Japan Housing Websites (part one)
Want to move to Japan? Me too! Lately I’ve seen a lot of Instagram pages dedicated to showing off cheap homes in Japan. These pages usually just link back to a Japanese real estate website, so I’d like to list some handy vocabulary to help you navigate the sites and find some houses on your own!
Note: This post was made with intermediate level Japanese learners in mind. It's meant to be a vocabulary list with visual examples, not an all-inclusive house buying guide. A complete list of vocab words can be found at the end of the post.
For general website navigation, I’d recommend the RikaiChan / RikaiKun extensions which will display a translation of each word you mouse over.
I really like SUUMO, so that will be the site I use for the example pictures. But any website will have more or less the same words!
[ 1 ] Creating an Account会員（かいいん）登録（とうろく）：Member Registration
[ 2 ] Search探す（さがす）：Search / Find
This word will come up a lot!
The search function may also appear as...
検索（けんさく）：Search
物件（ぶっけん）検索：Property Search
Suumo has a nifty map on the front page. If you know the region you'd like to search in, you can choose it here.
[ 3 ] Renting
借りる（かりる）：Rent (Borrow)
賃貸（ちんたい）：Lease / Rent
[ 4 ] Purchasing買う（かう）：Buy
[ 5 ] House Terminology
If you've taken a Japanese class, you may have learned that the Japanese word for house is 家 or いえ. Unfortunately, this short and simple word isn't used much on real estate websites. The following terms are typically used instead.
一戸建て（いっこだて）：Detached Building
A standalone house, as opposed to an apartment or condo.
新築（しんちく）一戸建て：New Buildings
中古（ちゅうこ）一戸建て：Old Buildings
中古 can mean "old", "used", or “secondhand”, none of which sound ideal, but all it means is that the house that has been lived in previously. This is where you find the cheap ones!
Once you have the region and building type selected, you’ll see a new map you can use to select the prefecture. I'll highlight a few key search methods on this screen.
[ 1 ] Search by Area（エリア）
Click on a prefecture to bring up a checklist of cities and districts.
At the bottom of the list, you'll see two options: refining the search further or proceeding with the checked options.
「チェックした市区郡の町名を絞り込む」
"Narrow by town names of checked cities/wards/districts"
市区郡（しくぐん）："City Ward District"
町名（ちょうめい）：Town Name
絞り込む（しぼりこむ）：Narrow / Refine
「この条件で検索する」
"Search with these conditions"
条件（じょうけん）：Condition / Term
The orange number shows how many total properties were found with the checked selections. Click the blue search button if you want to jump straight to the houses without refining the search.
[ 2 ] Search by Railway（沿線）or Station（駅）
Click on a prefecture to bring up a checklist of railways.
At the bottom of the list, you'll see two options: refining the search further or proceeding with the checked options.
「チェックした沿線の駅を絞り込む」
"Narrow by stations of checked railways"
沿線（えんせん）：Railway / Track
駅（えき）：Station
絞り込む（しぼりこむ）：Narrow / Refine
「この条件で検索する」
"Search with these conditions"
条件（じょうけん）：Condition / Term
Once again, the orange number shows how many total properties were found with the checked selections. Click the blue search button if you want to jump straight to the houses without refining the search.
[ 3 ] Search by Map（地図、ちず）
Clicking here will open up a much more detailed map that you can scroll through! Definitely the easiest option, which is why I put it last. :)
Here's the complete vocab list for ease of viewing:
会員（かいいん）：Member
登録（とうろく）：Registration
探す（さがす）：Search / Find
検索（けんさく）：Search
物件（ぶっけん）検索：Property Search
借りる（かりる）：Rent (Borrow)
賃貸（ちんたい）：Lease / Rent
買う（かう）：Buy
一戸建て（いっこだて）：Detached Building
新築（しんちく）一戸建て：New Buildings
中古（ちゅうこ）一戸建て：Old Buildings
市区郡（しくぐん）："City Ward District"
町名（ちょうめい）：Town Name
沿線（えんせん）：Railway / Track
駅（えき）：Station
絞り込む（しぼりこむ）：Narrow / Refine
条件（じょうけん）：Condition / Term
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