Earthquake risk in Japan: a buyer's screening guide

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Before you fall in love with a house in Japan, check the ground it's sitting on.

This guide walks you through exactly how to check earthquake risk for a specific property, not a general "is this prefecture safe" search. You'll learn how to read Japan's official hazard data at the exact address of a listing, what active faults do and don't tell you, why the ground under a house matters as much as the house itself, and which two construction dates (1981 and 2000) change how carefully you should look at an older wooden house.

It ends with a printable screening worksheet: a list of questions to bring to any listing you're seriously considering, covering the house, the land, and the location.

What's inside

• How to use J-SHIS, Japan's national seismic hazard database, to check a specific address instead of a whole city or prefecture

• What active fault proximity actually tells you, and what it doesn't

• Ground conditions and liquefaction: what to ask about the land under a house

• Tsunami, flood, and landslide exposure, and where to check local hazard maps

• Why houses built before June 1981 and before June 2000 need a closer look, and what changed on each date

• A printable worksheet of questions to ask about the house, the land, and the location

• A page of direct links to the government sources used throughout the guide

Not a substitute for a professional inspection or a licensed agent. It's meant to help you ask better questions before you get to that stage.