Direct answer: A ¥1–3 million house in Japan is almost never cheap by accident. The reason is usually printed on the listing in one of ten Japanese terms that foreign buyers cannot read — rebuilding prohibited, urbanization control area, leasehold, disclosure matters, septic tank, propane, pre-1981 construction, setback, private road, and unregistered extensions. This guide gives you each term in kanji, what it means, roughly what it costs, and the sentence to paste into an email to the agent.
The lot does not touch a road of 4 m or wider for at least 2 m, so under Article 43 of the Building Standards Act the municipality will not issue a permit to build. You can live in the existing house; you cannot replace it if it burns, collapses, or you simply want to. Banks generally will not lend on it. Cost: resale value is a fraction of a normal lot; insurers may limit cover. Ask: 「この物件は再建築不可ですか？接道の状況（道路の種別と幅員、接道の長さ）を教えてください。」 Full guide: Saikenchiku fuka explained.
Land outside the zone where development is encouraged. Rebuilding, extending, or changing the use of the building (a house into a café, for example) needs a special permit that is often refused. Existing houses can usually be lived in and sold. Cost: your renovation and business plans may be legally impossible. Ask: 「市街化調整区域ですか？建替えや用途変更の許可要件を教えてください。」 Check it yourself on the Ministry of Land's Real Estate Information Library, layer 区域区分.
You would own the building but rent the land from a landowner, paying monthly ground rent (地代) and usually a fee for the landowner's consent when you sell or rebuild. Cost: ground rent for as long as you own the house, plus consent fees that can reach a year's rent or more. Ask: 「所有権ですか、借地権ですか？借地権の場合、地代・契約期間・残存期間・譲渡承諾料を教えてください。」
The seller is legally obliged to tell you something a reasonable buyer would want to know before contracting: a death in the house, a past dispute, a known structural or environmental problem, a difficult neighbour. The listing will not say which. Cost: depends entirely on what it is — from nothing to a house you cannot resell. Ask: 「告知事項の内容を具体的に教えてください。」 The agent must answer.
No public sewer. Wastewater is treated in a tank on the lot, which the law requires you to have inspected and pumped every year. Cost: roughly ¥50,000–80,000 per year in maintenance and inspection, plus electricity for the blower; an old tank may need replacing (¥800,000+). Ask: 「下水道ですか、浄化槽ですか？浄化槽の場合、設置年・型式（単独/合併）・直近の法定検査結果を教えてください。」
Common in rural Japan. Not a defect, but propane typically costs 1.5–2 times city gas for the same use, and the contract is with a specific supplier. Cost: ¥3,000–8,000 more per month for a small household, depending on use. Ask: 「都市ガスですか、プロパンガスですか？プロパンの場合、供給業者と料金表を教えてください。」
Japan's seismic code changed in June 1981. Houses permitted before that were designed to a weaker standard. Listings show the year built (築年 / 建築年月). Cost: a seismic assessment (¥100,000–200,000) and, if reinforcement is needed, ¥1–3 million. Earthquake insurance and some renovation subsidies are also affected. Ask: 「建築確認日はいつですか？耐震診断・耐震補強の実施歴はありますか？」
The road in front is narrower than 4 m, so when you rebuild you must cede part of your lot to the road (usually to a line 2 m from the road's centre). You cannot build on the ceded strip. Cost: lost land area — the listing's 土地面積 may include the strip you will never be able to use. Ask: 「セットバックが必要な面積と、有効宅地面積を教えてください。」
The access road is privately owned, and you would own (and maintain, and pay tax on) a share of it — or worse, not own a share and depend on a neighbour's permission to dig for water or sewer lines. Cost: maintenance, tax, and possible fees for excavation consent. Ask: 「前面道路は公道ですか、私道ですか？私道の場合、持分の有無と掘削・通行の承諾書の有無を教えてください。」
Part of the building (often an extension or a storehouse) is not in the property registry. Cost: registration before you can borrow against it or sell cleanly — surveyor and registration fees, and sometimes the discovery that the extension violates the building-coverage ratio. Ask: 「未登記の建物・増築部分はありますか？登記簿上の床面積と現況の床面積は一致していますか？」
Three of the ten are on official maps: urbanization control area and land-use zone (Real Estate Information Library), and — not on this list but just as important — flood depth, landslide and tsunami zones (how to read Japan's hazard map). The other seven are either stated on the listing or only discoverable by asking. Our free 12-point checklist contains all the Japanese questions above in one email-ready list.
Only if you accept that the building can never be replaced, financing is usually unavailable, and resale is limited to cash buyers. Some people buy them as cheap weekend houses knowing this. It is never worth buying by accident.
No. It covers any fact a reasonable buyer would want to know: a death, a dispute, a defect, noise, a neighbour issue. You must ask, and the agent must answer.
Roughly ¥50,000–80,000 for the legally required maintenance, inspection and pumping, plus the blower's electricity. Replacement of an old tank can exceed ¥800,000.
Hazard zones, land-use zone and urbanization control area are on government maps. The rest are on the listing or must be asked.
Have a specific listing in mind? Get the official zoning, hazard and transaction data for that exact lot — plus the questions to send the agent — in one PDF.
Get a $49 risk report Free 12-point checklistThis guide is general information based on public sources cited above. It is not legal, tax, or real-estate brokerage advice. Confirm every item for a specific property with the agent, the municipality, and licensed professionals.