Buy a foreclosed Japanese house. Without walking into a legal trap.

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An ordinary listing risk score is not enough for keibai. A court auction is all-cash with no loan contingency, sold as-is with no agent and no warranty, and four conditions in the court files can stop a foreign buyer before they ever bid. Yudane puts each lot's court facts in English against all four walls, with the statutory bid math, so you know exactly which questions to take to a licensed professional before you commit a deposit.

The lot facts, the court’s numbers, and the bid math are always free. The paid layer is the document deep-read — the court’s 三点セット, read page by page and faithfully translated, ending in questions for your lawyer, never a verdict. Browse the board →

What is a Japanese court auction (競売 / keibai)?

A keibai (競売) is a compulsory court auction in which a Japanese district court sells foreclosed real estate, often well below market value. It is all-cash with no loan contingency, the property is sold as-is with no agent and no warranty, and the only documents are the court files. Yudane surfaces every open court-auction lot across Japan in English — the court’s own facts, the statutory bid math, and official hazard-zone data — and reads each lot’s three court documents (三点セット) on request.

Can a foreign buyer bid at a Japanese court auction?

Often yes, but several conditions can stop you outright. If the land category (地目) is farmland (田 / 畑), 農地法 第3条 requires a 買受適格証明書 that a non-farmer cannot obtain. Some lots sell only a co-ownership share (持分) you cannot use. An occupant with a senior lease (対抗力) cannot be removed. And payment is all-cash wired to the court, which a non-resident handles through a bilingual judicial scrivener (司法書士). Whether any of these applies to a specific lot is written in its court file — and is a question for a licensed Japanese professional, not something Yudane decides for you.

What does Yudane provide, and what does it cost?

The lot facts, the court’s appraisal and bid math, and the official hazard-zone data are free for every open lot. The paid layer is the document deep-read: the lot’s 三点セット (typically 30–100 pages, Japanese only) read page by page, the load-bearing passages faithfully translated with the Japanese source alongside, the numbers independently double-checked, and a set of per-lot questions to take to your lawyer. Yudane gives no legal verdict and no recommendation to bid or not bid — it is a study of a public court file, not legal advice.

Is Yudane’s risk methodology open and checkable?

Yes. The asbestos risk index (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.19625688) covers 1,360 residential districts across 51 municipalities. The termite damage model (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.19626972) is calibrated against the MLIT 2013 national survey of roughly 5,300 wooden detached houses. Both are open preprints, not yet peer-reviewed, published on Zenodo under CC BY 4.0 together with the source code and the derived datasets, so anyone can re-run the method and check any number against it.

What is the difference between a court auction (keibai) and an akiya bank?

They are different channels. An akiya bank (空き家バンク) is a municipal listing of vacant houses sold on the private market with an agent, a normal contract, and sometimes financing. A court auction (競売 / keibai) is a compulsory sale run by a district court to repay a creditor: all-cash, sold as-is, no agent, no warranty, and with legal blockers (farmland, fractional shares, sitting tenants) that never appear in an akiya listing. Keibai is usually cheaper and riskier — which is exactly why the court file deserves a careful read before you bid.

Do I need a visa or to live in Japan to bid at a court auction?

There is no nationality or residency requirement to own property in Japan, and a non-resident can bid. The practical hurdle is payment: the deposit and full price are wired to the court in cash with no financing, and a non-resident cannot open a standard Japanese bank account, so a bilingual judicial scrivener (司法書士) executes under a notarised, apostilled power of attorney.