About Kominka Atlas
Kominka Atlas is an English-language information site for people outside Japan who are considering buying a cheap vacant house (akiya) or traditional house (kominka) in rural Japan.
What we do
Listing sites tell you what a property asks. We focus on the information a foreign buyer cannot easily gather alone — and which usually decides whether a purchase is wise:
- What people actually pay — median real transaction prices for each area, from official government records, so you can judge an asking price against reality.
- Hazards — flood, landslide, tsunami, storm-surge and disaster-risk-zone status from Japan’s national datasets.
- Climate — official climate normals, so you know what living there is actually like.
- Why a region — heritage, history and nature nearby.
- Residency, tax and subsidies — renovation and relocation support, and the obligations a non-resident owner needs to know about.
What we are not
Kominka Atlas is an information service only. We are not a real-estate broker and we do not mediate transactions, negotiate prices, or provide legal or tax advice. When you are ready to view or buy a specific property, we direct you to specialist services and licensed professionals.
Our data sources
We attribute every figure: actual transaction prices from the MLIT Real Estate Information Library; climate normals from the Japan Meteorological Agency (1991–2020); cultural and natural site data from OpenStreetMap contributors; hazard data from Japan’s National Land Numerical Information; subsidy and residency information from each municipality’s official pages.
Operator
This site is operated by Asobi Digital Works. For enquiries, please use our contact form.
AI disclosure
Articles on this site are produced with the assistance of AI tools and are based on the public data sources listed above. They are reviewed for accuracy against those sources, but they are general information, not personalised advice. Always confirm the details that matter to you with the original official source.