The Savvy Foreign Investor’s Guide to Japanese Properties

Did you know that Japan is the world’s second-largest real estate investment market? No surprise if you didn’t, because even many Japanese investors aren’t aware of it—or that a 2018 report from leading investment research firm MSCI Inc. valued Japan’s market at US$798 billion in 2017.

One problem foreign investors face, in fact, is the crucial lack of dependable, actionable information about Japanese properties. In the Savvy Foreign Investor’s Guide to Japan, real estate advisor and investor Toshihiko Yamamoto and U.S.–trained global architect Masatoyo Ogasawara tell you exactly how to find, assess, buy, manage and even build great properties in Japan—and how to avoid all the pitfalls along the way.


Here are just some of the insights they’ll give you:

Who’s buying property in Japan, and where and why

How top investors see the market, and two real-world cases

Investment options both conventional (condos, apartment buildings, etc.) and unconventional (Airbnb, kominka and more)

Practical property-hunting tips and techniques

How to find the right property management firm

How the new Minpaku Law affects rental properties

Insuring your investment wisely, including disaster coverage

Building countermeasures for fire and earthquake

How to find and deal with architects and contractors


Whether you’re a pure investor, have plans to live in Japan or are already here, this book gives you several potential roads to solid yields in one of the world’s most stable and desirable property markets.


Toshihiko Yamamoto was a corporate executive working for major firms such as Konami Corporation and Sony Pictures Entertainment and a commodities trader in London for five years before getting deep into the real estate market as an investor, real estate broker and property advisor. He’s determined to raise the reputation of real estate investment in Japan, and specializes in assisting foreign buyers and sellers the market.

Masatoyo Ogasawara is a registered architect in New York and a first-class architect in Japan who graduated from the University of Tokyo with dual degrees in aeronautics and architecture, went on to the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and then joined Pei Cobb Freed & Partners in New York. The latter was the domain of Pritzker prizewinner I. M. Pei. He now runs his own firm in Tokyo, Masatoyo Ogasawara Architects, which specializes in high-end residential and commercial structures, providing world-class, high-end and diversified services in English to international clients.