Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Buying a home in Japan sounds like a fantasy until you meet the people who actually make it happen.
YukiHomes Presents is a show about Japan... its houses, its regions, and what it really takes for a foreigner to own a piece of it. From the snow country of Hokkaido and Nagano to the cities, coasts, and small towns in between, it's a look at the country through the eyes of the people who help others put down a stake in it.
Every episode goes deep on one thing. Sometimes that's property: what an akiya is and why old Japanese houses sell for the price of a used car, how a foreigner actually buys and renovates a home, which regions are worth it and which are hype. Sometimes it's everything around the houses: the food, the seasons, the onsen towns and ski hills, the design and craft, the culture, and the parts of doing this that are harder than anyone admits.
Hosted by Nick and Derek, co-founders of YukiHomes, and Grant (YukiHomes PR & Media Lead). Along the way you'll meet the builders, guides, shop owners, and buyers who know this country better than any guidebook.
No top-10 travel lists. Just honest conversations about Japan, and what it takes to own a piece of it.
New episodes every other week.
www.yukihomes.com
www.nipponhomes.com
riverside video
===
[00:00:00] There was a specific event that triggered this sauna safety in 2025. I think it, it was called, uh, Sauna Tiger in Akasaka. Killed a couple in their 30s, so regulators panicked. I guess the couple, like, couldn't get out- Holy ... because the, the door handle broke of the sauna. Oh my God. Yeah. That's actually terrifying, though.
Yeah. That's- No, super scary ...
welcome back to the Yuki Home Presents podcast. We got Grant back on. I know we forgot him last week. My wife got me these- Didn't even, didn't even mention me. My wife got me these sick shades. These are way more important than Grant anyway. What do you guys think? I think if you're on Spotify, stay there.
Yeah. I feel, I feel fast, guys. Was she like- But, yeah, welcome back. This is gonna be a episode about Airbnb. I'm cutting Grant off. We're gonna talk everything Airbnb related. But go ahead, Grant. You wanted to ask me about- I was gonna say- ... my wife's trip to [00:01:00] Spain. I was gonna say, was she ho- hoping you left her when she brought you those shades home?
How do you guys not like these? These things are sick. I'm just, I'm just kidding. I mean, I'm trying to see them. They definitely- They look like they're built for speed ... are crazy. 3D fake flames. Yeah. You kinda look like the Silver Surfer. I know. Damn. Fantastic Four? Yeah, that's a shout-out, callback. You guys hyped for the new Spider-Man movie?
No. Didn't even know there was one. Yeah. But yes. All right, we ha- we brought Grant back to keep us on the rails, and we're a minute in, and we're off the rails. Off the rails. All right. What made you guys wanna even Airbnb your house in Japan? Like, w- what appealed to you about it? Were you trying to make money?
Were you trying to offset costs? Tell us why people are doing this. I've always viewed Airbnb as, like, a way to get a house in a place that I enjoy, but also make a little bit of money, so a mix of both things. Like, I've run Airbnbs in Vermont for almost eight [00:02:00] years now, and I bought those houses as ski homes to enjoy skiing and rent them out and make a little bit of money.
So I would say Otaru, I had the same intentions. I wanted a house to ski and why not make a little money while you're, while you're doing it? That was my plan. What do you think, Nick? Do you even s- use the houses in Vermont to ski that much anymore now that you have one in Japan? No, since we've been going to Japan...
I went up there early last winter, November, for, like, a early storm and hiked up before the mountain even opened. Oh, yeah. And I went once later in the season, but that was really it. Yeah. Japan's taken my life over. Speaking of hiking, though, I think right now AK is, and Burton's having a big sale, so maybe when this podcast drops, people can go check it out.
But I think Dom's getting- Are we sponsored by AK? No, but- That'd be sick ... they did hook me up with that binding that Grant broke for free, so I'm shouting them out whenever I get the opportunity. Better send a few more, 'cause I might be breaking some more this winter. It's 'cause you're a big dog. Nick, you know what I mean?
Yeah, how's, how's the cardio going? These have been [00:03:00] your... Cardio's going good, dude. I just did a workout class yesterday. Damn. That's good, man. I'm getting fit. You doing classes? Yep. Alpha Fit, Red Bank, shout out. Just get on the StairMaster, dude. You don't need classes. No, they're nice. No, that's great. It's like six-minute stations.
You look a little skinnier, actually. Your face looks good. Maybe it's the hair. Well- Yeah, I think you do ... it's, it's nice class. Sarah was trying to drag me there for a long time, and I finally just was like, "All right, let's do it." And it's like, you do, like, six-minute stations. Like, one station was, like- Mm-hmm
running on the SkillMill for six minutes straight, and then the next was, like, using, like, one of those machines that has, I, I don't even know. Like, it's- SkiErg? SkiErg? They had the SkiErgs, but no. It was, like, you know, like, a weighted cable machine. Boat flights. Yeah. And then we did, like, shuffles up and down the whole place, and then we had...
We were doing, like, squats with bus- with- Dumbbells ... you know, dumbbells. And then, yeah, I mean, it was just like, it's six minutes each station. It ends up being like an hour total, and it- [00:04:00] it's a hard workout, and yeah- Moving the whole time ... it just like keep- keeps you moving- It keeps you moving ... and keeps you going.
Yeah, it's cool. I like Les Mills. It's not cheap, though. Yeah, they get you. The classes are crazy. It's insane, actually. Yeah, but you're rich, so... Um, do I have Airbnbs? No. I have four... Well, between me, my dad, and sister, we all, like, put money in and bought our first house in 2019 or 2020 in North Carolina, and we have four now, but they're all long-term tenants.
Uh, we don't do any Airbnb. Why did you choose to do long-term tenants instead? It's just easier, and honestly, my property manager is my dad, and he's in his 60s and likes to drink and golf, so he doesn't wanna deal with Airbnb turnover, and it's kind of working out right now. We have, like, a house full of UNCW students.
We have a hockey team house, uh, and then a couple families in the other one, so it's... I don't know. It's cool. We went over and built them a fire pit last time I was there. They were stoked. Good tenants right there. Sure that operates great. Good landlords right there. You and Chris- I'm doing a great landlord
building fireplaces. Yeah, we roll up and then- Very handy. There's, [00:05:00] like, beer cans everywhere. Bongs are out. We're just, like, stepping over trash. No, that's just one of the houses, but they're cool. The w- the one with students, we have, like, parents co-sign, so... Oh, that's awesome. All right. Well, let's get back on the rails.
Um, tell me, like, for people buying homes in Japan, when it actually makes sense for them to turn it into a short-term rental. Yeah. I think a lot of people come to us, and they wanna buy a house in the middle of nowhere and Airbnb it, and of course, that's gonna be hard for a few different reasons. It's gonna be hard because you need guests to go there, and the more rural it is, the harder it is to get guests.
And of course, everything else included in an Airbnb, cleaners, handymen, those are gonna be harder to find in a rural area. There's, you know, places all over Japan that have good rental data, so it, it's hard to say specifically what's good and what's bad. We, we would have to go town by town. But it's something that we do do for clients.
Like, if an Airbnb... If Airbnb-ing is important, and you generally [00:06:00] have an idea of what you like and what you wanna do in Japan, we can help you find the right place to do that. Yeah, I mean, something else to think about, too, like, speaking of being in a remote, isolated location, we have sent an inspector to a place just, like, before a purchase to look at a house, and I think just the travel fee was almost $800 US, and this specific client didn't even have an interest in Airbnb-ing, but they wanted to be in, like, a very remote area, and anything like inspections, contract work, it adds up.
And I, I don't know. For me personally, even being in a semi-rural area in Japan, it's quieter than- a normal town in the US, more respectful. So I don't know. I think maybe people know what they want, but sometimes I think people should go to some of these towns before they just, like, make assumptions. Yeah.
So you, you mostly tell people that are doing this in, like, ski towns and cities and coastal towns to, to Airbnb. Yeah. I mean, especially in a ski town. We talked about this before, but getting a place that snow shovelers and snowplows don't go [00:07:00] to is sketchy and expensive if you're gonna use it in the winter.
But yeah, I mean, I don't know. I've kinda lost my train of thought. But we're definitely more operating in some rural communities, but we're still in a community. Distance, distance to train station is still, like, one of the biggest indicators of if a place is gonna rent or not, if people wanna live there, that sort of thing.
And all these houses that are... people are buying, you guys are checking zoning and stuff before to make sure they can Airbnb, 'cause I know there's specific types of zoning and specific types of v- of rentals that you can do w- within that type of zoning. Yeah. That was a roundabout way to ask that question.
Yeah, for sure. There's the, there's specific zoning. It's not, it's not like the US, you buy a house, take photos, toss it on Airbnb. That's how I rented, listed all mine in Vermont. There was no regulations at all. Japan is very regulated. You have to be in the correct zone. There's two types of licenses you can get.
We can dive more into that later. But the zoning is very specific, and a lot of times people come to us [00:08:00] later on. We've discussed this in previous episodes. They'll DM me, "Hey, I bought this house. Can you list it for me?" And I'll check the zoning real quick, and they're in the wrong zone, and there is absolutely nothing you can do.
If you're in the wrong zone, you can never rent it on Airbnb. It has to be 30 days or longer. Yeah, residential rentals they're called. Yeah. And it might make sense, like - and Grant, maybe even add this to the intro. We're gonna dive into all the specifics in Airbnbs, so hopefully you guys stay tuned. Like, I don't know, is that something you can edit and then put in the front?
I guess. Well, I don't know. Or you just keep it right now. But I don't wanna, like, push things off. Like, let's dive into the differences in the licenses. I mean, if that's okay with you, Grant. And I guess one quick clarification, 'cause people get confused. When we say Airbnb, we just mean short-term rentals.
Yeah. We don't... That's just, like, I guess, the term everyone in the US uses specifically for this type of rental. It's like Kleenex. Yeah. Tissue. Yeah. Yeah. All right, Grant. Or like it's like Uber. Get us on the rails, dude. I, I, I feel like you guys should go into the [00:09:00] differences. I don't know why you said we do that later.
All right. Yeah. You wanna do minpaku versus ryokan? Okay. Yeah. So r- the, the two main licenses you can get are minpaku and ryokan. Minpaku was a law passed in 2018 specifically for the rise of Airbnb. People were listing their homes, and they needed some regulatory body, so they created this minpaku legislation.
It limits you to 180 days a year, and each municipality can further regulate it more. So, and they all did. So for example, Otaru, the minpaku zone outside of the commercial zone, you can only rent Saturday nights. So it's essentially a useless license to get in those specific zones. Ryokan license has been around for a long time.
It just means hotel, and we get what's called a simple hotel lodging, not a full ryokan license. And the local municipalities don't regulate... They can't regulate that any further in the amount of days or the restrictions. What they can regulate is what type of code [00:10:00] upgrades you need to meet. Safety. So, yeah, the safety stuff.
So what's good about ryokan is it's been a law for a long time. It hasn't changed. All the pushback that's happening by the Japanese government is really targeted towards minpaku. So they just passed another law where s- municipalities can outright ban minpaku. So in the past, before this law, which was, like, a month ago, I think it was in June when they passed it, municipalities could not outright ban it.
They can just put heavy, heavy regulations on it. Now they're allowed to fully ban minpaku, and- Mm-hmm ... I guarantee a lot of them will. So we really push all our clients to get ryokan licenses because they're safer, there's no limit on them, and, like, you're not gonna wake up next year... Well, hopefully, you're not gonna wake up one day next year with your license just taken away.
Yeah, this isn't something that you really need to worry about, but we do. Minpaku and ryokan management licenses are also different, so it's slightly different process for us if we're managing residential, and then residential goes into, like, ordinary [00:11:00] versus fixed term leases. And then minpaku, we have, we have to get specific licenses to manage the minpaku, and there's rules and regulations around having an emergency contact within 10 minutes.
Like, the city of Sapporo actually measures distance and then gives you a time. Otaru is more like, "Okay, you're within about 10 minutes. That makes sense." It's, it's kinda different in every municipality. And then ryokan licensing, again, s- a slightly different process, so. So you talked about, like, the fixed term lease, and there was another lease Do you have to have any type of special license just to rent out a house to somebody on like a, if like a long-term rent?
No, sir, you do not. We do both and The, the difference kind of is if there's currently a tenant in there and what type of license they have or if we're gonna help you set up and rent for the first time. But yeah, the difference would be, like, a fixed term rental is what we typically do if we're renting your house long term or, like, quote unquote residential.
So before [00:12:00] each guest, I guess we can call them guests or tenants, arrives, we have, like, an explanation of important matters with them, and they'll sign a contract for whatever the fixed term might be. It could be a one year, it could be three months, whatever we decide and they want. Um, the rate might change depending on the short or duration of the stay.
And, and then the other type is just like an ordinary, like a normal rolling year to year, typically year to year lease. Um, those are a little bit harder to get out of as an owner, but for tenants, like ten- Impossible. Yeah, pretty much impossible. Yeah. Tenant rights in Japan are super strong. I mean, I live in California too, so I'm kind of used to the strong tenant rights around here.
But I would say they're even stronger in Japan. And yeah, that's just an agreement between the owner of the house and the tenant themselves. Works very, very similarly to any normal lease you probably have seen in your country. And then the fixed term lease can actually be managed by a management company, so that's when we kind of get in the, in the middle.
Technically, we are subletting your place to offer fixed [00:13:00] term leases to tenants or guests, but I guess this is the podcast to do that. What's the minimum on those? 30 days. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So we cannot, we cannot get tenants for you with that. We are not allowed to do that. So if you wanted to hire someone to find tenants for you, they need to have a real estate license.
But you can... We can manage your property with a tenant already in it. They're two separate things. So the act of searching for tenants, you need a real estate license to do. And the reason that, like, we do the fixed versus ordinary lease is, like Nick was saying, in Japan, your lease automatically renews regardless.
But you, you don't need a minpaku or a ryokan license to do a fixed term 30-day rental? No. So we do those for people who are in the restricted zone. So say you don't care about Airbnb that much and you're in a restricted zone, what we can do is we can rent it out monthly, so month to month stays. So we would list it on Nippon Homes.
We're currently building, like, the software for that now, so [00:14:00] it'll be just like Airbnb. But you go to Nippon Homes, you can search the map, you pick a home, you book it, but you'll have to stay a minimum of, of 30 days. And it will work sort of like a long term, like a actual lease. So if you book a stay with us- Mm-hmm
you'll have to actually sign a lease, and it will be a fixed term lease so that you can't just stay in our property forever. Because in Japan, an ordinary lease will give you the right essentially to never leave. Like, you can stay as long as you want. So that's why we have that distinction. Yeah, I mean, to me it seems like a good idea for people who aren't gonna be there if during ski season, they could just- You know, somebody looking to come stay for two, three months, rent it out long term so you don't even need these licenses.
Yeah. But then- It's a good option ... um, if, but then if you are buying a home in a ski town, you probably do wanna go during ski season, but maybe you go early ski season and then rent it out halfway through or something. Yeah. It's a good option, too, if you don't wanna spend the money and you're still kinda dipping your toe in, [00:15:00] like, what this market really is like, because getting a ryokan license is a time-consuming process.
And, you know, you save six months and probably anywhere from 10 to $15,000 if you're just gonna list it residentially. You know, you could do that the first year, first two years, something like that. Yeah. What's it cost to get the minpaku or the ryokan license? The license itself isn't extremely expensive, anywhere from, like, 2 to $4,000, but it's just time-consuming, and then the code upgrades are what truly cost- Okay
a lot of money. I have, like, a full list in front of me. I mean, it might make... You want me to go through it? Yeah. Yeah, run, run with it. We, we could also maybe create this list and, like, link to it or something in the show notes. I don't know how hard that would be. But yeah, so there's obviously, like, they call it life safety is how it translates, but that's gonna be smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, emergency lighting.
And emergency could be fire, emergency could be earthquake. It depends on the municipality, like, what actual type of lighting. That was one of the more expensive things on our bill, though. [00:16:00] You need to build, like, a map, like, a route map to evacuate. You need emergency contact info, and that needs to be posted in your house.
Fire and earthquake emergency instructions, stairways, handrails, exits. You need exit signs themselves. Exposed wiring and, like, electrical safety, kind of, like, standard stuff, and same with gas. Everything needs to be fully furnished and guest-ready before you're actually getting your license, which that was news when I, when I learned it and pretty much news to all of our clients.
Obviously, bedding, mattresses, they need to confirm that they're in, quote-unquote, "good condition." You know, that's, like, the health, safety, guest accommodation stuff. Um, lighting fixtures all need to work. Windows need to close and lock. They, they do check for, like, loose tiles or boards, whatever, on your floor.
They- Who is doing these checks? There's a fire team that comes out, there's a health safety team that comes out, all from the municipality. So they are whoever the municipality basically deems the inspector for the license. Sometimes they are probably, like, people with [00:17:00] other jobs, like contracting or whatever, but often they will work for the munic- municipality.
Do you want me to keep going? Yeah, for sure. Okay. Uh, they- This is, this is really good stuff. Yeah. Actually, I'm not joking. No, I agree. They-- So then there's a whole plumbing section. They flush all the toilets, they use all the sinks and showers, they make sure hot and cold water works. Obviously, they look for leaks and drainage.
If you have mold or mildew, you're likely not gonna get this license, so they check for all that. And then bathroom f- bathrooms should all have ventilation fans or some sort of ventilation, like a window. And then they go, there's a kitchen section where your, like, fire blanket and some of your emergency equipment typically live.
Appliances should all work, so if you have, like, a dishwasher, for example, and it doesn't work, you either gotta fix it or get rid of it. House manual, typically, especially for us, it needs to be bilingual, so we actually just put ours in a couple Airbnbs the past couple weeks. We, like, upgraded it and put it in, like, a little binder with With [00:18:00] plastic around the pages, so it'll hopefully- Laminated?
last a little longer. Uh, it's not laminated. They're just, like, plastic sleeves that we slid the- Mm, okay ... pages into. I have my Airbnb in Vermont, same thing. I know exactly- Yeah ... what you're talking about. Yeah. And then, uh, instructions on all the appliances, so, like, people from the US or Australia know how to use the Japanese appliances.
You need all that. Instructions on how to heat the home, Wi-Fi, uh, and then this is a big one, the garbage. We literally have... How many pages is it? It's like an eight or nine-page guide- It's crazy ... just on garbage instructions. So different categories, how to take the trash out, where to take it, depending on where you're at.
Check-in and check-out instructions, pretty obvious stuff. And yeah, there's a- So what, what would you think would be, Nick, like, someone comes to you, "I want to Airbnb a house," what would you tell them is the minimum budget you should have? I typically say, like, 12 grand. No, I'm saying all in. So, like, the house purchase- The-
the renovations. Like, what would you say to someone? 'Cause, you know, like, what would you tell someone they need to have their- Yeah ... competitive Airbnb? On, on, like, what? Like, a [00:19:00] $40,000 house? Yeah. Yeah. $40,000 house all in, I mean, I would say minimum, like, 80 grand- Mm ... is, like, you have something that's at least competitive.
Remember, like, we're going in and taking photos. We are listing it. I'm, I'm only, like, three-quarters of the way through this list of things that we're building for every single house. It's, it's a lot. And, like, you know, paying the health inspector, whatever, that's not, not that big of a deal. It's less than $1,000 for most of those checks.
But no, like, if, if someone says, like, "Okay, I have a house. Okay, I renovated it. Now, what's the additional cost to, like, Airbnb it?" That's when I say, like, 10 to 15 or, like, $12,000. So- Yeah. Yeah. It's not cheap. Because everybody's house and renovations are gonna cost different, right? Yeah, exactly. For sure. So it's harder for me to say.
Yeah. But, like, you know, I guess my sen- my question was because how many people come to us- And I, I don't wanna mention any names, of course, but we have people who buy a house for 10 grand, and they're like, "All right. Let's do the code upgrades only, and then- Yeah ... renovate and then try and get it [00:20:00] licensed."
And from what you're describing on that list, like, they might not ev- even if your house has the quote unquote code upgrades- Mm-hmm ... like exit signs, they still might not approve you 'cause they're gonna be like... They're gonna walk through that house and think, "This is kind of a junk box." Yeah, I mean, I think the Japanese government does it for a couple reasons, but one of them is that they want guests or, like, people on vacation or foreigners to enjoy the country.
And if they start licensing all these houses that suck, then people's stay or vacation isn't gonna be what they thought it was. So part of it, I think, is, like, making sure that people get to enjoy Japan, which, I mean, I like to think that's one of the reasons at least. Yeah. So yeah, it's, it's kinda good, I think, that they do all this.
And then, like you were talking about there, there are some municipalities banning minpaku, and part of that, I think, is just to get rid of a lot of these illegal minpakus because the process is a little bit less strict. Obviously, you can rent it for less days, but it's one of those things that they, in the past, haven't really been checking.
But we do believe they're cracking down on that quite a bit. [00:21:00] There's definitely a lot of buzz about it in the news, so, you know, we wanna make sure that we're just on top of all these regulations and making sure our clients are, too. Yeah. It's... That video that I, that one of our clients just sent us about Airbnb.
Mm-hmm. It's funny because what you're describing, Japan wanting to peop- wanting people to have a good stay, is exactly what that video was describing, was the fall of Airbnb in the US, that there was no regulations. Mm-hmm. So people were just throwing the worst house on Airbnb with old furniture falling apart.
And then even worse stuff, putting cameras in private areas, and they just lost a lot of trust with people. So you're right. This probably keeps trust good- Right ... on, on the rental side of things, which is nice. Yeah, I mean, this is a crazy one. I was just about to get to it, but you need to have a neighbor complaint response procedure written out.
And in order to have that, obviously you need to meet and talk to your neighbors. That's something that we do every time we have a house sell or have a house that we help someone buy. But, you know, a full neighbor compliant, neighbor [00:22:00] complaint response procedure needs to be written up. A guest registration process is not something that's easy.
Luckily, it's kinda built into the SAS platform that we're, that we're using. Yeah. And then, yeah, you need to post the, the registration certificate in the house once you are approved. And then in Hokkaido specifically, there's, like, a full winter preparation. Mm-hmm. Snow removal plan. Ice or snow hazards should be marked.
I like that guest, guest thing. You need, you need lights outside. Uh, not guest thing. I like that neighbor- The neighbor. Yeah. That's nice. No, I know. It's, it's cool. It makes sure people aren't just slapping things up on Airbnb. Yeah, for sure. And then- So I'm thinking, like- Yeah. That's pretty much it All of this is like what we'll- Pretty much it after like a 10-page list.
Yeah. Just those few things. You know, in the US it's take photos list. When you do both, when you have the, the US, like I have the experience doing it in the US, now I have experience doing it in Japan, like comparing the two, sometimes I think to myself, like, the US is a wild place. Like, it is the Wild West.
It's insane that people [00:23:00] even trust Airbnb when you actually think about it. There is no rules. Anyone can list anything on Airbnb in America. It's insane. Yeah. Grant and my hometown, I recently went on Zillow. I mean, this happened like five years ago, but we were from Ocean City, Maryland, and there really wer- weren't any Airbnb laws.
So all these students used to live there in the winter, like off-season, or in the summer sometimes if they were working. But now there's zero long-term rentals. Everything's an Airbnb. Right. And they pretty much only rent it in the summer. So it kind of screwed like a bunch of students from Salisbury and like all these cities around would go make their money in Ocean City in the summer, and now it's like super hard or you have to live in West Ocean City or Berlin and, I don't know, it kind of sucks.
And, and like Ocean City has like a huge J-1 program so like- Yeah. Mm-hmm ... all of these- Right ... foreigners come and work for the summer. And dude, you should see some of these houses that they lived in. They'd stack, you know, four to six bunk beds in a room and s- [00:24:00] literally they're living like sardines in a can- Yeah
packed into these houses, and they're just filthy sharing one bathroom. It's all like Irish people, right? Dude, there'd be 22 people in a house. Irish, Russian, Ukrainian. Yeah. All, yeah, all, all types. I remember we went to Ocean City and we went in one of those places, and I remember there was like a bunch of bunk beds 'cause Lauren Eshen was like hanging out with some Irish kid.
I don't know if you remember this, Nick. I remember exactly who you're talking about. I've been there. Yeah. It's crazy. So yeah, you're right. It's foul. It's insane. I mean- All right, back, back to Japan though. Um, so I was just thinking when we were talking about, like, the minpaku license. So all of this is, like, local municipalities are- Regulating?
Yeah, they're regulating it, right? So there isn't a way, like, for there to be a national database in Japan. So like let's say you wanted to list your house on Airbnb, like you'd have to put in your ryokan license or your minpaku license to do it. Mm-hmm. Like, 'cause- Yeah ... 'cause that seems like the [00:25:00] easiest way to check for the, for the country to do.
That's what they do. Yeah, they do that. Oh, so it is like that, okay, 'cause I thought it was all localized. So the new r- the new regulation, the new rules they passed in April to crack down even further was, you know, you have to think all these municipalities are scattered across the country and they're pretty dated.
They have, they use old technology. A lot of them still do stuff on pen and paper. So a lot of times the license number wasn't known by the federal government. So part of the, the push they're doing is to digitize everything and run a, like, an autonomous check on the licensing in the local municipality and Airbnb so they could compare them and say, "Okay, these are the real license numbers."
And anything that, I guess, maybe people were making fake license numbers, anything that's fake they take down. Mm-hmm. And then they're also checking on the amount of days rented, so they're gonna autonom- autonomously check Airbnb and say, "Okay, this house went over the 180-day limit. We're gonna fine them."
[00:26:00] So in the past, no one was doing that, so yeah, get your mi- minpaku license and, like, who's really gonna check if you're doing more than 180 days? But apparently that is the big push, is to check all those things, which me and Nick definitely support, 'cause we're going through a long bureaucratic process to make sure we're doing this right.
So I'm happy to see bad actors being shut down. What are the penalties? I think fines and, I mean, I don't know exactly off the top of my head, but probably some serious fine, remove your house, and I guess if you're- Mm ... a major offender, I don't know, Japan is pretty liberal with giving people jail time, so I have no idea- You might get off the plane-
if they would do that, but- Get off the plane and they'll, and they'll drag you out? I don't know. Drag you into a back room, question you? I don't know. The Japanese government scares me, so, like, we make sure we do everything by the books as much as possible. Yeah, just riding in the car with a drunk driver or someone who's had one beer, the whole car gets thrown in jail.
Yeah. I don't mess with that. What's funny is I know people in the US who rent, like long-term [00:27:00] rent a property, and then they'll post their house- Yeah ... on Airbn- that they rent on Airbnb. I've heard of that. It's like, and like why even have a landlord? It's, uh, what's it called? Like Airbnb hacking or something.
Yeah. Yeah. People... There's like- Pay your rent ... whole courses on YouTube on doing it that way. Yeah. Like lease out a place. They have like 40 properties under management. I mean, San Diego's a town where you can kinda do it, I think. Yeah. And they don't tell the landlord? No, no, no. The landlord on every single one knows.
Okay. Yeah. 'Cause this one, the, at first, the dude, the dude who I know that does it, his landlord had no idea, and then when he found out, he wasn't mad about it, but, like, I think personally I'd be like, "How much money are you making? Like, I need to be broken off." Yes. Yeah. That's interesting. I mean, this dude- It's low risk if he's making his rent, you know?
Well, I mean, this dude was making a lot of money Let's get back on the rails, Grant Yeah, sorry. Sorry, we're, we're going off the rails. You, you would know scammers, Grant. Oh, what about, I guess we didn't talk about, like, check-in kiosks, and this is, like, sort of [00:28:00] newer under Sapporo's ryokan rules. And then if there is a floor, like if your house has a third floor, you do need to block it and say, like, if it's, if it's not for guest use, you actually need like a physical barrier blocking that.
And then we could talk about some of the sauna stuff because we are installing saunas at some of these houses. For sure. Talk about that. Talk, talk about it. That's interesting. Yeah, it is interesting. So because Japan and, like, their culture is so modest, if there's a sauna, which obviously most of them are outdoor, if there's a path from your house to s- It's funny you say they're modest when every 7-Eleven you go in just has boobs in your face all over the I know.
It's, that's interesting ... all over the magazine. It's really interesting I don't know. But, but if you walk... if you have to walk outside to get to your sauna, you have to have, like, a physical barrier blocking any view of your body. So we're building, like, a fence in one part of our, of a client's house specifically so that people from the road can't see the guests of the Airbnb, like, walking from sauna to house.
Mm-hmm. Um, [00:29:00] we need a security, like, emergency button to say, like, "There's an emergency. Call 911," or I don't even really know exactly what the button will do. I guess it would call some sort of emergency services, but- Wow. Really ... we're installing that button and then just, like, a s- standard drain on the sauna, which is kind of interesting 'cause you don't really expect them to get wet, but they need a drain.
And yeah, there's even, like, a little part of the fence that you can see over from the road, so we're, like, we have to build, like, an extension on that. Obviously, we're, like, you know, pretty far down the path of the inspections on this one, so we know these specific details, but yeah, just a lot of, like, interesting stuff that we really didn't expect.
Yeah, that's crazy. So it's, like, gonna be, like, almost like an elevator button where you hit it- Yeah ... and it calls the fire department- Inside the sauna ... or 911 or something. I think it can be in or, like, right outside, but, like, proximity. Yeah. So that's gonna have to be connected to a phone line of some sort, right?
That's so extreme. It might just be connected to, like, electricity. I, I don't know. We're learn- we're learning about this right now, so. Yeah, it seems that there's, [00:30:00] there is very strict rules. There is very organized rules, but it seems also like there is a lot of things done ad hoc where they're like, "Oh, okay, you're building a sauna, and it's a little bit away from the house, so we want X, Y, and Z."
Right? It seems- Seems overkill ... I wonder... Yeah, it seems like they really do take each case. They have their set rules, but then each house is an individual case that they really do look at. Like- Yeah ... the whole holistic view and say- Right ... "Oh, we actually want more of this and more of this." Yeah, it doesn't seem to be just check boxes.
It's like they truly care about the safety of their guests, and there were a couple deaths the past few years in saunas in Japan specifically. Mm-hmm. So I do think we're getting, like, a little extra scrutiny. Yeah. So what would you recommend to people who wanna buy a sauna and put it in their Airbnb?
Yeah, I mean, make sure it's in the backyard. Expect some extra costs. Don't let it be, like, a path from... Like, the front yard, you'd literally have to enclose the whole sauna, I think. That is an option that we're looking at, like, having basically, like, an outdoor, like, lean-to or, like, [00:31:00] room, garage even, because then you could, like, have a changing area there, and then you can get in the sauna.
Um, I think that would pass. So just depending on, like, the property and where the sauna's gonna be and what you can do there. Yeah, I think it would be a case by case, but we'd obviously help you make decisions if you wanted that. Yeah. Imagine trying to do this without someone like you and Suzuki and Hana do- It would be- Like researching everything?
Yeah. Yeah, just being a foreigner who barely speaks Japanese trying to get your Airbnb set up in Japan. Not even to, like, toot our own horn, it just seems like it would physically be impossible. No, I know. It actually seems like there was a specific event that triggered this sauna safety in 2025. I think it, it was called a sauna tiger in Akasaka, killed a couple in their 30s, so regulators panicked.
I guess the couple, like, couldn't get out- Holy ... because the, the door handle broke of the sauna. Oh my God. Yeah. That's actually terrifying, though. Yeah. [00:32:00] That's- No, super scary ... but, but that, that's crazy because I don't... I guess I'd have to n- understand what sauna they had, but every sauna I've been in, I'm sure you too, Nick- Like, pushes open
they all have timer and they all have timers. Like, none- Yeah ... of them will stay on for eternity. They automatically turn off. It- Yeah. Maybe it was, like- That's a good point ... an actual, like, latch handle- Yeah ... which is not good. I don't know. Yeah, that, that should be a regulation. Like- For sure ... it shouldn't latch.
It should just, like, shut closed and, like, be sealed on the edges. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe it was a murder. Maybe somebody- Tell us ... maybe, maybe somebody- Murder ... maybe somebody latched the door from the outside. You think there's some money to make off this, Grant? Off of what? Someone getting killed in the sauna.
Is there some scheme- I hope not ... that you're scheming? No, I'm just- Just to, uh, paint a picture, maybe somebody put up a chair up against, you know, locked the door- Yeah ... that way. Oh, wow. Turn the timer all the way. They actually did a full survey of 13,000 sauna facilities, and 23% had no panic [00:33:00] button, so this is why all these directives are coming down.
That's crazy. Instead of just, "All right. Let's fix the door so people don't get locked in." "Nah, let's put a panic button in every single one." Yeah. Seems like the wrong way to regulate it, but what do I know? It looks like the quotes translated are reachable from the bench or near the floor in case someone collapses, but the exact placement is on, is at the inspector's discretion.
Damn, so it's gotta be low in case you're, you're knocked out so you can- I guess so, so you can like- ... you can reach when you're, like, half asleep ... slap it. That's crazy. I wonder what they're gonna make us do. It just says spec and placement are negotiable. We'll see. We'll get back to you guys on that. Yeah.
Actually, not every sauna that I've been in has been, has had a timer. Like, I've, me and Sarah did this... It was like a Swedish bathhouse thing for- You love talking about this ... for Valentine's Day. But lo- Swedish ... this, this sauna was, like, wood-fired, and there's no way that you could put any kind of timer on it, like, other than, like, the wood [00:34:00] burning out.
True. So. Church. Church. All right, let's get back on the rails. All right, tell me, like, how much money people can expect to make on Airbnb-ing their house or short-term... making it into a short-term rental if they're in, like, a pretty desirable area. Or like, let's talk about your Otaru house. I was gonna say, Japan's a huge country, yeah.
I guess specifically Otaru, I, I mean, 8, 8 to 10% returns are probably pretty reasonable to expect. It's hard to say for certain because a lot more Airbnbs are coming online. Me and Nick have this conversation all the time. Is Otaru gonna become oversaturated with Airbnbs? I don't think so because of how long it takes to get licensed.
It really puts a huge, like, block on the amount, the pace at which Airbnbs can be set up. If this was America, Otaru would likely be oversaturated at this point, but Japan makes it really difficult. Another thing to consider, you're likely gonna use your house during the best time of the year when you're gonna make your most money.
So you have to factor that in. If you're there for the month of [00:35:00] January, that's prime money-making time, so that 8 to 10% is gonna go down to, like, maybe 5%. Uh, but there's, there's definitely some money to be made. You can make good returns, absolutely. Like, when you say 8 to 10%, what, percent on what? 8, 8 to, 8 to 10% of, like, your investment.
Cash on cash. So say... Yeah, so- Gotcha. Okay. So if you spend 100K, you can expect to make 8 to 10K net profit a year. Like, that is a very... You know, you probably see people making more than that too. It's... I wouldn't say... There are definitely people making 15, 16, 17% in Otaru. The really killer Airbnbs that got in early are definitely doing that.
How hard do you think it would be for a foreigner to buy a hotel, and, like, are these hotels already licensed? Like, can a license kind of go, like, with the purchase to the new buyer, or do you have to, like, go through this whole process again? Yeah, so- You would reapply, but- You would reapply, but the license is, is technically, like, with the house.
Like, the owner owns the house or the hotel, but they can [00:36:00] do, like, a transfer process. I think they would still check everything, but it would be a lot more minimal than if you were getting the license for the first time. We've actually had a couple deals, like, cross our virtual desks recently. There's a hotel in Miyako, I think it's, like, 18 doors for sale.
But that would be under a different license, still under the ryokan regulations, but it wouldn't be the simple, simple lodging. It would be, like, the actual full hotel license where you need to have people on staff, and it is a different process. But- The actual ownership and purchase works pretty much the same as any other business or house.
Like, you can have ownership as long as, you know, it's not like a land lease or anything like that, and run it the same way. I guess the one caveat would be you wouldn't be able to actually go to Japan and do any work for that hotel. Yeah. Because you would be on a tourist visa, so you can- Unless you had a visa, right.
Yeah, like you could invest in it, and you could, you could manage it from abroad and like run operations from aboad- abroad, but as soon as you're in Japan operating it, you would be working on a [00:37:00] tourist visa, which is illegal. Yeah. You could have a management company doing it on your behalf or whatever, but- Mm-hmm
yeah. So it would be like a good business for somebody to get in if they were looking to move to Japan full-time. Or just invest and wanna have someone else run it. But yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because you couldn't even do it as a foreigner. Yeah. The one that was for sale actually had bookings at, I think they had like 40% booked already for 2027.
Uh, and the guy was building kind of like a new community. He... I, I think he did pretty well on the hotel and just like is onto the next thing. But yeah, if people are interested in that, I think it's still, like, available. I don't really- Yeah, there's definitely towns where those, that is a solid investment.
What about just setting up like a small, like, bed and breakfast type, like six room... Wouldn't even call it a hotel really. Same license though. Same. If there's more than one entrance and more than one door for people to stay in, like simple lodging is really like a family home. Gotcha. Yeah. Is there anything else we didn't cover that you guys wanna talk about?
I feel like we kinda nailed a lot. No, I think that was pretty good. I [00:38:00] guess, you know, the one thing to make sure, I think we already went through, but before you ever even buy or want to buy, you should make a decision on whether or not you ever want to Airbnb your home, because if you buy in a zone that's not ryokan eligible, it never will be.
Mm-hmm. They're not drawing new, new go- or new lines on the city . I do not believe so. They're getting even stricter, if anything. Yeah. And then another thing that we did touch a little, but I really think the monthly rental is a good option. Mm-hmm. And I'm pretty confident once we have this whole platform built out on Nipon, that it's gonna be pretty desirable.
I mean, in Vermont, people stay for the month at my Airbnb all the time, and I don't see why Japan would be different in these ski towns. So- Mm-hmm ... it's a really good option. You could get a much cheaper house in the restricted zone. The rental zones carry a premium because you can rent them. So you could get a cheaper house.
You don't have to pay for the code upgrades. You don't have to pay for the license. You can literally buy [00:39:00] it, furnish it, rent it. So I think it's a great option for people who don't care as much about like the bottom line and trying to- Yes ... squeeze out every dollar. That's all I got to say. Are you trying to squeeze out every dollar?
We use our house too much. We probably shouldn't even have ever licensed it. I know. Dom, I don't even wanna say anything. Dom's gonna cut that out, Grant. Cut it out. Dom's gonna be pissed. Dom, I'm not cutting it out. All right. All right. See you. All right. We'll see you guys next time. See you guys