Header image: a real estate agency window in Naha, Okinawa, photographed in January 2025 by Naha Mama Pavilionz and released under CC0 on Wikimedia Commons. The rental ads in the window are in Japanese only.
Can You Use SUUMO in English?
No: on 17 October 2026, SUUMO, at home and LIFULL HOME'S showed their house search and listings only in Japanese, with no English version. Browser translation lets you read a listing, but SUUMO's request form asks for an address in Japan, so shortlist on an English site and keep the Japanese listing as your source.
That is the short answer. The rest of this page shows what each portal offers instead, what you lose by searching only in English, and what browser translation gets wrong on a real listing.
Checked on each portal's own pages on 17 October 2026. Published by Buy Houses Japan, one of the English options mentioned below.
USD equivalents are approximate, using ¥154 per US$1 for illustration.
What SUUMO, at home and LIFULL HOME'S offer in other languages
| SUUMO | at home | LIFULL HOME'S | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run by | Recruit | At Home Co., Ltd. | LIFULL |
| House search in English | No | No | No |
| Home page language | Japanese only, no link to another language | Japanese only, no link to another language | Japanese only, no link to another language |
| Pages in English | None found | A corporate page about the company, also in Chinese, with no property search | FRIENDLY DOOR: agencies that serve customers in English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese or Portuguese, by prefecture |
| Asking about a house | A request form that needs a Japanese address and postal code | In Japanese, through the listing agency | In Japanese, or call an agency from the FRIENDLY DOOR list |
We fetched each home page and looked for any English or foreign-language link, then tried the usual English addresses (such as /en/), which returned "not found" on all three. On LIFULL HOME'S, FRIENDLY DOOR's English pages list each agency with its contact details and a button to ask about properties for sale.
What you miss when you search only in English
The Japanese portals carry far more houses than an English site like ours. Here is one prefecture, counted on 17 October 2026 between 14:35 and 14:45 UTC:
| Houses for sale in Nagano Prefecture | Language | Count |
|---|---|---|
| at home, used detached houses | Japanese | 2,112 |
| SUUMO, used detached houses | Japanese | 1,237 |
| LIFULL HOME'S, used detached houses | Japanese | 463 |
| Buy Houses Japan, detached houses with photos, a yen price and a source check in the last 14 days | English, Japanese, Spanish, Korean, Chinese | 310 |
The same house is often advertised by several agencies and on several portals, so these numbers overlap and cannot be added up. The point is the order of size: an English site shows you part of the market, and the full picture is in Japanese. Our Nagano page had a median asking price of ¥17.49 million that day, with a quarter of houses at ¥7.9 million or less.
Reading a SUUMO listing with browser translation
Chrome translates a page from the Translate icon in the address bar, or when you right-click and choose "Translate to" your language (Google Chrome Help). That works for prices and room counts. It is weakest on the legal and planning fields, which are the ones that decide whether a cheap house is a good buy.
Here is what one SUUMO listing, a 5LDK+S house in Ina, Nagano, showed on 17 October 2026, and what each field means:
| SUUMO field | Shown | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 価格 (price) | 1649万円 | ¥16.49 million (about US$107,000). 万 means 10,000 |
| 完成時期(築年月) (completed) | 1973年3月 | Built in March 1973, before Japan's 1981 seismic standard. Read what 1981 means |
| 土地の権利形態 (land rights) | 所有権 | Freehold. Watch for 借地権, leasehold land |
| 私道負担・道路 (private road, road) | 無、南3ｍ幅（接道幅11.5ｍ） | No share of a private road. The lot faces a 3 m road to the south along 11.5 m |
| その他制限事項 (other restrictions) | セットバック：要5.75m² | 5.75 m² of the 232.3 m² lot is a setback strip. The road is narrower than 4 m, so that strip is treated as road and cannot be built on (Building Standards Act, Article 42). See private roads and rebuilding |
| 用途地域 (zoning) | 無指定 | No zoning district designated |
| 取引態様 (transaction type) | 売主 | The agency is the seller, so the listing says no brokerage fee is due (仲介手数料不要) |
| 情報提供日 / 次回更新予定日 | 2026年10月12日 / 2026年10月20日 | Posted on 12 October; the next update is due on 20 October |
A translation tool may render セットバック as "setback" and 売主 as "seller" without telling you what either costs you. Keep the Japanese next to the translation, and see our glossary of Japanese property terms.
The inquiry form is the real barrier
On that listing, SUUMO's free request form (資料請求) asked for your name, email address, a phone number in Japanese format and a postal code with an address picked from Japan's 47 prefectures, all marked required. There is no field for an address abroad.
The listing itself printed the agency's name, its licence number and a phone number, so you can write to the agency directly, in Japanese. LIFULL HOME'S FRIENDLY DOOR and Real Estate Japan's bilingual agent directory list agencies that answer in other languages.
How to search Japanese houses in English instead
- Shortlist in English. Describe the house in a sentence, such as a detached house in Nagano under ¥15 million with parking. Your first search runs without an account. To compare English sites, read Akiya Japan vs Real Estate Japan vs Buy Houses Japan.
- Open the original listing. Each house on Buy Houses Japan links to the Japanese listing it came from. Treat that page, not a translation, as the record.
- Check the fields that translate badly. Year built, land rights, road access, setback and zoning, from the table above.
- Contact in Japanese, or through an agency that speaks your language. Use the agency named on the listing, or one from FRIENDLY DOOR or Real Estate Japan's directory.
- Verify before you pay anything. The licensed agency must explain the important matters (重要事項説明) before the contract (Real Estate Brokerage Act, Article 35). See our viewing checklist.
Questions about SUUMO in English
Does SUUMO have an English version?
No. On 17 October 2026, SUUMO's home page, house search and listing pages were in Japanese only, with no link to an English version, and suumo.jp/en/ returned "not found". Browser translation lets you read listings, but inquiries go through Japanese forms or straight to the agency named on the listing.
Can I use Google Translate on SUUMO?
Yes, for reading. In Chrome, click the Translate icon in the address bar or right-click and choose "Translate to" your language. Prices, layouts and areas come through well. Legal fields such as land rights, setback and transaction type need the Japanese term checked, because the translation will not explain what they cost you.
Are at home and LIFULL HOME'S available in English?
Not for searching houses. at home has an English page about the company only. LIFULL HOME'S runs FRIENDLY DOOR, which lists agencies that serve customers in English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese or Portuguese by prefecture. The listings themselves, on both portals, are in Japanese.
Can a foreigner contact an agent from SUUMO?
Yes, but not easily through SUUMO's form, which requires a Japanese postal code and address. The listing we checked showed the agency's name, licence number and phone number, so you can contact the agency directly. Write in Japanese, or ask a bilingual agency to make the inquiry for you.
Is there an English site with all of SUUMO's listings?
Not that we found. English sites, including ours, carry listings from their own sources, so the same house may appear on both. Buy Houses Japan searches detached houses from supported Japanese portals, keeps houses checked within 14 days on its public pages, and links each house to its original Japanese listing.
Search in English, verify in Japanese
Start a house search in English or Japanese, or browse houses for sale across Japan without an account. Keep the source listing open next to every house you shortlist.
Sources, all read on 17 October 2026: the home pages of SUUMO, at home and LIFULL HOME'S; their Nagano used-house lists; the SUUMO listing and its request form; at home's corporate English page; LIFULL HOME'S FRIENDLY DOOR; Real Estate Japan's agent directory; Google Chrome Help; the Building Standards Act and Real Estate Brokerage Act on e-Gov; our Nagano page. Counts change daily.