We sell nothing. Here is what that means.

What we are not

• Not a brokerage. We hold no real-estate license and do not act as one: no property listings, no mediation, no introductions to agents or landlords, no “contact us about this property”. Brokerage in Japan is a licensed business, and we stay deliberately outside it — information, checklists and a calculator only.
• Not an affiliate. There are no affiliate links on this site and no referral fees from agents, developers, portals, moving companies or anyone else in the transaction. Nothing we write is paid for by a party to your deal.
• Not an advisor. Everything here is general information — not legal, tax or investment advice. Every article carries that notice, and we mean it.
• Not a hype machine. We publish no investment-return pitches and no “free house” fantasies. A cheap house has reasons; our job is to show you how to find them.

What we verify, and how

• Official sources first. Claims about law, taxes and procedures are checked against primary pages — ministries (国土交通省, 法務省), the National Tax Agency, prefectures and municipalities — and those links appear in each article’s Official sources box, so you can verify everything we say without trusting us.
• Every figure carries an as-of date. The only numbers we print are legally fixed or officially published ones, each stamped with the date we last verified it. If we could not verify a figure, we don’t print it — we link to the official source instead. That is why the cost calculator computes exactly one formula today and honestly lists the rest as not-yet-computed.
• The vermilion stamp is earned. The small 朱印 “verified” seal appears only next to statements backed by a clickable primary source. No source, no stamp — ever.
• Terms are translated once, carefully. Words like 敷金, 礼金, 重要事項説明 and 借地権 do legal work, so their English renderings live in one place — the glossary — and every article uses them consistently.
• Re-verification is scheduled. Japan revises housing and tax rules on a fiscal-year rhythm, so verified figures are re-checked around each turn of the year (see the housing calendar), not just when we happen to notice.

How the site makes money

Through clearly labelled ads from our own media network — never through commissions on your transaction, paid placements by agents or developers, or affiliate links. If a revenue idea would give us a stake in what you decide, it doesn’t ship. The moment that changes in any way, this page changes first.

When we tell you to see a professional

General information has a boundary, and we point it out rather than blur it. Anything that depends on your facts — contract review, visa and residency questions, tax filing and reliefs, title and boundary issues, inheritance, disputes — belongs with a licensed professional: a lawyer (弁護士), judicial scrivener (司法書士), tax accountant (税理士), or licensed real-estate transaction specialist (宅地建物取引士). Our guides explain what each one does and which step of the process they appear in, so you arrive at their desk prepared, not confused.