For overseas operators, funds, and intermediaries
We tell you whether it's possible in Japan — before you spend months finding out.
A licensed real estate brokerage in Minato, Tokyo.
We assess, source, negotiate, and — when there is nothing that fits — we say so.
Working on Japan from outside, the expensive part is rarely the answer being no. It is how long it takes to find out. Our job is to shorten that.
The problem
What a listing does not tell you
Japanese property information is easy to obtain and broadly reliable on size, price, and location. What decides whether a deal is possible sits somewhere else. The four below came out of a single search for an embassy residence in Minato — but the shape of them repeats.
Many buildings simply refuse foreign missions as tenants.
Some that accept apply a further filter: embassies of G20 or OECD member states only.
Pet clauses eliminate most tower buildings — the very category that fits on space and security.
Mechanical parking is typically capped at 1,850 mm in width. A BMW or Mercedes sedan does not fit.
None of this appears in a listing. You find out by calling the landlord.
Which is the whole reason to have someone on the Japanese side who can do the calling.
A case
One search, in numbers
The embassy of a small country needed a residence in Tokyo. Pets. A diplomatic tenancy. A car that actually fits the parking.
20
buildings approached
1
landlord said yes
3
viewings, across four firms
2
months to a definite answer
Four firms worked the same brief for two months. Three viewings happened in total — two of them in the same building. We showed the one property we had secured, and then told the client it was not worth the rent. Nothing was signed, and that was the outcome the search was always most likely to have. The working relationship continued.
What the client received was not a property. It was a finding: under these conditions, there is effectively nothing in Tokyo right now. With that settled, the decision in front of them was a real one — loosen the conditions, raise the budget, move the timing, or stop looking at leases and look at purchases. Getting to that fork is the work.
Scope
What we can actually do in Japan
Four kinds of request we can take on directly, in order of how often they reach us.
Premium property purchase in Minato and central Tokyo
Owner-occupied, corporate, and private-client acquisitions in the wards where embassies and foreign offices concentrate.
Income-producing property across Greater Tokyo
Tokyo and the three surrounding prefectures. Sourcing and assessment for overseas funds and operating companies.
Rentals centred on Minato
Executive housing, official residences, and corporate premises — including tenancies that most landlords will not take.
Multilingual pages and materials for a specific deal
When a transaction needs to be explained across a language gap, we build the pages and documents for it ourselves rather than outsourcing them.
How we work
Three things we would rather say up front
In this segment, "no" is the normal answer.
Tightly constrained searches usually end without a contract. We would rather establish that quickly than keep you hoping.
We do not push.
If what we found does not fit, we will say it does not fit. Ask us to keep looking and we will keep looking — but we will not tell you something works when it does not.
We protect the position of whoever introduced us.
In cross-border work there is almost always someone standing between us and the end client. If the Japanese side delivers nothing, it is that person who loses face. We take that seriously.
Who you would be working with
Acuze G.K.
Forest Hills East Wing 2F255, 4-18-11 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062, Japan
A licensed brokerage, not an introducer
Tokyo Governor License (1) No. 112235. We are licensed to broker the transaction itself, which is also why our reading of a property is worth something to you.
Based in Minato, Tokyo
The ward that holds most of Tokyo’s embassies and foreign corporate offices. The market described on this page is the market we work in daily.
One person, start to finish — in English
You correspond directly, in English, by email or WhatsApp, with the same person who views the property and makes the judgment. There is no front desk and no account manager in between — nothing is relayed, and nothing is lost in the relay.
Forty years in IT before real estate
We build our own multilingual pages, materials, and internal tooling — which is why we can put a deal into English, or into Japanese, without waiting on a vendor.
A few things settled up front
- Fees are agreed before any work begins. You will not be surprised by them, and where an introducer is involved we make the arrangement clear to everyone at the outset.
- Briefs are treated as confidential, and we work under an NDA on request.
- We broker property; we do not give tax, legal, or investment advice. Where a decision turns on those, we say so and point you to the right specialist.
Tell us the constraint, not the property
"We need X, in Y, with Z" is enough to start with. If it is not viable, we will tell you early rather than late.
Three lines that let us answer properly on the first reply:
- The type of request — purchase, lease, income-producing property, or advice on whether something is feasible at all
- The country and city you are writing from, and who the end client is
- Your timing — including any date you would be physically in Japan
On the contact form, choosing Cross-Border Inquiry as the subject tells us immediately that this is a real enquiry from outside Japan rather than marketing.
Start with the constraint
We read every enquiry ourselves. If what you need is not possible in the current market, you will hear that from us early.
Contact us