Naphtha is one of those words you’ve definitely never hear of. I hadn’t either, until about a month ago when one of our clients asked me why their bathroom quote suddenly came back with “indefinite delay.”
So here’s the short ver
sion:
Naphtha is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon that gets distilled out of crude oil. A good way to look at it is, it’s basically the starter pack for most of the plastic, adhesive, solvent, paint, and coating in your house. If you’ve ever touched something plastic today, naphtha was somewhere in its life story.
Now here’s where it gets interesting for anyone shopping for cheap Japanese real estate.
Japan imports about 95% of its oil from the Middle East
According to METI data, Japan got more than 95% of its crude oil from Middle Eastern suppliers in the first half of 2025. The UAE alone is roughly 44%, Saudi Arabia another 40%, then Kuwait and Qatar filling in the rest. Almost all of it sails through the Strait of Hormuz.
So when the Iran war started and Hormuz traffic basically ground to a halt… Japan got squeezed harder than almost any other developed economy. Crude shot above $105 a barrel. Japan started releasing its strategic oil reserves (254 days’ worth, one of the biggest stockpiles in the world).
Japan also gets roughly 40% of its naphtha from the Middle East. And naphtha is what makes the plastic that makes… well, almost everything.
Enter the unit bath
If you've ever stayed in a Japanese hotel or rented an apartment here, you've used a unit bath (ユニットバス / yunitto basu). They were actually invented for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, a prefabricated, fully waterproof bathroom module that gets assembled on-site like Lego. They're genius, and I don't know why they're not commonplace in other countries… they're fully waterproof, designed to be hosed down, and come loaded with features (auto-fill, reheating, temperature control, even mood lighting on the higher-end ones). Tub, walls, ceiling, floor, drainage, all one sealed unit. About 80% of homes in Japan have one.
If you can’t tell I love them.
Two companies dominate the market: TOTO and LIXIL.
And both have a problem.
A unit bath is essentially a giant plastic box. The walls and ceilings have decorative films glued on with naphtha-derived adhesives. The tub has a naphtha-derived coating. The waterproof flooring, the moldings, the films, the solvents that hold the whole thing together… all of it traces back to naphtha.
On April 13, TOTO suspended new orders for unit baths and integrated toilet units. Their official statement (paraphrasing): procurement of raw materials has become extremely unstable due to traffic restrictions around the Strait of Hormuz.
Their stock dropped 8.8% in a single afternoon.
LIXIL warned about possible “restrictions in production, shipments or orders.” Takara Standard (another big housing equipment maker) said the same thing, its shares slumped 6%.
Even Calbee changed its chip bag printing to monochrome to save on ink, and Lion postponed a laundry detergent launch.
This is a country-wide ripple.
What this means if you’re renovating an akiya
Akiya’s come in all shapes, sizes and conditions, but I’d say 50% of them could use a bathroom upgrade. It’s one of the easiest ways to make your home feel new… which is why unit baths are so commonplace. They’re easy to swap out, affordable, and they look good. Putting in a new TOTO or LIXIL unit bath is one of the most predictable line items in any akiya renovation budget.
If you’re closing on an akiya this spring, be prepared, it may take longer than usual. You could pivot to a traditional tiled bathroom, but be ready to pay extra. The “drop in a new TOTO” plan everyone defaults to isn’t as seamless as it was a few months ago.
You can’t actually escape
Buying a ski home in Japan is, let’s be honest, partly about escapism. I think a lot of our clients (me included) love the idea of flying off to a far-away country, getting up at a quiet mountain, drinking the convenience store coffee that somehow tastes better than coffee should, and tuning out the noise of the rest of the world for a few weeks.
But you can’t actually escape. The world is too connected. A war 8,000 kilometers from Myoko decides whether your bathtub coating dries on schedule. Some chemist in a 1950s Tokyo lab figured out how to mold a plastic shower stall for the Olympics, and now sixty years later that same molded plastic shower stall is one of the bottlenecks holding up your renovation.
Everything affects everything. Even the part of the world you fly to specifically to not think about everything.
So… naphtha. Add it to the list of Japanese real estate vocabulary I never expected to learn.
Browse opportunities yourself: Check out current listings at Nipponhomes.com
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This content is for informational and educational purposes only and reflects my personal opinions and experience. I am not a licensed financial advisor, tax advisor, or attorney. Readers should conduct their own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making any investment decisions.
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Meet the founders.
Derek has been working in the Airbnb space for the past 10+ years and recently purchased a home in Japan. He is excited to bring this investment opportunity to others in the States & abroad.
Nick has a passion for adventure and has always dreamed of owning a property in Japan. His dreams finally came true when Derek brought him in on a deal of a lifetime in Hokkaido, Japan - one of Nick's favorite places on Earth.