How to become a Land and House Investigator
Applies to register the details in the title section of the land and building register kept by the Legal Affairs Bureau, a national government body.
Main tasks
- Planning surveys and measurements at a client's request
- Confirming and surveying boundaries with the landowner and neighbours present
- Calculating land area using plane table surveys, transit surveys and electronic distance meters
- Measuring the length and width of buildings with steel tape to calculate their floor area
- Calculating geodetic values and interpreting survey data to fix the position, shape and elevation of landforms
- Doing calculations and drafting plans from survey results
- Preparing application documents from survey results and plans of land and buildings and submitting them to the Legal Affairs Bureau
- Listening to what buyers and sellers want and advising on the documents, information and legal restrictions involved in registration
- Setting fixed points for maps using geodetic and technical equipment
- Handling registrations requested by government bodies
- Advising on redevelopment projects
- Advising on setting property sale prices
Workers in this job say university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.
How to become one
To work as a land and house investigator (tochi kaoku chosashi), you must pass the land and house investigator exam, register with the Japan Federation of Land and House Investigators' Associations and join a local association. The exam consists of a written test and an oral test for those who pass the written one. People qualified to become a surveyor, assistant surveyor or kenchikushi (licensed architect) are exempt from the land and building survey part of the exam. As well as legal knowledge, you need to handle both outdoor and indoor work, and a large share is outdoor work such as surveying, so physical fitness is needed along with specialist knowledge and skills.
Ways in
- University: Law & Justice degrees, Offered by 49 universities in Japan
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 行政書士. English name and classification by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 一級建築士. English name and classification by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 司法書士. English name and classification by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 土地家屋調査士. Needed to do this job (Peernovo, from job tag's entry description). English name and classification by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 二級建築士. English name and classification by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 測量士. English name and classification by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 測量士補. English name and classification by Peernovo.
Pay · Job openings · AI and this job
- Average annual income: ¥9,811,100 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
- Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥463,100, and the middle half earn ¥353,300 to ¥725,300 a month.
- Pay measured for the wage survey group: Legal workers
- 0.80 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
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Questions people ask
How do I become a Land and House Investigator?
To work as a land and house investigator (tochi kaoku chosashi), you must pass the land and house investigator exam, register with the Japan Federation of Land and House Investigators' Associations and join a local association. The exam consists of a written test and an oral test for those who pass the written one. People qualified to become a surveyor, assistant surveyor or kenchikushi (licensed architect) are exempt from the land and building survey part of the exam. As well as legal knowledge, you need to handle both outdoor and indoor work, and a large share is outdoor work such as surveying, so physical fitness is needed along with specialist knowledge and skills.
How much does a Land and House Investigator earn in Japan?
Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥9,811,100 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Legal workers, which covers several jobs.
Do you need a degree to become a Land and House Investigator?
Usually. In this job's census occupation group, 69% of workers are university graduates.
Will AI change the work of a Land and House Investigator?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.
Updated 4 October 2026