Can foreigners buy farmland in Japan?

What does the data show about foreigners buying or leasing farmland in Japan?

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has been tracking foreign farmland acquisition since 2017, and publishing separate figures for foreigners living in Japan since 2022. Those three years of figures show a clear direction.

Foreign residents of Japan buying or leasing farmland

Year	People	Land
2022	102	142 ha
2023	219	60 ha
2024	377	95 ha

Source: MAFF, survey of farmland acquisition by foreign nationals and companies, annual results for 2022, 2023 and 2024.

The number of foreign residents acquiring farmland rose in each of the three years, reaching more than triple the 2022 figure. The land area, however, does not follow the same pattern. In 2022 a hundred foreigners took on 142 hectares, roughly 1.4 hectares each, against a quarter of a hectare each in 2023 and 2024. A small number of large transactions in 2022 would account for the difference, though MAFF’s published totals do not identify individual transfers.

Nationality breakdown of foreign residents acquiring farmland, 2024 (377 people)

Nationality	People	Share
China	102	27%
South Korea	42	11%
Brazil	42	11%
United States	27	7%
Vietnam	24	6%
Sri Lanka	15	4%
France	11	3%
Pakistan	10	3%
Other, across 34 countries and territories	104	28%
Total	377	100%

Source: MAFF, survey of farmland acquisition by foreign nationals and companies, annual results for 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Because MAFF combines land leases and land purchases into a single figure, it is unclear how much of this activity is ownership and how much is tenancy. The method for identifying foreign applicants also changed during the period the table covers: until August 2023 officials inferred nationality from the names on Article 3 applications, and since September 2023 applicants have stated it on the application itself. Part of the rise from 2022 to 2024 is therefore better detection rather than more activity.

Why buying farmland is different from buying other real estate in Japan

In countries like Canada, the United States, and Australia, buying land works as a property transaction. A seller agrees to sell, a buyer agrees to buy, the contract is signed, payment is made, and the title is registered. Zoning, building codes, taxes, and environmental rules still apply, but the assumption holds that land transfers once the normal property process is complete.

Japan runs farmland on a second set of rules. The Farmland Act treats farmland as agricultural production land, and MAFF administers it as a limited and valuable local resource that should stay in agricultural use. The ordinary property steps still happen, so a farmland purchase still involves a seller, a buyer, a real estate agent, a contract, payment, title registration, and a judicial scrivener. Farmland adds a permission requirement on top of all of it, and the sale cannot complete without that permission.

Most foreign buyers first come across farmland in a listing. Rural property listings, akiya (空き家) listings, akiya bank listings, municipal relocation pages, and agricultural land listings all carry it.

Every parcel carries a registered land category (地目, chimoku), and three of those categories account for most rural listings:

• Paddy field (田, ta) is farmland.
• Dry field (畑, hatake) is farmland.
• Residential land (宅地, takuchi) is not farmland, and it is the category a house normally stands on.

A single listing can include a house on residential land and a field registered as dry field, in which case the house transfers through the ordinary property process while the field needs farmland permission first. The registered category is a starting point rather than the final answer, because the Farmland Act defines farmland by how the land is actually used. Japanese practice calls the resulting rule 現況主義 (genkō shugi), the actual-condition principle. Land being farmed is farmland whatever the registry says, and land registered as paddy or dry field stays farmland for as long as someone could bring it back into cultivation, so a field standing under weeds and unworked for years remains farmland in law. The one common exception is a household vegetable plot on part of a residential parcel, which is not farmland even though it is cultivated. The principle can also work against a buyer on a house parcel, where land beside the house that has been under crops for years can count as farmland even though the registry records the parcel as residential land.

A buyer therefore needs two pieces of information about every parcel in a listing:

1. The registered category, which comes from the real estate registry. The Legal Affairs Bureau (法務局, Hōmukyoku) holds the registry, and anyone can request a copy of a parcel’s entry for ¥600 at the counter, without identification and without involving the seller.
2. The current condition, which comes from the municipal agriculture office. The office confirms how the land is treated in practice, and where the two records disagree its answer governs. That answer determines whether the sale runs through Article 3 permission, how long the purchase takes, and whether it can proceed at all.

Once a parcel is confirmed as farmland, permission becomes the decisive issue. Price, location and the seller’s agreement cannot make the transfer proceed without it. Who approves the transfer, and what does the buyer have to show before the land can legally move?

Why do you need permission to buy or lease farmland?

Farmland Act Article 3 (農地法第3条, nōchihō dai-san-jō) requires permission before the right to own or lease a piece of farmland can pass to a new holder. The same rule applies to Japanese and foreign buyers alike, because the test is about the land and the person who will work it rather than about nationality. Permission is granted or refused before the transfer completes, so a signed contract and an agreed price settle nothing on their own. One route sits outside Article 3, and that is a lease arranged through the Farmbank, which follows its own approval process and is covered later in this brief.

The reason for the requirement lies in what the Farmland Act is trying to protect. It treats farmland as a food-production resource that should stay in production, and it puts a check on every transfer to make sure the land reaches someone who will keep farming it. A buyer must therefore farm all the land they acquire, which rules out buying farmland as an investment and holding it idle.

MAFF writes the rules for farmland transfers and tells local officials how to apply them, but it does not decide who gets permission. That decision belongs to the Agricultural Committee (農業委員会, nōgyō iinkai) in the municipality where the land sits. Each municipality appoints its own committee and draws many of its members from local farming families. Those members receive the application, assess whether the farming plan suits the parcel, and decide whether the applicant can carry it out. Their decision determines whether the sale or lease proceeds. Because those committee members live and farm in the same community as the parcel, an applicant already known there arrives with something an outside applicant cannot supply on paper.

The committee’s role explains why a farmland purchase runs on a different timetable from an ordinary property purchase. The committee decides at its scheduled meetings rather than whenever the parties are ready, so an application filed after a cut-off waits for the next one. The committee then reviews the plan, the applicant, and the parcel together, and it can refuse on any of the three. What that review actually examines is the subject of the next section.

How does the Agricultural Committee assess a farmland application?

When a committee reviews an Article 3 application, the question it has to answer is whether the applicant will actually farm the parcel and keep farming it. Each criterion it applies serves that judgement, and an applicant who can pay but cannot demonstrate a workable farming plan will be refused.

Each committee applies the national criteria to its own area, so the questions vary from one municipality to the next. They generally cover the same ground:

• What will be grown, and how will the land be managed through the season?
• Does the applicant have the tools, machinery, knowledge, and support the plan requires?
• Does the plan suit local conditions, including soil, climate, and what neighbouring farms grow?
• Will the proposed use interfere with surrounding farmland through water, access, or road use?
• Does this read as a plan to farm the land, or as a way of acquiring rural property?

The applicant then has to be able to carry that plan out. Article 3 requires the applicant or a member of their household to be regularly engaged in farm work, which municipalities generally take as at least 150 days a year. That figure is a guideline rather than a fixed threshold, and it sets no minimum hours per day, but weekends and public holidays together come to around 130 days, so someone holding a full-time job elsewhere will struggle to meet it. Distance from the land, farming experience, available labour, and the ability to deal with the municipal office all bear on the same question, which is whether this person will be present often enough to bring in a crop.

Since April 2025, a foreign applicant for Article 3 permission must also state their residence status, how long they may stay, and the date that permission ends. MAFF added the requirement to the Farmland Act’s implementing regulations (農地法施行規則) and its processing standards after farmland acquired by or through foreign-linked companies was left unfarmed or turned to other uses. A separate change introduced in September 2023 added nationality information to Article 3 applications and corresponding records in the farmland ledger.

Permanent residence carries no period of stay, so an applicant holding it has no expiry date to enter on the form. Every other residence status carries a fixed period and a renewal date, and the committee now sees both at the point where it is judging whether the applicant will keep farming the parcel. MAFF has not set a minimum period that must remain on an applicant’s residence status, and an approaching expiry date does not lead to automatic refusal. The committee reviewing the application decides how much weight to give it. Committees already considered how long an applicant was likely to remain in Japan, but the April 2025 change made that information explicit on the application form. Renewing a residence status before applying removes a near-term expiry date from the committee’s consideration.

Committees publish no reasons for their decisions, and no national figure exists for how many applications are refused. What is on record is the number approved, and in 2024 that included 377 foreign residents. An applicant who lives near the parcel, has met the neighbouring farmers and can speak with municipal staff gives the committee evidence it can verify directly. That carries more weight than claims made only on paper.

Buying versus leasing: which route is more realistic?

The Farmland Act permits ownership to pass only to individuals who work the land themselves and to Qualified Farmland Ownership Corporations (農地所有適格法人, nōchi shoyū tekikaku hōjin). A company without that status cannot buy farmland under the Act, however strong its plan or its balance sheet, and it cannot solve the problem by setting up a subsidiary, because a Qualified Farmland Ownership Corporation requires agricultural stakeholders to hold a majority of the voting rights. Leasing is what remains under the Act, and it has become the established route into farmland for companies.

A structural reform special zone (構造改革特別区域, kōzō kaikaku tokubetsu kuiki) is an area where the national government allows selected exceptions to the usual rules. In a zone that includes the farmland ownership exception, a company that is not a Qualified Farmland Ownership Corporation can acquire and own farmland under set conditions. MAFF calls this the Specific Corporation Farmland Acquisition Project (特定法人農地取得事業).

The route is available only where a municipality has adopted the measure, and the farmland must be inside that zone. For a company searching across Japan, ownership depends first on where the land is located, not simply on whether the company qualifies. MAFF and the Cabinet Office began a formal evaluation of the measure in July 2026. The review may affect whether the measure continues, but it remains in operation.

Corporate farmland rights involving Japan-resident foreign nationals, 2024

Year	Companies	Land
2022	12	12 ha
2023	20	30 ha
2024	32	79 ha

MAFF defines this group as companies with a Japan-resident foreign national among their major shareholders or officers.

Source: MAFF, survey of farmland acquisition by foreign nationals and companies, annual results for 2022, 2023 and 2024.

The count nearly tripled over the three years while the land area rose more than sixfold, so each company is taking on progressively more land, around 2.5 hectares in 2024 against a quarter of a hectare for individuals. Companies registered outside Japan acquired nothing in any of the three years. MAFF counts any company with a foreign resident among its major shareholders or directors, so a Japanese company with a single foreign director appears in these figures alongside foreign-controlled ones.

Leasing also gives individuals access to farmland without the cost and commitment of buying it. Buying requires the applicant or a household member to be regularly engaged in farm work at the 150-day level. A lease still needs Article 3 permission, but it can be granted without that requirement being met, which makes leasing the realistic option for someone who intends to farm full-time but is not yet doing so.

For companies that do not qualify to own farmland, the main route is the leasing exception under Farmland Act Article 3(3). A company leasing farmland under it must satisfy three conditions in addition to the ordinary Article 3 criteria:

1. The written contract must allow the landowner to cancel the lease if the company fails to use the land properly. Japanese practice calls this a 解除条件付き貸借, usually rendered as a lease with cancellation conditions, though the landowner has to exercise the right rather than the lease ending automatically.
2. The company must take its share of local agricultural work, which covers maintaining irrigation channels and farm roads, mowing, and joining efforts to control wildlife damage.
3. At least one executive officer or senior employee, such as a farm manager, must be constantly engaged in the company’s farming. That engagement includes planning, marketing and production management, not only work in the field.

The company does not have to carry out every farm task with its own staff. It may contract out individual operations, but it must remain responsible for running the farm and using the leased land properly.

One practical requirement catches companies early. The articles of incorporation and the company registration must list agriculture, or an activity such as producing, processing or selling farm produce, among the company’s business purposes. Where they do not, the company has to pass a resolution amending them and complete the change at the Legal Affairs Bureau before it can apply.

A second leasing route runs through the Farmbank (農地バンク, nōchi banku), formally the Farmland Intermediary Management Organization (農地中間管理機構). Not to be confused with a financial institution, the Farmbank is a public body that gathers farmland from owners and leases it on to farmers and approved operators. Until April 2025, municipalities could arrange farmland leases through local plans. MAFF then replaced that route with the Farmbank to help bring scattered farmland under more coordinated management. Article 3 permission remains available, so using the Farmbank is not compulsory.

Whichever route a buyer or lessee uses, Agricultural Committee approval must be obtained before the transfer can take legal effect. Under Farmland Act Article 3(6), a sale or lease that requires permission has no legal effect without it. Paying the purchase price or rent does not transfer ownership or lease rights. The parties may sign a contract subject to approval, but the farmland rights do not take effect unless permission is granted.

Article 64 also makes acquiring farmland rights without permission a criminal offence. Asakuchi City in Okayama gives the maximum penalty as three years in prison or a fine of up to ¥3 million.

Can you convert farmland after buying it?

Farmland conversion (農地転用, nōchi ten’yō) means changing farmland to a non-agricultural use, such as a house site, parking area, solar installation or storage yard. It requires separate permission from the Article 3 approval covered earlier. Article 3 decides who may hold farmland while it remains farmland. Conversion falls under Article 4 when an owner converts land they already hold, and Article 5 when conversion and transfer happen together.

Whether conversion is realistic depends first on the parcel’s classification. The Agricultural Promotion Areas Act protects farmland inside designated Agricultural Use Areas. Farmland inside these areas is known as blue farmland, while farmland outside is known as white farmland:

• Blue farmland (青地, aochi) is protected for agricultural use. Before it can be converted, the parcel must first be removed from the Agricultural Use Area. Removal is difficult and is not guaranteed.
• White farmland (白地, shirochi) sits outside an Agricultural Use Area. An owner can apply directly for conversion permission, although approval is still not automatic.

Removing blue farmland from an Agricultural Use Area is the 農振除外 (nōshin jogai) procedure. The parcel must satisfy MAFF’s six exclusion conditions, and the removal and conversion plans must be considered together. Application schedules and processing times vary by municipality.

Other planning controls may also apply. A parcel inside an urbanisation control area may need development permission in addition to the farmland approvals, regardless of whether it is blue or white.

MAFF’s eMAFF 農地ナビ map service provides an initial view of farmland classifications across Japan. The municipal agriculture office can confirm the position for a specific parcel using the lot number shown on its registry certificate.

What should you check before buying farmland in Japan?

Several important questions can be checked before a buyer pays a deposit or agrees to purchase the land.

1. Decide how the land will be used. Farming, gardening, building, parking, solar generation, storage, short-term lodging and allowing someone else to farm the land can involve different permissions.
2. Identify every parcel included in the listing. A rural property may combine a house site with one or more fields, but each parcel has its own registered category and is governed separately. A registry certificate for each parcel can be obtained from the Legal Affairs Bureau for ¥600 without involving the seller.
3. Confirm each parcel’s current status with the municipal agriculture office. Registry records can be decades out of date. The municipal agriculture office can confirm how the land is currently treated and whether it is classified as blue or white farmland, which affects how it may be used or converted.
4. Check whether the intended use can be approved. A buyer who does not plan to farm the land may need permission to convert it to another use. Blue farmland must first be removed from the Agricultural Promotion Area before a conversion application can proceed, and removal should not be assumed.

What are the biggest misconceptions about buying farmland in Japan?

“The field in the listing is extra land I can use as I like.”

A field that comes with a house is still farmland, and farmland has to be farmed. Mowing it as lawn, parking on it, or putting up a shed each count as changing its use, and each needs conversion permission before it can happen. If the field is blue, the parcel also has to come out of the Agricultural Use Area before anyone will look at the conversion application.

“Abandoned farmland must be easy to buy because nobody wants it.”

Abandoned or overgrown farmland is not easier to buy. It remains farmland and goes through the same approval process as land already in production. The committee still needs to know what will be grown, who will do the work and whether the applicant can continue farming it. A municipality may welcome a serious new operator, but local support does not replace permission.

“I can buy the farmland first and sort out conversion later.”

Buying first means paying for the land before knowing whether the plan for it is allowed. The Agricultural Committee may approve the purchase without deciding whether conversion will later be allowed. If conversion is refused after the purchase, the buyer remains responsible for keeping the land in agricultural use. On blue farmland the removal step comes first and has to clear six conditions and the prefectural governor’s consent, and Kumagaya City in Saitama tells applicants outright that removal is normally refused.

“Japan Agricultural Cooperatives decides whether I can buy farmland.”

Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) sells seed and fertiliser, lends money for machinery, and buys the crop. It has no say in whether a purchase is approved. That decision belongs to the Agricultural Committee, which is part of the municipal government and a separate organisation entirely. Being on good terms with the local JA is worth a great deal once someone is farming, but it carries no weight in the application.

“An akiya with farmland attached avoids all of this.”

The house and the field arrive as one listing at one price, but they transfer under different rules. The house normally sits on residential land and changes hands on contract and registration alone, while the field needs Article 3 permission, so the field can still belong to the seller after the house belongs to the buyer.

Bottom line

A foreigner living near the land, with residence secure enough to bring in a crop and a farming plan detailed enough to assess, can buy or lease farmland in Japan, and 377 foreign residents did so in 2024. The decision on whether to approve the purchase or lease belongs to the municipal Agricultural Committee. It assesses the farming plan and the legal requirements; MAFF does not decide individual applications, and nationality is not an approval criterion.

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Sources

• MAFF, Survey of farmland acquisition by foreign corporations and individuals / 外国法人等による農地取得に関する調査結果について
• MAFF, Farmland System / 農地制度
• MAFF, Farmland Act Processing Standards / 農地法関係事務に係る処理基準について
• MAFF, Agricultural Committees / 農業委員会について
• MAFF, Agricultural Promotion Area System and Farmland Conversion Permission System / 農業振興地域制度及び農地転用許可制度
• MAFF, Outline of the Agricultural Promotion Areas system / 農業振興地域制度の概要
• Kumagaya City, Saitama, Exclusion of farmland from Agricultural Use Areas / 農業振興地域農用地区域からの農地の除外について
• MAFF, Farmbank / Farmland Intermediary Management Organization / 農地中間管理機構
• MAFF, Farmbank frequently asked questions / よくあるご質問（回答）
• MAFF and Cabinet Office, Survey on the evaluation of structural reform special zone regulatory exceptions / 構造改革特別区域の規制の特例措置の評価に関する調査について
• Maebashi City, Gunma, Violations of the Farmland Act / 農地法違反について
• Asakuchi City, Okayama, Dispositions and penalties for Farmland Act violations / 農地法の違反に対する処分と罰則
• MAFF, Corporate Farmland Entry / 企業等の農業参入について
• e-Gov Japan, Farmland Act / 農地法
• Kagawa Prefecture, The Farmland Act / 農地法とは
• Mie Prefecture, Purpose of the Farmland Act and definitions of farmland / 農地法の目的及び農地等の定義
• Ministry of Justice, Registration fees / 登記手数料について
• Hiroshima Prefecture, Farmland Act Article 3 permission / 農地法第3条許可について
• MAFF Kinki Regional Agricultural Administration Office, Corporate entry into farming, Q&A / 企業の農業参入に係る質疑応答集

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