About us
Who writes this site
There is one person behind this site. No content team, no agency, no outsourced writers — every guide here was researched and written by the same person, and you are reading them now.
I am a licensed takken-shi (宅地建物取引士), the Japanese national real-estate qualification, registered with the Tokyo Governor. Before real estate I spent over twenty years in IT infrastructure at a major Japanese IT company, which is where the habit of checking primary sources before publishing anything comes from — most of the numbers on this site are traced back to government data rather than to other blogs.
I live in Koto-ku, Tokyo — the waterfront ward that Toyosu, Shinonome and Tatsumi belong to. I write about it because I walk it. I grew up in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, which is why the second half of this site is about a market that most English-language property sites ignore entirely.
English is my second language. I write carefully, I check what I claim, and I would rather give you a precise answer slowly than a confident one quickly.
Why this site exists
Japan’s property market is unusually open to foreigners — there is no citizenship requirement, no visa requirement, and no restriction on ownership. What it is not is legible. The documents are in Japanese, the customs are unwritten, and the one person in the room qualified to explain the contract is usually being paid by the other side of it.
Most English-language material about Japanese property is either a listings portal that wants your enquiry, or a foreign blogger describing one transaction they went through once. There is very little written by someone who holds the Japanese qualification and writes in English. That gap is what this site is for.
What I am, and what I am not
I hold the takken-shi qualification. I do not hold a real-estate business licence (宅地建物取引業免許), and this site is not a brokerage. I do not act as anyone’s agent, I do not collect brokerage commission, and I am never paid by the other side of your transaction. When you need to actually transact, a licensed brokerage does that part.
I run this as an independent project alongside my work, which is also why I would rather answer twenty questions properly than take on two hundred clients badly.
How to reach me
Send a question by email. There is no obligation and no sales sequence waiting on the other end. If the answer is short, you will get a short answer.