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Housing tips for international residents, rental & sales knowledge, Bunkyo-ku area information, and more.
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Opening karaoke premises: zoning, fire protection and noise checks
Check zoning and floor area, room plans and operations, fire protection and noise before signing for karaoke premises. Category II residential zones can be candidates subject to conditions. No late-night alcohol or entertainment does not by itself establish that no public-morals business permission is needed.
Can inherited branch-family or farm housing be sold? Restrictions on who may use it
Inheriting ownership of a branch-family or farming household home differs from a third party being allowed to live there. Check original permissions, local criteria and actual farmland status. Compare sale, rental and demolition only after checking their regulatory implications.
Rental premises for Technical Intern Training and Specified Skilled Worker housing: space, fire and dormitory rules
Check immigration space conditions, employment-law dormitory standards, building and fire compliance, and landlord consent separately. A bedroom and living room may have different measurement scopes; 7.5 m² per person alone does not qualify accommodation for both programmes.
What office premises are needed for Business Manager status? A guide for Chinese-speaking founders
When a new corporation rents premises for Business Manager status, verify a separate business presence, the right to business use and continuing occupation before signing. Premises alone do not secure immigration approval; drafting a business plan and the required expert assessment are separate tasks.
Choosing premises for an authorised nursery with 20 or more places: differences from small-scale childcare
For an authorised nursery with at least 20 places, check age-based space, outdoor play areas and floor-specific evacuation and fire requirements. National rules differ between the second floor and higher floors; Tokyo's current standards and municipal pre-consultation conditions must also be checked before signing.
Buying Japanese property from a non-resident seller (mainland China/Taiwan) — the buyer bears the withholding duty
When you buy Japanese land or a building from a non-resident seller, it is the buyer — not the seller — who must withhold tax. The buyer deducts 10.21% (10% income tax plus special reconstruction income tax) at payment and pays it to the tax office by the 10th of the following month. It is unnecessary only if an individual buys for their own or a relative's residence and the price is JPY 100 million or less. A Tokyo real estate agent and administrative scrivener in Bunkyo-ku explains the buyer's withholding duty and the residential/JPY 100 million exception.
Property requirements for a Type A continuous-employment-support office (what changes versus Type B)
A Type A continuous-employment-support office is treated, like Type B, as a 'child welfare facility, etc.' under the Building Standards Act, so the checks for use zone, change of use, lighting, evacuation and fire are the same as Type B. What really changes is operation: Type A signs an employment contract with users, so the minimum wage applies and the space must be designed as a workplace. Capacity floors also differ (Type A 10+, Type B 20+). A Tokyo agent and administrative scrivener in Bunkyo-ku organizes the pre-contract checks.
What should Chinese-speaking buyers check in a condominium's management rules and repair plan?
Read the management rules, repair plan, accounts and arrears before contracting for a resale condominium. Check voting requirements following the April 2026 amendment. Overseas owners should distinguish a domestic condominium manager from a tax payment administrator.
Choosing a dialysis clinic property: water, drainage, power and floor loads
Check the dialysis equipment's water supply, drainage, RO system, power and floor loads alongside medical-facility standards before signing. Inpatient beds and local planning controls require separate checks; engineers must calculate capacity from the equipment and building.
Converting a former gas station site: how to check the underground tanks and soil
Before buying or converting a former gas station site into a warehouse, shop, or roadside store, check three things: the current state of the underground tanks and the Fire Service Act discontinuation notice, the risk of soil contamination and whether a survey is needed, and the use-district restrictions. A gas station's underground tanks and dispensing equipment generally are not a 'specified facility using hazardous substances,' so closure alone does not trigger the Article 3 survey duty under the Soil Contamination Countermeasures Act. A Tokyo real estate agent and administrative scrivener in Bunkyo-ku organizes the checks.
How do you choose a building for an accredited Japanese-language institution? Site/building area requirements and zoning
Under the accredited Japanese-language institution system that began in April 2024, the accreditation standard (MEXT Ordinance No. 40 of 2023) requires a school building of 115 m² or more and at least 2.3 m² per student receiving instruction at the same time, with the site and building in principle owned by the founder and free of encumbrance. Zoning limits under the Building Standards Act decide where it can be built. A Tokyo real estate agent and administrative scrivener in Bunkyo-ku explains what to confirm before signing.
Selling an inherited tower apartment? The Reiwa-6 new valuation of residential condominium property and the selling steps
For residential tower apartments inherited, bequeathed, or gifted on or after 1 January 2024, the National Tax Agency's guideline 'On the valuation of residential condominium property' (28 September 2023) changed how inheritance tax value is calculated. For units with a wide gap between market price and assessed value, the value is raised to roughly 60% of market price. But this is about the inheritance-tax valuation framework, not the price you can actually sell at. A Tokyo real estate agent and administrative scrivener in Bunkyo-ku organizes the points and the selling steps.
China's capital controls (the USD 50,000 annual quota) — how do you settle a Japanese real estate purchase?
The foreign currency a mainland Chinese individual may send abroad is capped by the facilitation quota (USD 50,000 equivalent per person per year for both sales and purchases), and purchases within that quota cannot be used for the capital-account purpose of buying overseas property. So settling a Japanese purchase starts with confirming, before you contract, when and from what source the deposit and balance can be remitted. A Tokyo real estate agent and administrative scrivener in Bunkyo-ku explains the order of settlement.
What farmland conditions allow agrivoltaics (solar sharing)?
Agrivoltaics (solar sharing) does not convert farmland wholesale into residential land; it uses only the post foundations under the Agricultural Land Act's 'temporary conversion permit,' while farming continues underneath. So even First-class farmland, normally hard to convert, may be eligible if certain conditions are met. The key is that yield under the panels must not fall by roughly 20% or more. A Tokyo real estate agent and administrative scrivener in Bunkyo-ku explains the farmland conditions.
What kind of property can become a designated driving school? Course, skills/classroom rooms, rest-room area and the zoning district
A property that can become a designated driving school is decided mainly by three things: the zoning district (a driving school can be built up to 3,000 sqm of floor area in a Category I Residential Zone, without limit from a Category II Residential Zone through Industrial Exclusive, and not at all in low-rise/mid-high-rise residential-exclusive and agricultural-residential zones — Table 2 of the Building Standards Act); the size of the course (as a rule 8,000 sqm or more under the Cabinet Office Ordinance on Designated Driving Schools, or 3,500 sqm for a school handling only large/ordinary motorcycle licences); and whether the building can hold classrooms, a waiting area, a rest room and toilets. You can form a view at the property stage, but the final decision on designation is the Prefectural Public Safety Commission's.
The family home I inherited turns out to be a 'stigmatised property' — what is the duty to disclose and the order of steps when selling?
Even if someone died in the family home you inherited, you do not always have to disclose it when selling. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's 'Guidelines on disclosure of human death by real estate transaction operators' (October 2021) treat natural death (old age, illness) and everyday accidental death (a fall, choking) as, in principle, not requiring disclosure, while suicide, homicide and the like, or cases where special cleaning was carried out, are subject to disclosure. For leases, roughly three years from the event is the guide for no longer having to disclose, but a sale has no such year cut-off. If the buyer asks, or the social impact is large, you disclose regardless of time or cause of death. Neglecting disclosure can become a non-conformity / damages issue (Civil Code Arts. 562–564, 566).
What property can become a private inspection station (designated auto maintenance business)? The difference from a certified workshop, and the equipment and site requirements
A property usable as a private inspection station (designated auto maintenance business, Article 94-2 of the Road Transport Vehicle Act) turns on three things — first, whether it meets the certified-workshop requirements; second, whether the site can take a completion inspection bay (an inspection lane with the length and ceiling height); and third, whether the floor and power can hold the inspection machinery such as brake testers. The designation is granted by the District Transport Bureau Director, and an automobile inspector must be appointed. A licensed real estate agent and administrative scrivener in Bunkyo, Tokyo, sets out what to check before you sign.
How do you sell an inherited sectioned-ownership office (a single tenanted unit)? Succession of the lease and the practicalities of the management association
An inherited, tenanted sectioned-ownership office is succeeded by the heirs together with the landlord's position (Article 896 of the Civil Code). On a sale the buyer takes over the landlord's position, and an ownership-transfer registration is needed to assert it against the tenant (Article 605-2). Before selling, check three things — whether the management rules allow business use, whether there are unpaid management fees or repair reserves, and the content of the tenant's lease. Buyers are more limited than for a residential condo, and price tends to be set by rent (yield). Complete the inheritance registration (compulsory since April 2024) first.
Protection of deposits (tetsukekin-tō) that a Chinese-speaking buyer of a new-build "off-the-plan" (aota-uri) property checks
When buying a new-build before completion (aota-uri), the deposits a buyer pays are protected by the Real Estate Brokerage Act's "measures to secure deposits." It works when the seller is a real estate agent and the buyer is not (Art. 78(2)). Uncompleted property is under Art. 41, completed property under Art. 41-2, and the methods differ: uncompleted allows only a bank guarantee-commission contract or a guarantee-insurance contract; completed adds a deposit trust contract with a designated custodian. Security is required when the deposits exceed 5% of the price or 10 million yen (uncompleted), or 10% or 10 million yen (completed); after ownership is registered to the buyer, it is not required regardless of amount. A licensed real estate agent and administrative scrivener in Bunkyo, Tokyo sets out the requirements down to the articles.
What must a property meet to open a midwifery home (josanjo)? Medical Care Act requirements — up to nine in-patients
For a midwifery home (birth and post-partum care), the Medical Care Act sets three things first. Admission is capped at nine (a josanjo may not have facilities to admit ten or more pregnant/parturient/post-partum women — Art. 2(2)); if births are handled, a delivery room of 9 m² or more and in-patient-room floor area (6.3 m² for one mother-and-child, internal measurement — enforcement reg. Art. 17); and a commissioned obstetrics/gynecology physician plus an emergency hospital (Art. 19, reg. Art. 15-2). Unlike a clinic, no physician is resident; a midwife who opens files a notification, a non-midwife operator needs a licence. A licensed real estate agent and administrative scrivener in Bunkyo, Tokyo sets out what to check in the property.
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