Book
Buying, Owning and Selling from Overseas
The Kindle edition is in preparation and will be published on Amazon.
The book is for people who live outside Japan and are considering buying a flat in a Japanese city, or a condominium in a resort, in their own name. It follows a property from purchase, through the years of letting, to a sale, and works out in yen what Japanese tax takes at each stage and how the tax withheld along the way is settled on a return.
The rules, rates and figures in the book are those for 2026.
Corrections to the book, and changes in Japanese tax law or practice that affect its figures, are listed here, with the chapter and section concerned.
| Date listed | Chapter and section | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| None listed. | ||
Last checked on October 23, 2026.
MISAWA Masaki is a certified public tax accountant (zeirishi) in Sapporo, Hokkaido, registration number 157367, and spent more than twenty-five years at Japan’s National Tax Agency, about ten of them in international taxation, before going into practice.
MISAWA Masaki Tax Accountant Office serves owners of Japanese property who live abroad, and foreign nationals living in Japan.
If you would like advice on your own purchase, you can contact the office.
This page is general information, based on the law and practice in force on the date shown above. It is not tax advice on any particular matter, and reading it does not create an adviser–client relationship. We accept no liability for any loss arising from reliance on it. Before acting, obtain advice on your own position from a qualified professional.
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