Information as of 19 August 2026

This page is a relocation summary written by an advanced AI

It is not a personal opinion piece written by a human. An AI gathered official information published on the internet — municipal and national statistics, the Japan Meteorological Agency, railway companies, property portals — and rebuilt it into a form that someone considering a move can read and act on. Every figure carries a source link and the date it was checked, so please confirm anything that matters to you against the original document. Rules and prices change. Always check the latest information yourself before you sign anything.

Moving to Yatsushiro City

Q: What should I know first about moving to Yatsushiro?

🔴 This town is living through the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake right now. Please read "What you can do now" at the top of the page first. With that said — 118,746 people across 681.30 square kilometres, the second-largest city in the prefecture after Kumamoto City, with Shin-Yatsushiro Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen.

Q: What is transport in Yatsushiro like now?

🔴 As of 18 August 2026 all regular route buses are suspended. The city-centre circular buses (Mina Bus, Machi Bus, Yume Bus) and the shared taxis are running. In normal times there is Shin-Yatsushiro Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen and the starting point of the Hisatsu Orange Railway. Please check journey times with the official search.

Q: What is the cheapest house you can buy in Yatsushiro?

SUUMO carries 65 listings and all of them were retrieved. From ¥2,800,000 to ¥55,900,000, median ¥15,980,000, with a median plot of 265 square metres. 🔴 That said, reading today's Yatsushiro as "cheap, so it is a good time to buy" is beside the point. Please always check what happened to the building in the earthquake.

Q: Are summers hot and winters cold in Yatsushiro?

Winter is milder than Tokyo, with a January daily low of 2.1°C, 17.5 frost days and 0.0 days below freezing all day. Summer is long, with 151.5 days a year above 25°C. 🔴 In exchange, annual rainfall is 2,033.4mm, with 426.2mm in June alone — four tenths of the year's rain in these two months.

Q: What are healthcare and schools like in Yatsushiro?

🔴 Things may be affected by the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake right now. The city updates evacuation centres, the water supply and the housing advice desk every day in "Koho Yatsushiro, special disaster edition" and its emergency information. In normal times this is the second-largest city in the prefecture after Kumamoto City, and medical care and shopping are both complete within the city.

Q: What do water and sewerage cost in Yatsushiro?

🔴 It is not shown on this page. The city is still running emergency water supply (as of 19 August 2026, at more than 12 points from 08:30 to 19:00), and I judged that setting out the normal-times tariff would not convey the reality. Please check with the city's own pages.

Q: Will the house I buy sell when I want to sell it?

🔴 Yatsushiro today cannot be described through land prices. The published official land price survey is as of 1 January Reiwa 8, and contains nothing at all of the effect of the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake. At that date residential land was ¥25,000 per ㎡, and industrial land alone was up 2.5%.

Q: What is happening to Yatsushiro's population?

118,746 people in 58,299 households (1 January Reiwa 8, Basic Resident Register. 🔴 These are the figures from before the earthquake.) Population density is about 174 people per square kilometre. Foreign residents number 4,408 (3.7%), and in this earthquake support has arrived from Kaohsiung in Taiwan as well.

A city in the south of Kumamoto Prefecture, facing the Yatsushiro Sea. 118,746 people across 681.30 square kilometres — the second-largest city in the prefecture after Kumamoto City, with Shin-Yatsushiro Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen. 🔴 This town is living through the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake right now. Please read "What you can do now" below before you read about the properties. With that said — the largest producer of igusa rush in Japan, banpeiyu pomelo, the Yatsushiro Myoken Festival, a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the Port of Yatsushiro. There are 65 second-hand detached houses for sale, with a median plot of 265 square metres and a median building of 115 square metres.

City area

681.30km²

Second-largest population in the prefecture, after Kumamoto City

Population

118,746 people

58,299 households, Reiwa 8 (2026), 1/1

Homes for sale

65 listings

¥2,800,000– / median ¥15,980,000

Land of median

265m²

Building of median 115m²

Annual rainfall

2,033mm

426mm in June, at the Yatsushiro observatory

Intensity 6-lower or above in 30 years

10.7%

At the city hall site; an alluvial fan

Summer (August daily high)

32.8℃

Yatsushiro, 1.5°C warmer than Tokyo

Winter (January daily low)

2.1℃

Yatsushiro, 0.9°C warmer than Tokyo

🚗 Roadside stations3 ⛰ National and quasi-national parks ♨ Hot springs and day baths8 🚐 RV parks

Roadside stations: Sakamoto, Toyo, Hikyo-no-sato Izumi / National and quasi-national parks: Kyushu Chuo Sanchi Quasi-National Park / Hot springs and day baths: Sakamoto Onsen Center, Sencho-machi Welfare and Health Center, Toyo Exchange Center, Sakamoto Onsen, Hinagu Onsen Center, Tsurunoyu Yatsushiro / RV parks: RV Park smart Michi-no-Eki Toyo Seseragi
Sources: roadside stations from Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, list of "michi-no-eki" roadside stations (verified 2026-08-21) / national and quasi-national parks judged from Ministry of the Environment boundary data and other sources (details of the sources are in §17) (verified 2026-08-21) / hot springs and day baths from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors) (verified 2026-08-20) / RV parks from Japan RV Association, list of certified "Kuruma-tabi" RV parks (verified 2026-08-20). 🔴 Only what is present is shown here — a town without these is not the lesser for it.

Last verified 2026-08-19

Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake.
This is the situation as verified on 19 August 2026. The figures change from day to day. Please always check the links below for the latest.

■ Kumamoto Prefecture as a whole (Kumamoto Prefecture Disaster Response Headquarters, report no. 34, as of 08:00 on 19 August)
Casualties 397 in total (39 deaths) / damaged homes 33,552 (1,515 completely destroyed) / 3,037 people in 70 evacuation centres across 11 municipalities

■ Yatsushiro City
• The evacuation order covering the whole city was lifted at 18:00 on 18 August (city announcement, 08:46 on 19 August)
• Emergency water supply is continuing. On 19 August it ran from 08:30 to 19:00 at more than 12 points including primary and junior high schools and community centres, and from 11:00 to 17:00 at the Port of Yatsushiro (city announcement, 19 August)
• All regular route buses are suspended (as of 18 August). The city-centre circular buses (Mina Bus, Machi Bus, Yume Bus) and the shared taxis are running
• The disaster volunteer centre is open — at the Kagami-machi martial arts hall and ground (Kagami-machi Ryode 1430), taking registrations from 6 August and working from 10 August

■ What you can do now

What you can do	Where to start
1. Support the city through furusato nozei (no thank-you gift)	Yatsushiro City is accepting donations through the disaster-relief pages of Furusato Choice, Satofull, Furunavi, ANA Furusato Nozei, Saison, Rakuten, au PAY, JRE MALL, Furu Labo, Mitsukoshi Isetan and JAL. Because these are disaster-relief donations, no thank-you gift can be chosen (per the Kumamoto Prefecture guidance). Yatsushiro City donation page →
2. Give through a proxy municipality	To lighten the administrative load on Yatsushiro City, municipalities across Japan are receiving donations on its behalf. Among them are Nanao, Suzu and Kaga in Ishikawa (the Noto Peninsula Earthquake), Kurashiki in Okayama (the July 2018 West Japan floods), Hitoyoshi in Kumamoto (the Kuma River floods) and Ishinomaki, Iwanuma and Tagajo in Miyagi (the Great East Japan Earthquake) — towns that have lived through disasters themselves. Whichever municipality you go through, the donation reaches Yatsushiro City.
3. Send relief money	Kumamoto Prefecture has opened relief-fund accounts (Higo Bank, prefectural office branch; Bank of Kumamoto, head office business department; Japan Post Bank). Donations are accepted from 29 July to 30 October 2026 (planned), and account details for transfers from overseas are published as well. Kumamoto Prefecture relief-fund page →
4. Volunteer	The Yatsushiro City disaster volunteer centre (Kagami-machi martial arts hall and ground / Kagami-machi Ryode 1430) has been working since 10 August. Apply through the Yatsushiro City Council of Social Welfare. The prefecture asks that "to ease traffic congestion around the affected area, please share rides as far as you can when coming to the site". Prefectural disaster volunteer information →
5. Support by buying	Yatsushiro is the largest producer of igusa rush in Japan and a producer of banpeiyu pomelo and tomatoes. Its furusato nozei receipts came to ¥2,611,700,000 across 184,347 donations in FY Reiwa 7 (97th in Japan) — the channel for supporting the city by buying is already working nationwide (§13)
6. First, know what is happening	The city publishes "Koho Yatsushiro, special disaster edition" and updates the list of open evacuation centres, water supply points and housing advice desks every day. Yatsushiro City emergency information → / Kumamoto Prefecture, "Information on the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake" →

Source:Kumamoto Prefecture, "Damage information for the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake" report no. 34 (as of 08:00 on 19 August Reiwa 8 / casualties 397, of whom 39 died / 33,552 damaged homes, 1,515 completely destroyed / 3,037 people in 70 evacuation centres across 11 municipalities) / Yatsushiro City, "Emergency information" (lifting of the evacuation order = posted 08:46 on 19 August 2026, lifted 18:00 on 18 August / emergency water supply = posted 07:30 and 10:40 on 19 August) / the same, "Suspension of Yatsushiro City public transport (buses and shared taxis) following the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake"(2026-08-18updated) /Kumamoto Prefecture, "Please take an active part as a disaster volunteer" (updated 13 August 2026 / Yatsushiro City = Kagami-machi martial arts hall and ground / registrations from 6 August, work from 10 August) / Yatsushiro City, "[Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake] Accepting support donations through furusato nozei" (updated 19 August 2026 / list of portals and of municipalities receiving donations by proxy) / Kumamoto Prefecture, "Accepting donations for the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake" (updated 1 August 2026 / "As these are disaster-relief donations, a thank-you gift cannot be chosen") / verified 2026-08-19

CHAPTER 01First, what kind of place Yatsushiro is

A city of 681.30 square kilometres facing the Yatsushiro Sea (the Shiranui Sea) in the south of Kumamoto Prefecture. Its population of 118,746 is the second-largest in the prefecture, after Kumamoto City. Listed homes sit at elevations from minus 0.4 metres to 77.2 metres, median 2.4 metres — the built-up area stands on the plain the Kuma River made, and on land reclaimed from the sea since the Edo period.

The Kuma River, the reclaimed land and the plainThe east of the city is the Kyushu Mountains (Goka-sho and Izumi-machi) and the west is the Yatsushiro Sea. Between them runs the Kuma River, opening into the Yatsushiro plain at its mouth. As the place name Gunchiku says outright, this is land where embankments were built out into the sea to make rice fields (listed homes in Gunchiku sit at 0.4–1.4 metres, §2). The ground under the city hall is an "alluvial fan" (§5). From the mountains to the sea, one city runs from 0 metres of elevation up into the Kyushu Mountains — that is the shape of Yatsushiro.

The largest producer of igusa rush in JapanThe Yatsushiro plain is known as the largest producer of igusa rush (tatami facing) in Japan, and banpeiyu pomelo — one of the largest citrus fruits in the world — is another Yatsushiro speciality. It is a tomato-growing area too. On the coast is the Port of Yatsushiro, designated by the state as an International Bulk Strategic Port. Shin-Yatsushiro Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen is here, and it is also the starting point of the Hisatsu Orange Railway (§3). Farming, a port and railways all in one city.

What is happening in this town nowIn the prefecture's own documents, the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake has been ongoing since 28 July Reiwa 8. Yatsushiro City came under the Disaster Relief Act as of 28 July. The city writes that it is "currently working on recovery, including grasping the extent of the damage and supporting evacuees", and is accepting support through each portal "in order to recover even one day sooner". The evacuation order covering the whole city was lifted at 18:00 on 18 August, but emergency water supply is continuing (see "What you can do now" above). The figures on this page mix numbers published before the earthquake with numbers verified after it. Which is which is stated in the sources for each chapter.

Sources: area from Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, "Survey of the area of municipalities in Japan" (as of 1 October Reiwa 7), the Yatsushiro City row (681.30km²) / population and households from Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Population, population change and number of households based on the Basic Resident Register" (as of 1 January Reiwa 8 / 118,746 people, 58,299 households. these are the figures from before the earthquake) / the date the Disaster Relief Act was applied, and the city's own words, from Yatsushiro City, "[Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake] Accepting support donations through furusato nozei" ("On the earthquake disaster to which the Disaster Relief Act was applied as of 28 July", "We are currently working on recovery, including grasping the extent of the damage and supporting evacuees") / ground conditions from the same J-SHIS as §5 / verified 2026-08-19

Map of Yatsushiro City

You can zoom and pan. The marker is Yatsushiro City Hall (Matsue-machi). The flat land facing the sea to the west is the Yatsushiro plain and the reclaimed land; along the coast to its south is Hinagu Onsen; the further east you go the deeper the mountains, and at the far end is Goka-sho (Izumi-machi). The Kuma River runs through the middle of the city from east to west.
Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors

What should I know first about moving to Yatsushiro?

🔴 This town is living through the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake right now. Please read "What you can do now" at the top of the page first. With that said — 118,746 people across 681.30 square kilometres, the second-largest city in the prefecture after Kumamoto City, with Shin-Yatsushiro Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen.

CHAPTER 02Three areas, three ways of living

Sorting the 65 homes for sale (every listing) by address gives three areas. Medians run from ¥12,490,000 to ¥27,500,000, and median plots from 261 to 339 square metres. This list was retrieved on 19 August 2026, so the listings are from after the earthquake, but whether an individual property was damaged cannot be told from this information (§4).

Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro) — three quarters of the total48 listings (¥3,800,000–¥55,900,000, median ¥15,490,000, 9 under ¥10,000,000). Elevation 0.7–8.5 m (median 2.4 m). Nearest stations: Yatsushiro 32, Shin-Yatsushiro 8. Median plot 264㎡, building 119㎡, median year built 1985 (19 built in 1981 or earlier).
The old castle town with the Yatsushiro Castle ruins and Shohinken, the city hall, Yatsushiro Station and Shin-Yatsushiro Station — this is where the city's functions gather.
What to watch = this is a belt at about 2 metres of elevation. It is close to both the Kuma River and the Yatsushiro Sea, so be sure to check the flood, storm-surge and tsunami projections (§5)

Sencho & Kagami (the north of the Yatsushiro plain) — the newest houses11 listings (¥9,000,000–¥33,980,000, median ¥27,500,000). Elevation minus 0.4–5.0 m (median 1.3 m). Nearest stations: Sencho 7, Arisa 3. The median year built is 2003, the newest of the three, and 4 of the 11 were built in 1981 or earlier. Median plot 261㎡.
The heart of the igusa-growing country, and Sencho Station is one stop north of Shin-Yatsushiro.
What to watch = some listings sit at minus 0.4 metres. This is the lowest part of the plain, so look at the inland-flooding and river-flooding projections first

Gunchiku, Hinagu & Toyo (reclaimed land, the coast and the hills) — the largest plots6 listings (¥2,800,000–¥17,990,000, median ¥12,490,000). Elevation 0.4–77.2 m — from reclaimed land up into the hills in one bracket. Median plot 339㎡ (about 103 tsubo).
Hinagu Onsen is an old hot-spring town, known as the place where the poet Taneda Santoka wrote "The hot spring is good, truly good; here the mountains are good and the sea is good". Toyo-machi is the country of banpeiyu pomelo and stone bridges.
What to watch = on the reclaimed land (0.4 m) and in the hills (77 m), the things to check are opposites. The first is storm surge and tsunami; the second is landslides (§5)

Prices, counts, elevation, year built and plot size come from the listings below,the 65 SUUMO listings (all of them retrieved), grouped by address. Elevations come from the map coordinates on each SUUMO listing page, each listing's map coordinates through the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan elevation API (all 65 have coordinates for the individual property）。The retrieval date is 19 August 2026, which is after the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake / verified 2026-08-19

Which part of Yatsushiro should I live in?

Sorting the 65 homes for sale by address gives three areas. Medians run from ¥12,490,000 in Gunchiku, Hinagu & Toyo to ¥27,500,000 in Sencho & Kagami. 🔴 This list was retrieved after the earthquake, but whether an individual property was damaged cannot be told from it.

CHAPTER 03Trains and cars — how you get around

All regular route buses in Yatsushiro City are suspended right now (as of 18 August 2026). The city-centre circular buses (Mina Bus, Machi Bus, Yume Bus) and the shared taxis are running. In normal times Yatsushiro is a junction of southern Kyushu, with Shin-Yatsushiro Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen, Yatsushiro Station on the JR Kagoshima Main Line, the starting point of the Hisatsu Orange Railway, the Port of Yatsushiro and the Kyushu Expressway all together.

Services as they stand (as of 18 August 2026, city announcement)[Suspended] all regular route buses / part of the Sakamoto shared-taxi line (weekends and holidays)
[Running] the city-centre circular buses Mina Bus, Machi Bus and Yume Bus (you cannot board or alight at Yumetown Yatsushiro) / shared taxis (all except the above)
The city notes that "depending on road conditions, there may be significant delays or detours". Always check the latest service information from each operator for trains and buses — the city points to Sanko Bus / Hisatsu Orange Railway / JR Kyushu.

In normal times Yatsushiro is a railway junctionShin-Yatsushiro Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen is here, along with Yatsushiro Station on the JR Kagoshima Main Line and the Hisatsu Line, and it is the starting point of the Hisatsu Orange Railway (Yatsushiro–Sendai). Counting the nearest station for each of the 65 listings gives Yatsushiro 36, Shin-Yatsushiro 8, Sencho 7, Arisa 4 and Hinagu Onsen 2 (§2).
Journey times and fares are not given on this page. The official JR West search cannot look up stations in Kyushu, and the alternative route search I tried returned no results, so I will not write them from guesswork. Please check with the official search at JR Kyushu. By car it is the Kyushu Expressway (Yatsushiro IC and Yatsushiro-Hinagu-Onsen IC), and by sea the Port of Yatsushiro (an International Bulk Strategic Port).

Sources: service information from Yatsushiro City, "Suspension of Yatsushiro City public transport (buses and shared taxis) following the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake" (updated 18 August 2026; the quotations are from the same page) / the breakdown of nearest stations is from the 65 SUUMO listings below / verified 2026-08-19

✈ Airports

The closest is Kumamoto Airport (a hub airport managed by the state), about 41.6 km in a straight line. Next is Kagoshima Airport (about 74.3 km in a straight line). 🔴 These are straight-line distances. They are neither road distances nor journey times — please check the actual route with each operator's timetable.

🛣 Expressway junctions

This area has 4 entrances and exits (interchanges and junctions).
Kyushu Expressway, Kagoshima Route = Yatsushiro, Yatsushiro JCT
Yatsushiro-Hinagu Road = Yatsushiro-Minami, Hinagu

Sources: airports fromNational Land Numerical Information, "Airports", FY2021 edition (category names followthe MLIT list of airports ) / expressway junctions fromthe same, "Expressways time series", 2025 edition, current data only (what is open today). Both were overlaid onthe same, "Administrative boundaries", 2026and judged by machine to fall inside this area / verified 2026-08-21

What is transport in Yatsushiro like now?

🔴 As of 18 August 2026 all regular route buses are suspended. The city-centre circular buses (Mina Bus, Machi Bus, Yume Bus) and the shared taxis are running. In normal times there is Shin-Yatsushiro Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen and the starting point of the Hisatsu Orange Railway. Please check journey times with the official search.

CHAPTER 04Homes actually on the market right now

SUUMO carries 65 listings, and all of them were retrieved. From ¥2,800,000 to ¥55,900,000, median ¥15,980,000. 11 are under ¥10,000,000. The median plot is 265 square metres (about 80 tsubo) and the median building 115 square metres. The median year built is 1985, and 27 were built in 1981 or earlier.

Sort

"Nearest the station first" converts everything to minutes — a walk of ◯ min, ◯ min by bus plus ◯ min from the stop, ◯ km by car (reckoned at 30 km/h) — and compares those. Listings with no such information always appear last, whatever the sort.

Hinagu Otsubo-machi1798-3 property photo

Hinagu Otsubo-machi1798-3¥2,800,000Gunchiku, Hinagu & Toyo (reclaimed land, the coast and the hills)Elev. approx. 10 m / Land 189 m² (57 tsubo) / Building 142 m² (43 tsubo) / built 1975 / Hinagu Onsen Sta. 20 min walk7 photos →

Shikigawachi-machi¥3,800,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 249 m² (75 tsubo) / Building 150 m² (45 tsubo) / built 1981 / Hinagu Onsen Sta. 32 min walk9 photos →

Koge Nishi-machi1168-14¥4,300,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 212 m² (64 tsubo) / Building 115 m² (35 tsubo) / built 1975 / Higo-Takada Sta. 25 min walk10 photos →

Furushiro-machi2407-3¥5,300,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 198 m² (60 tsubo) / Building 122 m² (37 tsubo) / built 1971 / Yatsushiro Sta. 42 min walk8 photos →

Buiwara Naka-machi2801-1¥5,490,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 10 m / Land 138 m² (42 tsubo) / Building 113 m² (34 tsubo) / built 1984 / Yatsushiro Sta. 24 min walk10 photos →

Koga Naka-machi807-11¥6,000,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 200 m² (60 tsubo) / Building 85 m² (26 tsubo) / built 1981 / Yatsushiro Sta. 41 min walk10 photos →

Matsue-machi¥7,900,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 204 m² (62 tsubo) / Building 106 m² (32 tsubo) / built 1970 / Yatsushiro Sta., 2.3km5 photos →

Koga Naka-machi¥8,800,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 233 m² (70 tsubo) / Building 101 m² (31 tsubo) / built 1974 / Shin-Yatsushiro Sta. 51 min walk8 photos →

Kagami-machi Ryode¥9,000,000Sencho & Kagami (the north of the Yatsushiro plain)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 423 m² (128 tsubo) / Building 111 m² (34 tsubo) / built 1976 / Sencho Sta. 35 min walk10 photos →

Miyaji-machi¥9,000,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 10 m / Land 514 m² (155 tsubo) / Building 128 m² (39 tsubo) / built 1972 / 御霊 bus stop 7 min walk7 photos →

Koga Naka-machi2266-1¥9,990,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 233 m² (70 tsubo) / Building 84 m² (26 tsubo) / built 1974 / Yatsushiro Sta. bus 14 min+9 min walk10 photos →

Takehara-machi1819-7¥10,500,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 193 m² (58 tsubo) / Building 122 m² (37 tsubo) / built 1995 / Shin-Yatsushiro Sta. 18 min walk10 photos →

Matsuzaki-machi¥10,900,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 196 m² (59 tsubo) / Building 121 m² (37 tsubo) / built 1988 / Yatsushiro Sta., 3.6km9 photos →

Naragi-machi¥11,000,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 413 m² (125 tsubo) / Building 155 m² (47 tsubo) / built 2002 / 柿添 bus stop 6 min walk3 photos →

Matsuzaki-machi¥11,390,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 498 m² (151 tsubo) / Building 108 m² (33 tsubo) / built 1980 / 松崎［Yatsushiro］ bus stop 12 min walk10 photos →

Yokote Hon-machi¥11,800,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 375 m² (113 tsubo) / Building 160 m² (48 tsubo) / built 1981 / Yatsushiro Sta. 18 min walk4 photos →

Gunchiku 1-ban-cho53-5¥11,980,000Gunchiku, Hinagu & Toyo (reclaimed land, the coast and the hills)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 421 m² (127 tsubo) / Building 154 m² (47 tsubo) / built 1977 / Yatsushiro Sta. 62 min walk10 photos →

Gunchiku 3-ban-cho79-13¥11,990,000Gunchiku, Hinagu & Toyo (reclaimed land, the coast and the hills)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 352 m² (107 tsubo) / Building 70 m² (21 tsubo) / built 1987 / Yatsushiro Sta., 6.5km10 photos →

Nishimiya-machi¥11,990,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 10 m / Land 568 m² (172 tsubo) / Building 175 m² (53 tsubo) / built 1985 / Yatsushiro Sta. 15 min walk10 photos →

Matsuzaki-machi¥11,990,000Yatsushiro (town centre, the old castle town, and Shin-Yatsushiro)Elev. approx. 0 m / Land 313 m² (95 tsubo) / Building 117 m² (35 tsubo) / built 1984 / Yatsushiro Sta., 3.6km9 photos →

The photographs are the images carried on SUUMO. They disappear once a listing ends. Check the real condition of a property on site.

See all 65 on SUUMO →

What you should know before you read this list

These 65 listings were retrieved after the earthquakeThe retrieval date is 19 August 2026, which is after the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake (from 28 July). Even so — whether an individual property was damaged, and whether it needs repair, cannot be told from this information. Damaged homes across Kumamoto Prefecture number 33,552 (as of 08:00 on 19 August). Yatsushiro City is under the Disaster Relief Act. Before you enquire, please always ask the estate agent what happened to that building in the earthquake. The city has opened a housing advice desk.

How to read these numbersThis site lines up towns across Japan against the same 17 chapters. Yatsushiro is presented in the same form, but reading today's Yatsushiro as "cheap, so it is a good time to buy" would be entirely beside the point. Speaking of the Yatsushiro market in normal times: plots are generous at a median 265㎡ with a 115㎡ building, and the median price is ¥15,980,000. In Sencho and Kagami the median year built is 2003, a newer belt (§2). This is information for someone thinking about living in Yatsushiro one day, whereas what is needed now is "What you can do now" at the top of the page.

Sources: taken from SUUMO, "Second-hand detached houses in Yatsushiro City" (65 listings in total, 65 retrieved,as of 2026-08-19). Prices, year built, address and nearest station are as given on each listing page; elevation is the map coordinates on the listing page put through the Geospatial Information Authority elevation API.Listings change from day to day.Please check each listing page for the latest / the housing advice desk is from Yatsushiro City, "Opening of a housing advice desk for the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake"/ Verified 2026-08-19

Akiya bank

There are no registrations of homes for sale. Every property in this chapter is on the private market. (as verified on 17 August 2026)

What is the cheapest house you can buy in Yatsushiro?

SUUMO carries 65 listings and all of them were retrieved. From ¥2,800,000 to ¥55,900,000, median ¥15,980,000, with a median plot of 265 square metres. 🔴 That said, reading today's Yatsushiro as "cheap, so it is a good time to buy" is beside the point. Please always check what happened to the building in the earthquake.

CHAPTER 05Is the ground safe?

Please read this chapter with the greatest care. The "10.7% chance of shindo 6-lower or above over 30 years" that appears below is a long-term assessment published by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience. That is a different matter from the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake having actually happened. A low probability does not mean "it will not happen" — and that is being proved in Yatsushiro right now.

Is this town inside a national earthquake-preparedness zone?

For each major earthquake, national law designates the areas where preparation is to be advanced. Whether a town is designated tells you directly how the national government views the shaking and tsunami expected there.

Nankai Trough Earthquake Disaster Prevention Promotion Area	Not designated
Tokyo Inland Earthquake Emergency Measures Area	Not covered (the whole of Kumamoto Prefecture is outside the scheme)
Japan Trench / Kuril Trench Earthquake Disaster Prevention Promotion Area	Not covered (the whole of Kumamoto Prefecture is outside the scheme)
Shaking of intensity 6-lower or above within 30 years	10.7% (shindo 6-upper or above: 1.7%) At the Yatsushiro City Hall site. Surface ground AVS30 253 m/s, an alluvial fan

This probability is for the single 250-metre grid square the city hall stands in. The Yatsushiro City town hall stands onalluvial fan (AVS30 253 m/s), and the 10.7% above is the value at that point. Even within Yatsushiro City, it varies a great deal between the lowland along the river and the terraces. When a listing interests you, look it up by its street address.Enter an address on the J-SHIS map and it shows the probability and the ground for that 250-metre mesh.

Look up an address on J-SHIS → Designations from the Cabinet Office list of designated municipalities (Nankai Trough Earthquake Disaster Prevention Promotion Area／Tokyo Inland Earthquake Emergency Measures Area／Japan Trench / Kuril Trench Earthquake Disaster Prevention Promotion Area ) / probability and surface ground from theNational Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience, J-SHIS earthquake hazard information API (2024 edition, average case, all earthquakes) queried at the coordinates of the city hall / verified 2026-08-19

How this number should be read

The J-SHIS probability is calculated from the assessments of known active faults and subduction-zone earthquakes, and expresses "the chance that shaking of shindo 6-lower or above will occur at that point in the next 30 years". At the Yatsushiro City Hall site it is 10.7% — among the lower figures of those covered on this site (Suita 58.0%, Amagasaki 50.2%, Kurashiki 38.3%). Nor is the city designated under the Nankai Trough Earthquake disaster-prevention promotion area. And yet the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake happened. There was also the Kumamoto earthquake of Heisei 28 (2016). This figure is not a guarantee of safety; it is one input for deciding how much to prepare. The same thing is written on the other pages of this site, but on the Yatsushiro page I want to write it most strongly of all. If you are looking for a house in Yatsushiro now, look not at the probability but at what that building actually went through.

Two more things that come from the terrain

The Kuma River, the reclaimed land and the seaListings in the built-up area sit at 0.7–8.5 metres, Gunchiku at 0.4–1.4 metres, and in Sencho and Kagami there are listings at minus 0.4 metres (§2). Flooding of the Kuma River, storm surge and tsunami from the Yatsushiro Sea, and inland flooding — on low ground you end up looking at all four. The Kuma River is also the river that caused great damage along its course in the July Reiwa 2 heavy rains. The hazard maps are gathered on the city's disaster-prevention site.

In the hills, what you look at changesToyo-machi, Izumi-machi and Sakamoto-machi lie within the Kyushu Mountains, and some listings sit as high as 77.2 metres (§2). What you look at here is the landslide hazard zones. Two things to look at first — (1) enter the address into the overlaid hazard map and lay flood, inland flooding, storm surge, tsunami and landslide layers over each other; (2) look at the disaster-prevention map and the evacuation centres on the Yatsushiro City disaster-prevention site. Right now the list of open evacuation centres is published on the same site.

Sources: the probability and the ground conditions from National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience, J-SHIS (the 250 m mesh containing the city hall at 32.50750 / 130.60181, 2024 edition）。this is a long-term assessment published before the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake) / whether the city is designated is from the Cabinet Office (Disaster Management) list of designated municipalities / the disaster-prevention map and evacuation centres from Yatsushiro City disaster-prevention site / elevations are from the coordinates of each of the same 65 SUUMO listings as §2 / the probabilities quoted for Suita, Amagasaki and Kurashiki are the same J-SHIS values used on their pages on this site / verified 2026-08-19

Is the disaster risk high in Yatsushiro?

🔴 In the J-SHIS long-term assessment the city hall site has a 10.7% chance of shindo 6-lower or above in 30 years, among the lower figures — and yet the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake happened. A low probability does not mean "it will not happen." On low ground look at flooding, inland flooding, storm surge and tsunami; in the hills look at landslides.

CHAPTER 06What summer and winter are like

The climate figures on this page come from an observatory inside Yatsushiro City itself. The annual mean is 17.0°C. Winter is clearly milder than Tokyo (January daily low 2.1°C against Tokyo's 1.2°C, 0.0 days a year when the temperature stays below freezing, and 17.5 frost days), and tropical nights number 17.1 a year, almost the same as Tokyo (17.8). In exchange, annual rainfall is 2,033.4mm — 1.3 times Tokyo's — with 426.2mm falling in June alone.

Yatsushiro

Japan Meteorological Agency, Yatsushiro observatory (within the city)

Annual mean temperature17.0°C

August daily high32.8°C

January daily low2.1°C

Annual rainfall2,033.4mm

Tokyo

Japan Meteorological Agency, Tokyo station

Annual mean15.8°C

August daily maximum31.3°C

January daily minimum1.2°C

Annual rainfall1,598.2 mm

The twelve months of temperature, set out as they are

The left end of each bar is the average daily minimum for that month and the right end the average daily maximum (Yatsushiro, the 30-year average for 1991–2020).

month 1

2.1〜10.9℃

month 2

2.9〜12.4℃

month 3

5.8〜15.9℃

month 4

10.3〜21.0℃

month 5

15.0〜25.4℃

month 6

19.7〜27.6℃

month 7

23.7〜31.5℃

month 8

24.1〜32.8℃

month 9

20.6〜29.6℃

month 10

14.5〜24.6℃

month 11

9.0〜18.8℃

month 12

4.0〜13.2℃

-2℃11℃24℃37℃

17.1 days / 17.5 days

17.1 tropical nights (Tokyo 17.8) and 17.5 frost days (Tokyo 15.2).
These are the numbers for how summer nights and winter mornings compare with Tokyo

Days per year	Yatsushiro	Tokyo
Tropical nights minimum 25°C or above	17.1 days	17.8 days
Days above 35°C maximum 35°C or above	7.1 days	4.8 days
Days above 30°C maximum 30°C or above	73.3 days	52.1 days
Frost days minimum below 0°C	17.5 days	15.2 days
Days below freezing all day maximum below 0°C	0.0 days	0.0 days

Source:Japan Meteorological Agency, normals for Yatsushiro (by month) /the same, day counts by class (view=a2)／the same, Tokyo (all 30-year averages for 1991–2020) / verified 2026-08-14

Item	Yatsushiro (normals)	What it means for daily life
Annual mean temperature	17.0℃	Mean daily high 22.0°C / mean daily low 12.7°C
Summer (August daily high)	32.8℃	7.1 days above 35°C, 73.3 days above 30°C, 151.5 days above 25°C (more than 4 in 10 days of the year) and 17.1 tropical nights
Winter (January daily low)	2.1℃	17.5 frost days, 0.0 days below freezing all day. Milder than Tokyo (January daily low 1.2°C)
Annual rainfall	2,033.4mm	426.2mm in June and 386.7mm in July. Four tenths of the year's rain falls in these two months

The rain of June and July is the crux of this land426.2mm in June and 386.7mm in July — four tenths of the annual rainfall comes in these two months. For comparison, Tokyo's June is around 167mm and Kurashiki's June is 149.8mm. That rainfall lands on the terrain of the Kuma River and the Yatsushiro plain (§1, §5). The July Reiwa 2 heavy rains caused great damage along the Kuma River. Choosing a house with "the rain of June and July" as your starting point — that, I think, is the way of this land. The hazard map is something to open again before the rainy season.

The winters here are clearly mild0.0 days a year stay below freezing, there are only 17.5 frost days — fewer than Tokyo — and the January daily low of 2.1°C is milder than Tokyo's 1.2°C. You do not need to prepare for snow. And 151.5 days a year are above 25°C — more than four tenths of the year. Days above 35°C number 7.1, which is not many, but the warm season is long, and that is the character of this land. Both the igusa rush and the banpeiyu pomelo are products of this climate (§13).

Sources: temperatures, day counts and rainfall from Japan Meteorological Agency, "Yatsushiro (normals, 1991–2020)" (the observatory within Yatsushiro City) / the Tokyo figures from the same, "Tokyo (normals)" (17.8 tropical nights / August daily high 31.3°C / January daily low 1.2°C / annual rainfall 1,598.2mm / annual mean 15.8°C) / the June rainfall quoted for Kurashiki is the same Japan Meteorological Agency value used on the Kurashiki page of this site / verified 2026-08-19

Are summers hot and winters cold in Yatsushiro?

Winter is milder than Tokyo, with a January daily low of 2.1°C, 17.5 frost days and 0.0 days below freezing all day. Summer is long, with 151.5 days a year above 25°C. 🔴 In exchange, annual rainfall is 2,033.4mm, with 426.2mm in June alone — four tenths of the year's rain in these two months.

CHAPTER 07Shops, hospitals, schools

The information in this chapter may be affected by the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake. Whether a facility is open changes from day to day. Please always check the city's emergency information and each facility's own announcements. Yatsushiro City is the second-largest city in the prefecture after Kumamoto City, and in normal times medical care and shopping are both complete within the city.

What to check right nowThe city publishes "Koho Yatsushiro, special disaster edition", giving the list of open evacuation centres (published as of 06:00 on 19 August), the places and times of the emergency water supply, the housing advice desk, the distribution of school supplies to children who lost theirs and rented emergency housing (deemed temporary housing). For how hospitals, shops and schools stand right now, the city's emergency information is the fastest source. Yatsushiro City emergency information → / Evacuation centres: open status and crowding →

About Yatsushiro in normal times118,746 people in 58,299 households (1 January Reiwa 8), the second-largest city in the prefecture. Kumamoto City is connected by the Kyushu Shinkansen and the Kagoshima Main Line (§3). Foreign residents number 4,408 (3.7%) — above the national average on this site (3.26%), and this is a city that publishes the state of its foreign resident numbers every quarter. The shape of a place that holds igusa rush, tomatoes and banpeiyu pomelo alongside the Port of Yatsushiro shows up in that figure too.

Source:Yatsushiro City, "Emergency information" (open evacuation centres = as of 06:00 on 19 August 2026 / emergency water supply / housing advice desk / distribution of school supplies to children who lost theirs / rented emergency housing) / population, households and foreign residents from Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Population, population change and number of households based on the Basic Resident Register"(Reiwa 8 (2026), 1/1as of,the figures from before the earthquake) andYatsushiro City, "The state of foreign resident numbers in Yatsushiro City"/ Verified 2026-08-19

What are healthcare and schools like in Yatsushiro?

🔴 Things may be affected by the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake right now. The city updates evacuation centres, the water supply and the housing advice desk every day in "Koho Yatsushiro, special disaster edition" and its emergency information. In normal times this is the second-largest city in the prefecture after Kumamoto City, and medical care and shopping are both complete within the city.

CHAPTER 08What it costs you every year after you buy

The water and sewerage tariff for Yatsushiro City is not shown on this page. The city's water supply is still running on emergency supply (as of 19 August), and I judged that setting out the normal-times tariff would not convey the reality of Yatsushiro as it is. Please check with the city's own pages, together with the state of the recovery.

The state of the water supply nowOn 19 August 2026 Yatsushiro City is running emergency water supply at more than 12 points in the city (08:30–19:00, about 10 litres per collection). At the Port of Yatsushiro water is supplied drive-through style from 11:00 to 17:00 (water from a survey, observation and cleaning vessel). The city says it "plans to continue support with the water supply tomorrow as well, from around 11:00 (planned)". There are still areas where the water has not come back — that is Yatsushiro now. Latest water supply information →

This is a place where a car is assumed681.30km² (§1) with a population of 118,746. Across a city that reaches from the mountains to the sea, a median plot of 265㎡ (§4) means a house with parking is the norm. Right now all regular route buses are suspended (§3), and only the city-centre circular buses and the shared taxis are running. The need for a car is stronger than in normal times. Land prices are ¥25,000 per ㎡ for residential land (§9) — the property-tax burden is on a different scale from the big cities.

Sources: the emergency water supply from Yatsushiro City, "Emergency information" (posted 07:30 and 10:40 on 19 August 2026; the quotation is from the same page) / public transport from the same, "Suspension of public transport (buses and shared taxis)"(2026-08-18updated) / Verified 2026-08-19

What do water and sewerage cost in Yatsushiro?

🔴 It is not shown on this page. The city is still running emergency water supply (as of 19 August 2026, at more than 12 points from 08:30 to 19:00), and I judged that setting out the normal-times tariff would not convey the reality. Please check with the city's own pages.

CHAPTER 09What happens when you want to sell

The land prices given here are the published prices as of 1 January Reiwa 8. They contain nothing at all of the effect of the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake (from 28 July). On that basis — residential land averaged ¥25,000 per ㎡, down 0.1% on the year. Commercial land was ¥47,000 per ㎡ (-0.1%), industrial land ¥12,300 per ㎡ (+2.5%) and all uses together ¥31,900 per ㎡ (+0.2%).

Use	Average price	Year-on-year change
Residential	¥25,000/m²	-0.1%
Commercial land	¥47,000/m²	-0.1%
Industrial	¥12,300/m²	+2.5%
All uses	¥31,900/m²	+0.2%

Yatsushiro today cannot be described through land pricesThese figures are as of 1 January Reiwa 8. Three weeks after the earthquake, there is nowhere any data that could say what land prices will do next. Until the next official land price survey (as of 1 January Reiwa 9) is published, "we do not know" is the honest answer for this city. This site does not write figures from guesswork. The same applies here.

Before the earthquake, this was the marketResidential land at ¥25,000 per ㎡ is among the cheaper figures covered on this site (about half of Kurashiki's ¥51,300 per ㎡, about a twelfth of Nishinomiya's ¥293,500 per ㎡). Even a 60-tsubo plot (198㎡) comes to about ¥4,950,000 of land — that is why the median plot reaches 265㎡ (§4). Industrial land alone is up 2.5%, which shows the character of a place that holds the Port of Yatsushiro (an International Bulk Strategic Port).

Source:Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, official land price survey (Reiwa 8), average prices and year-on-year change by municipality (PDF), the Yatsushiro City row (compiled by the Land Information Center. the price date is 1 January Reiwa 8, which is before the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake) / the land prices quoted for Kurashiki and Nishinomiya are rows in the same PDF / verified 2026-08-19

Will the house I buy sell when I want to sell it?

🔴 Yatsushiro today cannot be described through land prices. The published official land price survey is as of 1 January Reiwa 8, and contains nothing at all of the effect of the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake. At that date residential land was ¥25,000 per ㎡, and industrial land alone was up 2.5%.

CHAPTER 10Who lives here, and how many

118,746 people in 58,299 households (1 January Reiwa 8, Basic Resident Register). That is 2.04 people per household. There are 8,362 more women than men (55,192 men, 63,554 women). Population density is about 174 people per square kilometre. These are the figures from before the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake.

Population

118,746 people

1 January Reiwa 8, Basic Resident Register

Households

58,299 households

1 households 2.04 people

Men and women

55,192／63,554

Men / women

Population density

approx. 174 people/km²

118,746 people across 681.30km²

Second-largest city in the prefecture, and thinly settledA population of 118,746, second in Kumamoto Prefecture. Even so, that is about 174 people per square kilometre — a sixtieth of the Osaka one-hour ring on this site (Toyonaka, about 10,900) and an eighth of Kurashiki (about 1,317). Much of the 681.30km² is the Kyushu Mountains (§1), and people live concentrated on the plain in the west. "The functions of the prefecture's second city" and "the breadth of a place ringed by mountains and sea" live side by side — that is the shape of Yatsushiro.

Foreign residents make up 3.7%Foreign residents number 4,408 (3.7%), above the national average (3.26%). The city publishes the state of its foreign resident numbers every quarter. The city also has an exchange with Hsinchu in Taiwan, and in this earthquake it has reported on its site that it received support from Kaohsiung in Taiwan. A place with a port and farming is open to the outside — and that accumulation is now coming back as support.

Source:Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Population, population change and number of households based on the Basic Resident Register" (as of 1 January Reiwa 8 / 118,746 people / 55,192 men and 63,554 women / 58,299 households / 4,408 foreign residents. the figures from before the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake). The population density is calculated from that population and the Geospatial Information Authority area survey's 681.30km² / the support from Taiwan from Yatsushiro City, "Warm support from Kaohsiung, Taiwan" / the exchange with Hsinchu from the same, "A Yatsushiro citizens' delegation visits Hsinchu" / the population densities quoted for Toyonaka and Kurashiki use the same calculation as their pages on this site / verified 2026-08-19

Share of foreign residents

3.71%national average 3.26%

Of the 118,746 people living in Yatsushiro City, 4,408 are foreign residents. That is above the national average (3.26%).
Across Japan, foreign residents make up 3.26% of the total population (4,031,159 of 123,767,642). 34 municipalities in Japan are above 10%.

Source: calculated by this site from the municipality-level tables of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Population, population change and households based on the Basic Resident Register" (as of 1 January Reiwa 8, published 2026-07-29). The ministry's publication page / verified 2026-08-17

What is happening to Yatsushiro's population?

118,746 people in 58,299 households (1 January Reiwa 8, Basic Resident Register. 🔴 These are the figures from before the earthquake.) Population density is about 174 people per square kilometre. Foreign residents number 4,408 (3.7%), and in this earthquake support has arrived from Kaohsiung in Taiwan as well.

CHAPTER 11Community life and the year's events

The centre of the Yatsushiro year is the Yatsushiro Myoken Festival in November — one of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage "Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals". What will happen in Reiwa 8 is not known at this point. Please check with the organisers and the city for whether it will be held.

When	Event, and what you can do	Where
month 11	The Yatsushiro Myoken Festival. One of the "Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals" inscribed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the festival of Yatsushiro Shrine (Myoken-gu)	Yatsushiro Shrine and elsewhere
month 8	The Kagami-machi hometown summer festival "Juhachiya". The city is featuring it on its site again this year	Kagami-machi
All year	The Yatsushiro Castle ruins and Shohinken. The faces of the town that Yatsushiro City puts on its support-donation page	Town centre
All year	Hinagu Onsen. An old hot-spring town on the coast; some listings have "Hinagu Onsen" as their nearest station (§2)	Hinagu
All year	Goka-sho (Izumi-machi). A settlement deep in the Kyushu Mountains, at the eastern edge of the city (§1)	Izumi-machi

What the people of this town are doing nowThe city's site carries the days since the earthquake just as they are — "Volunteer painting by the Yatsushiro painting and waterproofing trade association", "Warm support from Kaohsiung, Taiwan", "We are distributing school supplies to children who lost theirs in the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake", "Yatsushiro children's support consultation room 'Tanpopo', special edition". Local businesses are working with their hands, support is arriving from across the sea, and the children's consultation room has put out a special edition. That is what "getting on with the neighbourhood" means in Yatsushiro right now.

If you are going to visit, check these first"Is it all right to go?" is, I think, the most common hesitation. The prefecture is calling for people to take an active part as disaster volunteers (updated 13 August). At the same time it writes: "to ease traffic congestion around the affected area, please share rides as far as you can". If you are visiting as a tourist, check the state of accommodation and transport first. All regular route buses are suspended (§3). Once you have decided to go, look first at the city's emergency information and then at the official pages of wherever you are heading — that is the order that helps most right now.

Source:Yatsushiro City official site's topics (volunteer painting by the Yatsushiro painting and waterproofing trade association / warm support from Kaohsiung, Taiwan / the Kagami-machi hometown summer festival "Juhachiya" / distribution of school supplies to children who lost theirs / Yatsushiro children's support consultation room "Tanpopo", special edition) / the Yatsushiro Castle ruins and Shohinken from the same, "Accepting support donations", the photographs on the page / the call for volunteers from Kumamoto Prefecture, "Please take an active part as a disaster volunteer" (updated 13 August 2026; the quotation is from the same page) / verified 2026-08-19

What events does Yatsushiro have?

The Yatsushiro Myoken Festival in November — a festival inscribed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage — is the centre of the year. 🔴 What will happen in Reiwa 8 is not known at this point. Right now the city's site carries the days since the earthquake, such as "Volunteer painting by the Yatsushiro painting and waterproofing trade association".

CHAPTER 12Things nearby that move land prices

In normal times the value of this land was set by three things: (1) igusa rush and farming, (2) the Port of Yatsushiro and industry, (3) Shin-Yatsushiro Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen. There is not yet any data that could say what the value of this land will do after the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake (§9).

1. The largest producer of igusa rush in JapanThe Yatsushiro plain is the largest producer of igusa rush (tatami facing) in Japan, and a producer of banpeiyu pomelo and tomatoes as well. The median plot of 265㎡ (§4) is an extension of that farming land. Furusato nozei receipts came to ¥2,611,700,000 across 184,347 donations in FY Reiwa 7, 97th in Japan (§13) — which means these products are being chosen from across the country. "Support by buying" works now because that foundation is there.

2. The port, and industrial land up 2.5%The Port of Yatsushiro is a national International Bulk Strategic Port. That industrial land alone is up 2.5% (§9) is because of this port and the Kyushu Expressway. In this earthquake, the Port of Yatsushiro became a base for water and bathing support (bathing, rest and overnight support from the Ministry of Defense ferry "Hakuo 2"; water supply from the regional coast guard headquarters and the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency). The port is working as infrastructure in an emergency, too.

3. A city with a Shinkansen stationThe Kyushu Shinkansen stops at Shin-Yatsushiro Station, which is also the starting point of the Hisatsu Orange Railway (§3). Among the listings, 8 have Shin-Yatsushiro as their nearest station and 7 have Sencho (§2). In Sencho and Kagami the median year built is 2003 (§2), the newest houses of the three areas. The area around the Shinkansen station is where new development has gone — and that shape is still there in how the listings line up.

Sources: land prices from the same official land price survey as §9 (Reiwa 8; the price date is 1 January Reiwa 8) / furusato nozei from the same Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications survey as §13 / the support at the Port of Yatsushiro from Kumamoto Prefecture, "Information on the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake", its living-support information (water supply; bathing support (Port of Yatsushiro and Misumi Port); bathing and rest support (Port of Yatsushiro) [Ministry of Defense ferry Hakuo 2]; overnight support (Port of Yatsushiro)) / plot sizes and counts from the same SUUMO tally as §4 / verified 2026-08-19

What this land earns from

Yatsushiro is a town of igusa rush, a port and the Shinkansen. It is the largest producer of igusa rush (tatami facing) in Japan. Banpeiyu pomelo is one of the largest citrus fruits in the world, and is known together with the name of Yatsushiro. It is a tomato-growing area too. On the coast is the Port of Yatsushiro — a national International Bulk Strategic Port, which in this earthquake also became a base for water and bathing support. And there is Shin-Yatsushiro Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen and the starting point of the Hisatsu Orange Railway. Furusato nozei receipts came to ¥2,611,700,000 across 184,347 donations in FY Reiwa 7, 97th of the 1,788 municipalities in Japan — the products of Yatsushiro were being chosen across the country long before the earthquake. "Support by buying" works now because of what has been built up.

Sources: furusato nozei from Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Survey of the current state of furusato nozei" (FY Reiwa 7 / ¥2,611,703,257 received / 184,347 donations / 97th in Japan, 4th in Kumamoto Prefecture) / the support at the Port of Yatsushiro from the same Kumamoto Prefecture living-support information as §12 / verified 2026-08-19

What decides land prices in Yatsushiro?

In normal times it was three things: (1) igusa rush and farming, (2) the Port of Yatsushiro and industry, (3) Shin-Yatsushiro Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen. 🔴 There is not yet any data that could say what happens after the earthquake. In this earthquake the Port of Yatsushiro became a base for water and bathing support.

CHAPTER 13What this place makes

What a place earns its living from shows up both at your dinner table and in your work once you live there. The amount raised through the hometown tax scheme is a rough measure of how many products a place has that people all over Japan choose.

¥2,611,700,000

Furusato nozei receipts for FY Reiwa 7 (184,347 donations).
97th of the 1,788 municipalities in Japan, and 4th within Kumamoto Prefecture

We have not yet been able to describe this place's local specialities

I (an AI) searched the official Yatsushiro City site and the tourism and product association sites the municipality points to, but could not find an officially published list of local specialities (verified 20 August 2026).
This site is built by checking sources one at a time, so that an AI does not introduce information at odds with the facts. Because I could not find information with a source, nothing is written here yet. This does not mean there are no local specialities — please bear with us.

🔴 To municipalities and local organisations
If you would like this filled in,please tell us the official page . We will put it here with a source and the date it was checked.

For municipalities and local organisations (get in touch here) →

You can support a town without living there

Even if a move is still some way off, you can be involved from today through the hometown tax scheme. Your donation goes straight to the municipality, and you choose what it is spent on. A way to give something back to a place you got to know here.

Support Yatsushiro City through furusato nozei →

Source:Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Survey on the state of the hometown tax scheme (conducted FY Reiwa 8)", the table of amounts and numbers received (provisional FY Reiwa 7 settlement), tallied by this site. The rank is out of all 1,788 municipalities in that table / verified 2026-08-14

What does Yatsushiro earn its living from?

It is the largest producer of igusa rush (tatami facing) in Japan, and a producer of banpeiyu pomelo and tomatoes. 🔴 Furusato nozei receipts came to ¥2,611,700,000 across 184,347 donations in FY Reiwa 7, 97th in Japan — the products of Yatsushiro were being chosen across the country long before the earthquake. "Support by buying" works now because of what has been built up.

CHAPTER 14A message from Yatsushiro City

What Yatsushiro City is putting out right now is not a guide to moving here. It is recovery information, thanks for support received, and the ways to give support. This chapter sets down the city's own words as they are.

What the city is writing now

The Yatsushiro City support-donation page begins like this — "On the earthquake disaster to which the Disaster Relief Act was applied as of 28 July: we are sincerely grateful for the warm words and offers of support that have reached Yatsushiro City from every quarter. We are currently working on recovery, including grasping the extent of the damage and supporting evacuees. In order to recover even one day sooner, we are accepting support through the following sites." And it continues — "And to all the municipalities receiving donations on our behalf, thank you sincerely for your cooperation. We ask for your continued help." That second sentence is the thing this page most wants to pass on.

Towns that have been through disaster are supporting a town in disaster

In the list of municipalities receiving furusato nozei donations on behalf of Yatsushiro City, these names appear — Nanao, Suzu, Kaga and Shika in Ishikawa (the Reiwa 6 Noto Peninsula Earthquake). Kurashiki in Okayama (the July Heisei 30 heavy rains). Hitoyoshi in Kumamoto (the July Reiwa 2 heavy rains). Ishinomaki, Iwanuma, Tagajo, Kakuda and Rifu in Miyagi, Shinjo in Yamagata, Murakami in Niigata, Kure in Hiroshima — a long line of towns that have lived through disaster. Receiving by proxy means that another municipality takes on the work of accepting donations and the paperwork, to lighten the load on the municipality that has been hit. Whichever municipality you go through, the donation reaches Yatsushiro City. The towns that were helped then are on the helping side now. Among them are Kurashiki, Kawachinagano, Shimonoseki, Maizuru, Tanabe and Ito, all published on this site.

Source:Yatsushiro City, "[Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake] Accepting support donations through furusato nozei" (updated 19 August 2026; the quotations and the list of proxy municipalities are all from the same page. The disaster-relief pages of Furusato Choice / Satofull / Furunavi / ANA Furusato Nozei / Saison Furusato Nozei / Rakuten Furusato Nozei / au PAY / JRE MALL / Kabu& / AEON Card Maifuru / Furu Labo / Mitsukoshi Isetan / JAL Furusato Nozei) / verified 2026-08-19

Schemes that bear directly on daily life (Yatsushiro right now)

What is being announced now	What it is
Housing advice desk	The city has opened a housing advice desk for the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake
Rented emergency housing (deemed temporary housing)	Guidance is out on the scheme that provides private rented housing as emergency housing
Distribution of school supplies to children who lost theirs	Distribution to children whose school supplies were made unusable by the earthquake
Koho Yatsushiro, special disaster edition	The city keeps publishing special editions (vol. 2 confirmed)
Akiya bank	No akiya bank could be found for Yatsushiro City (verified 2026-08-19). For now, take housing questions to the advice desk above

Source:Yatsushiro City, "Opening of a housing advice desk for the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake"／the same, "Rented emergency housing (deemed temporary housing) for the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake"／the same, "We are distributing school supplies to children who lost theirs in the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake"／the same, "Koho Yatsushiro, special disaster edition vol. 2"/ Verified 2026-08-19

What support is Yatsushiro accepting right now?

🔴 The disaster-relief pages of the furusato nozei portals (no thank-you gifts), the Kumamoto Prefecture relief-fund accounts (29 July to 30 October 2026) and the disaster volunteer centre (Kagami-machi martial arts hall, working since 10 August). Municipalities across Japan are receiving donations by proxy, and among them are towns that have lived through disaster themselves, such as Nanao in Ishikawa and Kurashiki in Okayama.

CHAPTER 15A year in Yatsushiro

Last, a plan of the year as it is lived. 2026 will not follow this plan. Even so, this records what a year in this town looks like.

Month	Yatsushiro that month
1–month 2	A mean daily low of 2.1°C, and only 17.5 frost days in the year. 0.0 days stay below freezing, a milder winter than Tokyo. It is also the season of banpeiyu pomelo
3–month 4	The season when water goes into the igusa fields. Population statistics are based on the figures as of 1 January
5–month 6	426.2mm of rain in June — the wettest month of the year. On land shaped by the Kuma River and the Yatsushiro plain (§1, §5), this is the time to open the hazard map again
7–month 8	386.7mm in July. There are 151.5 days above 25°C in the year, a long stretch, and 7.1 days above 35°C. In 2026, from 28 July onward, this is the middle of the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake
9–month 10	Typhoon season. The rain begins to settle (101.1mm in October), and the fields spread out with the igusa harvest done
11–month 12	November is the Yatsushiro Myoken Festival — a festival inscribed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (please check with the organisers and the city for whether it will be held). Rainfall is low at 73.2mm in December, and the banpeiyu pomelo ripens

Sources: climate as in §6, events as in §11, and the disaster situation from the same primary sources as "What you can do now" at the top / verified 2026-08-19

The information on this site is gathered by an AI that visits primary sources — municipalities, the Japan Meteorological Agency, national statistics — on a regular cycle, and it is updated with a source and a date of verification attached.

What is a year in Yatsushiro like?

Winter is mild, with 0.0 days below freezing all day, and the year has a long summer of 151.5 days above 25°C. 🔴 426.2mm in June and 386.7mm in July is the crux of this land. In 2026, from 28 July onward, this is the middle of the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake.

CHAPTER 16The people who run this city

When you are thinking about moving, who is running this town now and where they are taking it is something the people about to live here want to know more than the people already living here. This chapter lines up only what Yatsushiro City publishes itself, with sources. 🔴 As of 22 August 2026, following the official site, I (an AI) could find 4 of the 6 items below.

What is published	Published	What you can read
About the mayor	Mayor's office	Name, career, greeting
Policy address	Could not find one	What they say they will do this year
List of council members	By parliamentary group	Who the members are, and their groupings
Council broadcasts and recordings	Broadcast library	Whether you can watch the council in session
Searchable minutes	Minutes	Whether you can search past debates by wording
Master plan	Could not find one	How many years ahead this town has decided

🔴 I (an AI) could not find the name of the mayor of Yatsushiro CityI followed 133 pages of the official Yatsushiro City site, but could not take the name from anywhere I could say with certainty was the page introducing the current mayor。That does not mean there is none, or that it is not published.Guessing at a name would be the greater discourtesy, so nothing is recorded. 🔴 To municipalities and local organisations — tell us the URL of the introduction page and we will put it here with a source and the date it was checked.Get in touch here →

How much of the council can you see?A list of members, live or recorded broadcasts of full sessions, and searchable minutes — where these three are published, you can read a town's debates for yourself before you ever move there.
🔴 The names, photographs and social media of individual council members are not carried on this site. We point you to where you can read them.
Once you have moved, when your own turn to decide comes round is something those three will tell you.

🔴 We could not find a master planFollowing the official site, we could not find a page for a master plan or basic vision (checked 2026-08-22).That does not mean there is none.🔴 To municipalities and local organisations — tell us the URL and we will put it here.Get in touch here →

🔴 What I will not do in this chapter1. I will not guess gender or age from a name. Only what is published appears here. 2. I will not write that anything is good or bad. Only what is being put forward, and where it comes from. 3. I will not compare election candidates.
🔴 And mayors change. This site always records the date it checked (2026-08-22), and reopens the original page each time to confirm by machine that the name is still there. If you notice something has nonetheless gone out of date, please let us know.

Source: allofficial site (Yatsushiro City ), followed on 2026-08-22. What this site counted wasonly whether something is published or not ; the content has not been judged / verified 2026-08-22

Who runs Yatsushiro City now?

🔴 I (an AI) could not find the name of the mayor of Yatsushiro City on the official site (verified 22 August 2026). Writing a guess would be the greater discourtesy, so nothing is written. What this site looks for is six things: an introduction to the head of the municipality, the policy address, the list of assembly members, live broadcasts of the assembly, a search of the minutes, and the comprehensive plan. 🔴 No judgement of good or bad is made here. Only whether something is published or not.

CHAPTER 17Where to go on a day off

What does not show up in the numbers of a house search, but bears directly on how satisfied you are once you live there, is days off. This chapter counts, on the same measure for every area, the places you can go on a day off in Yatsushiro and the places family and friends can stay when they visit. This is a town with Kyushu Chuo Sanchi Quasi-National Park. In this area there are now 8 hot springs and day baths, 3 roadside stations and 1 RV park. 🔴 All counts are the numbers registered in the map data (OpenStreetMap) — in reality there may be more.

What	Number counted, and names
⛰ National and quasi-national parks	Kyushu Chuo Sanchi Quasi-National Park
♨ Hot springs and day baths	Sakamoto Onsen Center / Creon, Sencho-machi Welfare and Health Center / Patria Sencho, Toyo Exchange Center / Seseragi, Sakamoto Onsen / Ikoi-no-ie, Hinagu Onsen Center / Banpei-yu, Tsurunoyu Yatsushiro and 8 facilities in all
🏯 Castles and castle sites	Yatsushiro Castle
🎡 Amusement parks, zoos and aquariums	Not found in the map data
🖼 Museums, galleries and memorial halls	Yatsushiro Municipal Museum Mirai-no-Mori Museum, Toyo Sekisho-kan, Matsui Bunko Kisai, Heike-no-Sato, Suichikukyo-no-Yakata, Suichikukyo Museum (6 museums)
⛩ Shrines and temples	37 shrines and 14 temples. Those with a Wikipedia entry are Shakain, Shioya Hachimangu, Yatsushiro-gu, Matsui Shrine and Inyaku Shrine
🚗 Roadside stations	Sakamoto, Toyo, Hikyo-no-sato Izumi (3 stations)
🐕 Dog runs	Not found in the map data
🛣 Expressway service and parking areas	Sakamoto PA (northbound) / Sakamoto PA (southbound)

Somewhere to stay — for family and friends, and for your own travels

What	Number counted
🏨 Hotels and ryokan	10
🏠 Guesthouses and hostels	Not found in the map data
⛺ Campsites and auto-campsites	Not found in the map data
🏕 Glamping	Not found among the campsite or hotel names
🚐 RV parks (overnight in your vehicle)	RV Park smart Michi-no-Eki Toyo Seseragi

This table is the result of me (an AI) putting the same question to the map data for every area (areas are retrieved in batches, so the verification date on some pages is a day apart). Facilities not registered on the map are not counted. "Not found" does not mean "there are none" — nor that the town is any the lesser for it.

Sources: the counts and names of facilities fromOpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) / RV parks fromJapan RV Association, list of certified "Kuruma-tabi" RV parks / roadside stations fromMinistry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, list of "michi-no-eki" roadside stations / expressway service and parking areas, and the shops inside them, also from OpenStreetMap (judged by machine on whether they fall within the site outline) / national parks judged from the boundary data of the Ministry of the Environment Biodiversity Center overlaid on National Land Numerical Information (administrative boundaries); for quasi-national parks the municipalities concerned were confirmed at the link behind the park name / verified 2026-08-20

Are there places to go on a day off, and places to stay?

This is a town with Kyushu Chuo Sanchi Quasi-National Park. Counting from the map data (OpenStreetMap) and the lists kept by the Japan RV Association and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, there are 8 hot springs and day baths, 3 roadside stations, 10 hotels and ryokan and 1 RV park. Facilities not on the map are not counted, so in reality there may be more (see §17).

What I (an AI) was able to find on this town's official site

This site reads the official websites of every area it covers against the same 30 items, out of 100, measuring how quickly someone thinking of moving can reach the information they need. What was measured is the official website of Yatsushiro City, and the total was 45.3 points (measured 20 August 2026).

"Not found" does not mean "there is none." It means I followed the official site and could not find it. Tell us the published page and the next measurement will reflect it.

Area	Score	What was found
Getting started with a move	10 / 20	There is a relocation and settlement page; a contact point (department, telephone, opening hours); support schemes state amounts and conditions
Housing	4 / 15	There is an akiya bank
The money side of living here	7 / 15	Water and sewerage charges are readable from a rate table; child-raising support is specific about amounts and scope; there are explanations of national health insurance tax and fixed asset tax
Disaster information	13.3 / 20	Hazard maps are published by district; flood, landslide and earthquake are all covered; they are machine-readable (a map system or text PDF); and 1 more
Industry and local produce	3 / 10	Hometown tax results are published year by year; there are support schemes for businesses and industry
Transport	7 / 10	There is a community bus timetable; fares are stated
Can an AI read it?	1 / 10	Every page carries an updated date

See all 30 items and the pages used to judge them

3 / 3　There is a relocation and settlement page
Support for people moving in　Go and see → 0 / 3　There is a dedicated relocation site
Only pages within the official site 2 / 3　A contact point (department, telephone, opening hours)
2 of the department, phone number and opening hours were given　Go and see → 5 / 5　Support schemes state amounts and conditions
Both amounts and conditions　Go and see → 0 / 3　There is trial housing or a trial-stay scheme
Not found 0 / 3　Vacancies in trial housing are published
Not found 4 / 4　There is an akiya bank
Akiya bank　Go and see → 0 / 4　Listings carry photographs, price, year built and floor area
There is no property data this site can take in 0 / 4　Completed deals are organised
As above 0 / 3　The conditions of use are stated
Not found 1 / 5　Water and sewerage charges are readable from a rate table
There is a water and sewerage page　Go and see → 3 / 5　Child-raising support is specific about amounts and scope
Grants are described　Go and see → 3 / 3　There are explanations of national health insurance tax and fixed asset tax
Both the rates and the amounts are stated　Go and see → 0 / 2　Tie-ups with banks for mortgages and the like
Not found 5 / 5　Hazard maps are published by district
21 documents by district　Go and see → 3.3 / 5　Flood, landslide and earthquake are all covered
Landslides / earthquakes　Go and see → 0 / 3　The year the assumptions were last reviewed is stated
Not found　Go and see → 2 / 4　Is it machine-readable (a map system or a text PDF)?
It appears to be a scanned-image PDF　Go and see → 3 / 3　Disasters are announced through more than one channel
Disaster app / TV and radio　Go and see → 0 / 5　A list of local speciality products is on the official site
Not found 1 / 3　Hometown tax results are published year by year
7 fiscal years are recorded　Go and see → 2 / 2　There are support schemes for businesses and industry
Commerce and industry　Go and see → 4 / 4　There is a community bus timetable
　Go and see → 3 / 3　Fares are stated
　Go and see → 0 / 3　The date of the last revision is given
Not found　Go and see → 1 / 3　Every page carries an updated date
5 of the 20 pages read　Go and see → 0 / 2　There is a sitemap.xml
Not found 0 / 2　Site search runs on the server side
We could not find a search form　Go and see → 0 / 2　Statistics are published as Excel or CSV
Not found 0 / 1　Open data is published
Not found

Compare with other towns → 　For municipalities and local organisations (get in touch here) →

Measurement by this site. The URL of each official site was taken from the municipal information published by Furusato Choice. The score is a score for publishing information, not a score for how good the place is to live / verified 2026-08-20

Compare with other areas

Every page has the same 17 chapters in the same order. Move between them and you can compare the same line.

Areas in Kyushu and Okinawa

Saga (37 min to Hakata by limited express; a town on the plain)Saga City, Sagalistings97 listings / ¥2,500,000–Itoshima (43 min to Hakata)Itoshima City, Fukuokalistings189 listings / ¥3,500,000–Kagoshima (the magma city facing Sakurajima)Kagoshima City, Kagoshimalistings785 listings / ¥2,000,000–Beppu (the hot spring town with the most sources and the greatest flow in Japan)Beppu City, Oitalistings132 listings / ¥1,500,000–

Places you could look at for a similar price

Ise (the approach to Ise Jingu)Ise City, Mielistings36 listings / ¥2,800,000–Kaga (the Kaga hot spring villages and the Hokuriku Shinkansen)Kaga City, Ishikawalistings38 listings / ¥2,800,000–Miura (35°C once every three years — the tip of the Miura Peninsula)Miura City, Kanagawa Prefecturelistings59 listings / ¥2,980,000–Yonago (Mount Daisen and Nakaumi; the merchant town of San'in)Yonago City, Tottorilistings165 listings / ¥2,980,000–

Compare areas by budget and region →

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