Why banks won't touch that ¥5M house

Japanese tax law assigns wooden houses a statutory useful life (法定耐用年数) of 22 years — and banks lean on remaining useful life when setting mortgage terms. A 30-year-old wooden house is, on paper, past its useful life, so banks offer short terms or nothing. That's why cheap old houses are overwhelmingly cash purchases — and it's a key reason their prices stay so low. The wall is the financing, not necessarily the building: the buyer pool shrinks to whoever can pay cash.

Japanese property closings traditionally use a registered seal (実印) plus its certificate (印鑑証明書) from your city hall — the seal, not a signature, is what the registry trusts. No Japanese seal? Foreign buyers can substitute a signature certificate (affidavit) from their embassy or a notary back home. Non-resident buyers also appoint a domestic point of contact under registry rules — your judicial scrivener (司法書士) arranges the whole package.