Paying utilities and taxes require Japan representative

After purchasing our home in Honjo, Saitama, the monthly utility bills and taxes require payments required a Japan agent. We used a friend’s name and address that lives in Japan. If no friend, you would need ask the realtor if they can manage your home payments etc. that typically will cost $50 to $100 usd per month, depending if you want them to do check ups on house.

Our friend received all the bills and would pay for us at a combini. I was able to setup Electricity and Gas monthly bills to be paid by my American credit card monthly. The water bill requires payment by Japan bank acct or by combini. The monthly minimum bill for each of the 3 utility bills were around $6-$8/monthly, so around $24 or so while you’re not there.

For our house taxes, I was able to pay by credit card with QR/bar codes on bill. This had a small fee of around 50-100yen each depending on amount.

In reply to Timleedude

Hi Tim,

That is exactly how I do it!

Eclectic and gas -- auto billed to my UK American Express.

Just like you, the water is the only issue and for same reasons like yours.

Thankfully my next door neigbour is very nice, she is checking my post regularly when I am away. And the water bills arrive every two months, so I leave her some cash and she pays mine. That is huge help!

Did you get your house insured? I just got a quotation and I will go for it, it is about £2,000 for 5 years cover but it covers fire + earthquake (up to much higher cover than typical earthquake damage cap) and crucially is suitable for foreigners who leave the house unoccupied most of the year - most insurers would exclude that !

Let me know, I got quotes from two providers, I can give post details of both.

We did get quotes for home/fire insurance only and it seemed a bit expensive.. i think around $2500usd for 5yrs. Didn't include earthquakes. It was quoted last year before we did any renovations. At the time, we decided not to buy since we were still going to renovate. We've done our renovations in May and now we have to decide if we want to pursue getting insurance. Last time we had our realtor get the insurance quotes for us, but they said that older homes that are all wood have higher insurance costs. What insurance company did you get your quote from that has earthquake coverage also? That price seems pretty good.

In reply to Timleedude

Hi Tim,

Happy to share the details. The quote is arranged through Novari — they have a "Global Office" desk in Tokyo specifically for overseas owners, English speaking, and they understand the non-resident situation properly (no Japanese bank account, no residence card, no Japanese phone — none of that was a problem, I pay by my UK credit card and documents get posted to my UK address). A Japanese friend found them for me.

My quote: about ¥410,000 for 5 years paid as one lump sum, and that includes fire AND earthquake, plus wind, theft, water damage and personal liability. So roughly in the same ballpark as your $2500 quote but with earthquake included.

Couple of things I learned along the way that might be useful:

Earthquake cover in Japan is a government-standardised add-on and it's capped at 50% of the fire sum by law, with every insurer. So no policy will ever cover the full rebuild for earthquake, that's just how the system works here. The reason I still took it: a standard fire policy EXCLUDES fires caused by earthquakes. Given the age of these houses and the neighbourhoods they sit in, that exclusion bothered me more than the premium did.

The big one for people like us though is vacancy. Most Japanese insurers will exclude or refuse claims on a house that sits unoccupied for months, which is exactly our situation. I got it confirmed in writing that the cover stays fully valid with the house empty for long stretches. It that was my number one question before anything else, and I'd make it yours too whoever you go with.

Also check whether the quote is on replacement-cost basis (新価) rather than depreciated value (時価) — for old houses the difference is enormous. Mine is replacement cost, though the full payout on a total loss is conditional on actually rebuilding, which seems standard.

The other provider I tried (MailMate) only does one-year renewable policies and wouldn't give me a quote until I signed up to their service first, so I couldn't even compare. The 5-year lump sum locks the price in and means no annual renewal admin from abroad, which suits me better.

One honest caveat on price: my house is lightweight steel frame, not all wood, and your realtor is right that all-wood houses cost more to insure, so your number may come out higher than mine.

One more thing worth knowing — earthquake insurance here is priced by region, and I just looked up Saitama and it is in the highest rate band (the whole greater Tokyo area is, because of the anticipated big Kanto quakes). Kitakyushu is in the cheapest band, it's considered one of the lower-risk parts of Japan!! Not zero risk — Fukuoka had a magnitude 7 in 2005 but it is till much farther north than even Fukuoka— so the premium difference is real, so that's another reason your earthquake quote will likely come out higher than mine for the same cover.

And I haven't actually paid yet — I'm buying next month with cover starting October as I had to save up first, so I'll report back if anything surprises me at signing.