Inheritance tax follows the property, not the passport

Your heirs inherit a Japanese tax bill with the condo — and Tokyo just moved to make homes easier to build.

Morning. This week: the tax that crosses borders even when you don't, and a cabinet decision that rewrites part of the building code. Let's snack.

The tax that never left Japan

Real estate located in Japan is subject to Japanese inheritance tax even when both the deceased and the heirs live abroad — the asset's location is what counts, not anyone's passport. Rates are progressive up to 55%, though a basic deduction softens it: ¥30,000,000 plus ¥6,000,000 per statutory heir. One quirk works in your favor: property is assessed for inheritance tax below market value (land via the roadside valuation, 路線価), which trims the effective burden.

The takeaway: a Tokyo condo in your estate is a Japanese tax event for your heirs, wherever they live — plan at purchase, not probate.

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The cabinet just loosened the building code

Japan's cabinet approved an amendment to the Building Standards Act enforcement order. Two things inside it: the type-certification system (型式適合認定) — pre-vetted standardized housing designs that skip parts of the one-by-one review — gets expanded to speed up housing supply, and several old constraints get rationalized: daylight rules (採光), fire-protection rules (防火), and the caps on hazardous materials in zoned districts.

The takeaway: code amendments like this quietly change what can be built — and rebuilt — on a given lot.

Sources — Rules and law: 相続税法 (Inheritance Tax Act); Standard Japanese rental practice (borrower protections under 借地借家法).

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