Land development and building construction regulation in Japan

Japan has two principal laws relevant to land development and building construction in Japan:

• the City Planning Act - which was first passed in 1968 as the relevant legislature over the construction of urban areas (such as cities) in a planned manner; and
• the Building Standards Act - which was first passed in 1950 and is intended to secure safety and hygiene standards of constructed buildings and to ensure that all buildings are harmonized with construction plans of urban areas.

We will go over the details of these two laws below.

City Planning Act

It is important to construct urban areas (such as cities)in a planned manner to make sure they function wellfor inhabitants. In principle, prefectural governmentsdesignate the following areas as city planning areas(toshi keikaku kuiki) or quasi-city planning areas (jun toshikeikaku kuiki):

• areas which include the central part of cities, towns and villages and which need to be formed, developed and preserved in an integrated manner; and
• areas which need to be newly developed and preserved as residential, industrial, or other cities.

In city planning areas:

• as necessary, areas are segregated into urbanization promotion areas (shigaika kuiki) and urbanization control areas (shigaika chosei kuiki);
• various city plans are determined and city facilities (e.g. roads, water facilities, electricity facilities) projects and urban area development projects are executed; and
• rigid regulations are applied to land developments for the purposes of building construction.

In city planning areas land is designated as use districts(zones, yoto chi’iki). There currently are 13 use districts(eight residential districts, such as Type 1 ResidentialDistricts and Quasi-residential Districts; two commercialdistricts, such as Commercial Neighborhood Districts(kinrin shogyo chi’iki); and three industrial districts, suchas Exclusive Industrial Districts (kogyo senyo chi’iki)).Each of these use districts has different buildingregulations which dictate the types and purposes of thebuildings which may be constructed, floor area ratios,and building coverage ratios.

An example of the use district map (zoning map) of the Minato Ward of Tokyo Metropolis can be accessed here.

As part of the land development regulations, landdevelopments of a certain size require the localgovernment’s permission before such developmentcan be started. In areas other than city planning areas(or quasi-city planning areas), a land developmentof 10,000 m2 or more generally requires permissionfrom the local government. On the other hand, in cityplanning areas, the threshold for needing permissionis smaller (3,000 m2, 1,000 m2, 500 m2 dependingon each area).

The local government is in charge of giving permissionbased on general (or technical) requirementsand location requirements. General (or technical)requirements apply to any land developments in Japan.The requirements ensure that use purposes of aplanned building conform with the use district in whichto the building will be constructed. On the other hand,location requirements apply only to land developmentsin urbanization control areas, ensuring that certainfacilities which are not appropriate for urbanizationcontrol areas such as petrol stations are not constructedin urbanization control areas.

Building standards act

The Building Standards Act sets out the minimumrequirements for secure safety and environmentalhygiene related to buildings. This consists of:

• collective regulations, which are intended to secure good collective building environments (and include restrictions on use purposes of buildings, floor area ratios, and building coverage ratios and restrictions on how a building site needs to face public road(s), among other things); and;
• lone regulations, which relate to structures, fire control, hygiene of buildings.

Building permit and inspection

Building permit

Under the Building Standards Act, in order to construct,extend, rebuild or relocate buildings of certain types(such as (i) wooden buildings with three or morestories; over 500 m2 in total floor area; or over 13 m inheight or over 9 m in height (to the building’s eaves),(ii) non-wooden buildings with two stories or more;or over 200 m2 in total floor area), the building ownerneeds to apply for and receive a building permit(kenchiku kakunin) from a building official (kenchiku shuji)with the local government in charge of buildingcontrol or a private confirmation and inspectionagency (shitei kakunin kensa kikan) designated by thegovernment. A building permit is issued if the buildingplan complies with the relevant technical regulationsunder all of the applicable laws, including, withoutlimitation, the Building Standards Act, the Fire ServiceAct and the City Planning Act.

Prior consultation with the local government is usuallyrequired or recommended to ensure your permitapplication plans go smoothly.

Structural calculation review

If a planned building (excluding a building that is over60 m in height or a building using advanced structuralcalculation methods) is any of the following:

• a wooden building over 13 m in height or over 9 m to the eaves in height;
• a steel-framed building with four or more stories (excluding basement stories); or
• a steel-framed reinforced concrete or reinforced concrete building over 20 m in height;

then the building owner is required to apply to aprivate structural calculation review agency designatedby the government for a structural calculation review(kozo keisan tekigosei hantei) in addition to applying forbuilding confirmation.

Once the structural calculation review has beencompleted, the building owner will receive a certificate ofthe structural calculation review (tekigo hantei tsuchisho),after which the building owner will need to submit thecertificate for issuance of the building confirmation.Prior consultation with the structural calculationreview agency is recommended to ensure your permitapplication plans go smoothly.

Interim inspection

Each local government is in charge of interiminspections (chukan kensa) and establishes regulationsas to, among other things; (i) the areas (zones) in whichto construct a building and the types of buildingswhich require interim inspection(s) in the processof the construction; (ii) the construction phases afterfinishing which an interim inspection is required(Specific Phase) of a building in any of the areas(zones) and of any of the types mentioned in (i) above;and (iii) the construction phases which may not beconducted before the completion of such interiminspection (Post-specific Phase).

A building owner needs to apply for an interiminspection within four days upon the completionof a Specific Phase and prior to starting the PostspecificPhase.

Final inspection

Once the construction of a building has beencompleted, the building owner needs to submita completion notification in order to have a finalinspection conducted by a building official or,alternatively, by a confirmation and inspection agencydesignated by the government within four days uponthe completion of the construction. The building thenneeds to go through a final inspection to ascertainthat the building conforms to all relevant technicalregulations. Once the inspection has been completed,the owner will receive a final inspection certificate.

In principle, large-sized buildings and special buildings(such as theatres, hospitals, apartment complexes,schools, stores, and warehouses; complete definitionscan be found in the Building Standards Act) may notbe used prior to obtaining final inspection certificates.Provisionary use (kari-shiyo) prior to obtaining a finalinspection certificate is allowed if use is approved bythe building official or the confirmation and inspectionagency assuming that the building satisfies thefollowing requirements:

• the part of the building to be used for provisional use and other parts under construction are effectively zoned from a fire control perspective;
• the routes used by construction crews and those used by users of the provisional use part do not overlap; and
• the provisional use part is in compliance with all applicable construction laws.

Please see the flow chart below which shows the variouspermissions needed from the local authorities under thetwo principal laws.

City Planning Act (Sec. 5.1)

Building Standards Act (Sec. 6.4)

Time periods are estimates only.
* The certificate of structural calculation review needs to be submitted tothe authority handling the building confirmation so that the confirmationcertificate will be issued.

Other laws

In addition to the City Panning Act and the BuildingStandards Act discussed above, a number of otherlaws and regulations apply to land developments andbuilding construction depending on the area for suchdevelopment and the types of the buildings to beconstructed. Examples include: the Urban Renewal Act,the Landscape Act, the Environment Impact AssessmentAct, the Soil Contamination Countermeasures Act,the Act on Regulations of Residential Land Development,the Act on Protection of Cultural Properties,the Natural Environment Conservation Act, the RoadAct, the Fire Service Act, the Vibration Regulation Act,and the Noise Regulation Act. Close communicationwith professionals including lawyers and the relevantauthorities is always important.

Please contact the author of this article if youhave any questions on how these laws mayaffect your project.