準備中 · One moment
One moment, the house is unlocking…
準備中 · One moment
One moment, the house is unlocking…
よくある質問 · Frequently asked
Read in 2 min
The big ones we get asked every week. If your question isn’t here, write to hello@oldhousesjapan.com — we read everything.
案内 · About Old Houses Japan
Old Houses Japanis the service — we help people find, buy, and renovate traditional Japanese homes. Listings, grants, agent introductions, paperwork. The Old Houses Japan Podcast is the editorial arm: every Tuesday David Lake and Victoria Lane walk through one real listing, talk through the numbers, and tell the story of the house. The podcast is how you discover a place. The service is how you actually move into one.
Three layers. (1) An always-updated listings database of houses across all 47 prefectures, with photos, floor plans, and the actual paperwork translated. (2) A grants tool that maps you to every municipal and prefectural subsidy you qualify for. (3) Direct help — agent introductions, visa-pathway guidance, renovation network, and someone to translate the moments that need translating. Pricing is on the main site.
Wednesday, June 3, 2026. The first three episodes drop together — the big-picture explainer, the akiya-bank tour, and a real ¥3M kominka in Niigata. New episode every Tuesday after that. The fastest way to know the moment they’re live is to subscribe to the newsletter.
Weekly, every Tuesday, starting Wednesday, June 3, 2026.
On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or any podcast app via our RSS feed.
物件 · Finding a house
Yes — that’s the whole point of Old Houses Japan. Tell us roughly what you’re looking for (region, budget, traditional vs. mid-century, full-time home vs. weekender), and we’ll surface listings from the database, point out which prefectures offer the best grants for your situation, and introduce you to a vetted local agent when you’re ready to view. Start at the listings page or write to hello@oldhousesjapan.com.
We pick listings with a story — a 1906 farmhouse a family is letting go after four generations, a Kyoto machiya whose shop closed last year, a coastal cottage at the price of a used car. Real listings, real prices, real numbers. If you own a house with a story we should tell, send us a note (see “Can I pitch a house?” below).
The listing prices are real — we don’t inflate or stage them. But the price on the page is rarely the all-in cost. Renovation, retrofits, inspection, judicial-scrivener fees, fixed-asset tax, and the travel to actually visit add up fast. Every episode walks through a realistic budget; the service walks through yours specifically.
Yes. There’s no nationality restriction on real-estate ownership in Japan — you can own freehold, you keep the land, and you can pass it on. Living there full-time is a separate visa question, which is what most people get tangled on. We help with both.
No to buy. Yes to live there long-term. Some prefectural grant programmes also require residency, which we account for when we’re matching you to subsidies. Episode 19, Banks, Borrowing & the Foreigner Tax, covers the financing side in detail.
助成金 · Grants, money & paperwork
Yes — this is one of the biggest things we do. Japan has 500+ active municipal and prefectural programmes for buyers, renovators, and movers, and almost none of them are advertised in English. The Old Houses Japan grants tool maps your situation to the ones you actually qualify for, with deadlines and application steps in English. Members get walked through the application itself.
Some banks lend to non-residents, most don’t. Rates and down-payment expectations vary widely. We work with brokers at Shinsei, Prestia, and SBI as starting points and can introduce you to one that fits your visa status. Episode 19 is the audio version of this answer.
Acquisition tax, fixed-asset tax (every year), city planning tax, and judicial-scrivener fees at closing are the main ones. Episode 17, The Paperwork Episode, walks through every form. The service includes a one-page personalised cost summary before you sign.
We don’t hold a hammer ourselves, but we maintain a vetted network of architects, contractors, and traditional craftspeople — mostly bilingual, always experienced with kominka and machiya. We make introductions and stay involved as much as you want us to.
コラボ · Working with us
Yes. If you’ve renovated an old Japanese house, run an akiya bank, work in heritage preservation, or have a story other people would benefit from hearing, write to hello@oldhousesjapan.com. Two paragraphs is enough — we’ll reply within a week.
Please. We’re always looking for listings with a story. Send a link plus one paragraph on why this one matters to hello@oldhousesjapan.com.
Yes — full pricing, audience numbers, and ad slots are on our Advertise with us page. We only run sponsors that are actually useful to people buying or renovating Japanese homes.
Yes. The press kit has bios, brand assets, and quick facts. For interviews, write to press@oldhousesjapan.com.
サイト · The site itself
Yes — every episode page has a full transcript under the show notes. They’re machine-generated and lightly edited; if you spot an error, please flag it and we’ll fix it.
For specific use cases — documentary, classroom, broadcast — write to press@oldhousesjapan.com with your project and the segments you’d like to use. We’re generally generous about non-commercial educational use.
One-click unsubscribe at the bottom of every email. We never re-add you, ever, for any reason.