishes several official land prices, and a purchase triggers a series of one-time and annual taxes. These terms tell you what a property really costs.
都市計画と建築規制
Zoning & Building Rules
Whether you can build — or rebuild — on a piece of land is governed by planning law. Many of Japan's cheapest properties are cheap precisely because of these rules.
物件の種類と権利形態
Property Types & Tenure
From akiya to manshon: what the common property categories mean, and the ownership structures behind them.
土地の状態と災害リスク
Land Condition & Hazards
Boundaries, slopes, floods, and landslides. The physical realities that separate a bargain from a liability.
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