Everything to check before you fall for a cheap Japanese house: the official sources, the real costs, and the worksheets to keep it all straight.

A vacant house in Japan is rarely just cheap. It's cheap and something: a road that won't let you rebuild, a septic tank that needs replacing, a title still in a dead owner's name. This kit is the system for finding out what that "something" is before it becomes your problem instead of the seller's.

It's a self-guided due-diligence workbook for foreign buyers. 48 pages that walk you through every question a careful buyer asks, point you to the exact official (and free) Japanese government source for each answer, and give you fillable worksheets to stay organised across every property you look at.

What's inside

• Plain-English chapters on foreign ownership, what a cheap house actually costs to own, natural-hazard and earthquake checks, rebuild rights and road access, building condition, utilities, livability, and the full cost picture, each with the official source to verify it yourself

• A section on the realities of buying from abroad, tangled titles, and subsidies

• 11 fillable worksheets: a master checklist, property fact sheet, hazard, legal, condition, utilities and livability worksheets, a three-layer cost estimator, a side-by-side comparison matrix, questions to ask, and your own walk-away triggers

• A glossary of every Japanese term you'll meet, plus a directory of the official portals: hazard maps, earthquake data, the Legal Affairs Bureau, the national akiya bank, and more

Who it's for

Anyone seriously researching an akiya from outside Japan who wants to slow down and decide on what's true, not what they hoped, without paying thousands for a full-service buyer's agent.

What it isn't

This is an educational workbook, not advice. It won't value a specific property, tell you whether to buy, or replace a licensed agent, scrivener, tax accountant, or inspector. What it gives you is the map of what to confirm and where.

Instant PDF download. Print the worksheets or fill them on screen. Use one set per property.