Can Americans buy property in Japan? Yes. Japan is not the hard part. Your own filing is.

Can Americans buy property in Japan?

Yes. As of September 2026 no Japanese law restricts foreign individuals or companies from buying land or buildings, and a US buyer takes the same freehold ownership as a Japanese one. There is no nationality test, no quota and no approval. What exists instead is reporting.

The honest caveat is timing. A government expert panel postponed its recommendations on restricting foreign real estate purchases from mid-summer to autumn 2026, and a bill to tighten the law on land near important facilities was being prepared for the autumn Diet session. No nationality-based restriction was in force when this page was written. Check it again before you sign.

What a foreign owner actually holds, and every rule that touches it: foreign property ownership in Japan, explained.

What must an American file in Japan within 20 days of buying?

A FEFTA report, Form No. 22, filed with the Minister of Finance through the Bank of Japan within 20 days of acquisition, in Japanese. It applies to non-residents, and a US buyer living in the United States is a non-resident. Since 1 April 2026 it covers almost every purchase.

• No threshold. No minimum amount and no minimum area. A zero-yen acquisition and an inheritance are both reportable.
• Your own home counts now. Buying ownership of a home to live in stopped being exempt on 1 April 2026, and so did buying from another non-resident.
• Who is a non-resident. A foreign national is presumed to be one unless they work at an office in Japan or have been in Japan six months or more.
• Penalty. Up to six months' imprisonment or a fine of up to JPY 500,000 for not filing or filing falsely. File late rather than not at all, with a short explanation.

An agent living in Japan can file it for you.

Does the IRS care that the property is in Japan?

Yes. The United States taxes its citizens and green-card holders on worldwide income wherever they live, so rent from a Japanese property is reportable at home as well as taxed in Japan. Foreign accounts and certain foreign assets carry their own separate reports on top of the return.

This is the single biggest difference between an American buyer and, say, a Singaporean one, and it has nothing to do with Japanese law.

• FBAR. A US person with foreign financial accounts over the reporting threshold files a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts. If you open a Japanese bank account to collect rent or pay the fixed asset tax, that account is in scope.
• FATCA. Certain foreign financial assets are reported separately on Form 8938 with the return.

This page does not give tax advice and does not tell you how the Japanese tax you already paid interacts with your US return. Take that to an adviser who handles both sides, not to a selling agent.

How is Japanese rent taxed before it ever reaches a US account?

Rent from Japanese property is Japan-source income. The payer withholds 20.42% of the gross rent, except where an individual tenant rents the home to live in. Net rental income is then taxed at progressive national rates of 5% to 45%, plus a 2.1% reconstruction surtax, through an annual return.

• Filing window: 16 February to 15 March of the following year. The withholding is credited against what you actually owe.
• Tax representative: a non-resident must appoint one in Japan. Line this up before the first rent is due, not after.
• Annual taxes: fixed asset tax at a standard 1.4% plus city planning tax of up to 0.3%, both on the government's assessed value and both billed to whoever owns the property on 1 January.

The full breakdown: Japan property tax for foreigners.

Can an American get a mortgage in Japan?

Plan on cash. Japanese bank mortgages are, in practice, for people who live in Japan. The foreigner-friendly lenders reviewed in a published guide all required the applicant to live in Japan. That guide dates from 2018, and no current non-resident lending terms could be confirmed for this page in September 2026.

If a lender does offer you terms, get them in writing before you sign a contract. A deposit paid on a contract you cannot complete is the expensive way to find out.

The money itself moves freely. No approval is needed to bring funds into Japan for a purchase or to take sale proceeds out. Japan monitors after the fact instead: how money into Japan actually works.

What happens when an American sells a Japanese property?

The gain is taxed separately from other income: 15% national income tax if the property was held more than five years as of 1 January of the year of sale, 30% if not, each plus the 2.1% surtax. When the seller is a non-resident the buyer normally withholds 10.21% of the gross price.

Mind the 1 January test. Five years counted to the day is not enough. In practice the property has to be held into its sixth calendar year-start before the lower rate applies, which is a holding-period decision you make on the way in, not on the way out.

The 10.21% withholding does not apply where the price is JPY 100M or less and the buyer is an individual buying the home to live in. The seller files a return to settle the real tax. There is no approval needed to take the proceeds out of Japan, and then the US return applies to the gain as well. Step by step: selling property in Japan as a foreigner.

Header photo: David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.