Typhoon and Earthquake Insurance in Japan: What Fire, Earthquake, and Contents Insurance Cover, How to Buy, How to Claim

You will not find a product called typhoon insurance in Japan. Damage from typhoons, heavy rain, and heavy snow is paid by fire insurance (kasai hoken), and damage from earthquakes, eruptions, and tsunamis by earthquake insurance (jishin hoken). As the General Insurance Association of Japan sets it out, the main cover of a fire policy does not pay for a fire caused by an earthquake; at most, some policies pay a small fixed sum for it. The sections below cover what is insured, how renters put a policy together, how to add earthquake cover, where to buy, and how to claim.

Two types of fire insurance, and only one includes flood

The General Insurance Association of Japan describes two traditional types of home fire insurance. Basic home fire insurance covers fire, lightning, bursts and explosions such as gas explosions, and wind, hail, and snow damage. Comprehensive home insurance adds flood, impact from vehicles and falling or flying objects, water damage from burst pipes, damage from riots, and theft. Many products sold today are built differently: you start from a core cover and add or drop items such as flood or theft, under each insurer’s own product name. So for a typhoon, what decides whether you get paid is the list of covered risks in your contract, not the type name.

Windows, roofs, and balconies broken by the wind count as wind damage. Most policies include it, but whether and how much is paid depends on the product and contract, and some have a deductible or pay only above a set amount of damage. In an apartment or condominium, windows and balconies are often common parts of the building, so the management association’s policy and rules may decide who claims, not your own policy. River flooding, storm surge, and rainwater the drains cannot take count as flood damage, covered only by a policy that includes flood. Water backing up from a blocked or broken drainpipe inside the building is usually treated as water leakage (mizunure), a different cover.

Flood payouts also have thresholds. Tokio Marine & Nichido, for example, pays flood damage when the loss reaches 30% or more of the replacement cost, or when water rises above floor level or more than 45 cm above the ground. Water under the floor alone is not paid unless the loss reaches that 30% line. Other insurers use similar conditions, but check your own terms.

Cover for the building and for its contents (furniture, appliances, clothes) is set separately. You choose whether to insure each and for how much, sometimes in one policy and sometimes in two, and insuring the building does not insure what is inside. The landlord’s policy on the building covers only the building, not anything a tenant owns. The association also warns homeowners not to insure the building and forget the contents.

Sources: General Insurance Association of Japan: fire insurance, Tokio Marine & Nichido FAQ: below-floor flooding from typhoons and heavy rain.

Renters: contents insurance plus two kinds of liability

Because building and contents cover are set separately, a tenant only needs the contents policy and two liability covers. Rental insurance in Japan is almost always sold as a package with three parts.

Cover	Who is paid	Typical case
Contents (kazai)	You	A typhoon breaks a window and rain soaks your laptop and bed
Tenant’s liability (shakuyanin baisho sekinin)	The landlord	A fire or leak in your unit means the room must be repaired
Personal liability (kojin baisho sekinin)	Third parties	The washing machine hose comes off and water leaks into the flat below

Personal liability is often already attached to car insurance or a family member’s policy, and it usually covers the whole household, so check before paying for it twice.

Most leases require this insurance at move-in. Through the agent it typically costs about JPY 15,000 to 20,000 for 2 years; the full move-in cost breakdown is in renting an apartment. The insurance is a separate contract from the lease, with its own term (1 or 2 years, sometimes renewing automatically), so check how it renews rather than assuming it follows the lease. The contents amount is based on what it would cost to buy the same items again (replacement cost). For one person this is usually a few million yen at most, but work it out from what you own instead of taking the suggested figure. Expensive jewelry or art may not be paid unless you declare it in advance.

Source: General Insurance Association of Japan: fire insurance.

Earthquake insurance is an add-on to fire insurance

Apart from typhoons, the other big risk is earthquakes, and the main cover of a fire policy does not pay for earthquake damage. Japan’s government-backed earthquake insurance cannot be bought on its own. It is attached to a fire policy, either when you take out the fire policy or partway through its term, as the Ministry of Finance overview states.

The insured amount is 30 to 50% of the fire insurance amount, capped at JPY 50 million for a building and JPY 10 million for contents. Payment depends on the level of damage in four tiers: total loss pays 100% of the earthquake insurance amount, large partial loss 60%, small partial loss 30%, and partial loss 5%, each limited to market value. Damage below the partial-loss level is not paid. It covers fire, collapse, burial, and washing away caused by earthquakes, eruptions, and tsunamis resulting from them.

The government reinsures the system, and the Ministry of Finance puts the total payout limit for a single earthquake at JPY 12 trillion. If total claims from one earthquake ever exceeded that, the Earthquake Insurance Act allows each payment to be reduced in proportion; the limit is set so that even a quake on the scale of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake stays within it. Earthquake insurance is meant to help people restart their lives after a disaster. Because it is at most half the fire insurance amount, it will not pay the full cost of rebuilding a destroyed home.

Outside this system, a few small-amount short-term insurers sell earthquake cover that needs no fire policy, such as SBI Resta’s Resta. These are separate products: the payout is fixed by the damage level on the municipality’s disaster certificate (risai shomeisho), contents are not covered, and the building must meet the 1981 earthquake standard (built from June 1981 or retrofitted).

Sources: Ministry of Finance: earthquake insurance overview, General Insurance Association of Japan: earthquake insurance, General Insurance Association of Japan Q&A: Q69 earthquake insurance, SBI Resta: FAQ.

Where to buy: the agent, an insurer directly, or a kyosai co-op

Once you know what you need, there are three ways to buy it.

The first is through the real estate agent when you sign the lease. It takes no effort, but the agent picks the product and it often costs more than one you choose yourself. Fire insurance is not a legal requirement, but a lease can make it a condition of moving in. Ask the management company whether you can choose your own insurer and which covers are required, usually tenant’s liability. If they agree, buy the policy yourself and give them a copy of the policy certificate or proof of cover.

The second is going straight to an insurer. Major non-life insurers, online direct insurers, and small-amount short-term insurers all sell contents insurance for tenants, and you can compare cover online and apply directly. Compare at least 2 or 3 and check three things: whether flood and personal liability are included, whether the insured amount is enough, and the size of the deductible.

The easiest option on a phone is PayPay Hoken inside the PayPay app. Since January 2025 it has sold a renters’ fire insurance called Koredake Chintai, underwritten by Aiaru Small Amount and Short Term Insurance, in three plans. The cheapest, the Otegaru plan, covers only the liability a lease usually requires, at JPY 220 a month, or JPY 2,400 for 1 year and JPY 4,400 for 2 years paid upfront, and does not cover your own belongings. The Kihon plan (JPY 290 a month) adds JPY 1 million of contents cover and the Anshin plan (JPY 440 a month) JPY 3 million. The product page lists wind, hail, and snow damage, flood, and water leakage among the contents risks, subject to the policy terms. If you have completed PayPay identity verification you do not need to re-enter your details, you can pay with PayPay balance, points, or PayPay Credit, and cover can start any day from 3 to 70 days after you apply. Afterwards, give the proof of cover to your management company.

The third is a mutual-aid co-op (kyosai), such as Kenmin Kyosai, Kokumin Kyosai coop (Zenrosai), or CO-OP Kyosai fire plans. Premiums tend to be low, but the payout limits and conditions for wind and flood damage vary widely, and some pay only part of the loss. Before joining, check how much each plan pays for wind and for flood.

Homeowners need both building and contents cover. Before deciding on flood cover, check the expected flood depth at your address on the hazard map. The General Insurance Rating Organization of Japan’s reference rates split flood risk into 5 tiers by municipality, and insurers began applying this from October 2024; the Rating Organization lets you look up which tier your area is in. These are reference rates, not compulsory prices, so actual premiums and how finely they vary by area differ between insurers.

Sources: General Insurance Rating Organization of Japan: flood rating tier lookup, General Insurance Association of Japan: fire insurance, LY Corporation: PayPay Hoken launches Koredake Chintai (2025), PayPay Hoken: Koredake Chintai.

After damage: call the insurer first, within 3 years

The claim process after a typhoon is much the same at every insurer. Call the claims line of the insurer or agent with your policy number, the date of the damage, and what happened. Send the photos and repair estimates they ask for. For larger losses an adjuster visits, and payment follows once the claim is settled. Many policy terms say payment is made within 30 days after the paperwork is complete, but the terms allow longer when a special investigation is needed or a large disaster slows assessments. Take the photos before you clean up, as described in typhoons at home.

Under Article 95 of the Insurance Act, the right to claim expires if it is not used for 3 years from the time it could first be exercised; when that is depends on the type of payment and the policy terms. It is easy to put off in the chaos after a disaster, but the longer you wait, the harder it is to show the typhoon caused the damage.

After disasters, contractors go door to door saying insurance will pay for free repairs, or offering to file the claim for you. The National Consumer Affairs Center has warned about this repeatedly, reporting cases that charged 50% of the payout as a claim-support fee, or a cancellation fee if no repair was done. Claiming that old wear was caused by a typhoon can amount to fraud. You can claim yourself by contacting the insurer, with no middleman. A contract signed with a door-to-door seller can be cancelled without reason within 8 days of receiving the contract document (cooling-off), and the consumer hotline 188 handles disputes.

Sources: e-Gov: Insurance Act, National Consumer Affairs Center: home repair problems after disasters (2022).

Common mistakes

Last, a few common misunderstandings.

The first is assuming rental insurance covers everything. Rental packages include contents and liability but do not always include flood. If you live on the ground floor, in a half-basement, or near a river, check for flood cover before signing.

The second is assuming fire insurance includes earthquakes. Damage from earthquakes, eruptions, and tsunamis, including fires after an earthquake, is outside the main cover of fire insurance and is paid by earthquake insurance. Many fire policies do include an earthquake fire expense payment (jishin kasai hiyo hokenkin), paid even without earthquake insurance. At Sompo Japan it is 5% of the insured amount, paid only when the building is at least half burned or the contents are completely burned. It does not replace earthquake insurance.

The third is forgetting your policy when you move. Cover does not move to the new address by itself. Many insurers let you transfer the policy with an address change, sometimes with a premium adjustment, so call them before buying a new one; otherwise you may end up insuring the same furniture twice. If you cancel at move-out instead, part of the unused premium may be refunded.

The fourth is setting the insured amount too high. Under a policy that pays market value, anything above that value is not paid, so the extra premium is wasted.

Source: Sompo Japan FAQ: what is the earthquake fire expense payment?.

Useful terms

• Kasai hoken: fire insurance
• Jishin hoken: earthquake insurance
• Kazai hoken: contents insurance
• Shakuyanin baisho sekinin: tenant’s liability
• Suisai: flood damage

References

• General Insurance Association of Japan: fire insurance
• General Insurance Association of Japan: earthquake insurance
• General Insurance Association of Japan Q&A: Q69 earthquake insurance
• Ministry of Finance: earthquake insurance overview
• General Insurance Rating Organization of Japan: flood rating tier lookup
• Tokio Marine & Nichido FAQ: below-floor flooding from typhoons and heavy rain
• Sompo Japan FAQ: what is the earthquake fire expense payment?
• PayPay Hoken: Koredake Chintai
• SBI Resta: FAQ
• e-Gov: Insurance Act
• National Consumer Affairs Center: home repair problems after disasters (2022)