The Feudal Japan Settlement is the second Cultural Settlement in Forge of Empires. Its defining trait is the daily merchant: once a day a merchant visits you outside your village, where you can exchange goods from your city for Japanese cultural goods. This significantly speeds up the run and makes Japan one of the more relaxed settlements.
You start on a 2×2 grid around the embassy (3×4) with 4,500 Koban coins as starting capital. The settlement unlocks with the Iron Age technology "Plowing".
Overview
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Playthroughs | 13 (main building max) + Ascended from 14 |
| Goods | Soy, Paintings, Armor, Instruments |
| Bottleneck | Koban coins – limit roads and goods production; the merchant eases the bottleneck |
| Roads | Yes – cost 200 Koban per tile (Decorated Path) |
Roads here cost Koban coins – only build as many as you need for building connections. The embassy and residential buildings provide passive coins; shrines, tea houses and dojos produce additional.
Buildings & Production
Residential buildings (Koban + population)
| Building | Size | Population | Koban / cycle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasshō-zukuri Hut | 2×2 | 20 | 167 / 5h |
| Shoin-zukuri House | 2×4 | 68 | 602 / 10h |
| Shinden-Zukuri Manor | 4×4 | 230 | 1,484 / 10h |
Residential buildings provide population and Koban coins – but they need a road connection to produce. Once the Shinto Shrine is unlocked, the production of residential buildings loses importance and they no longer necessarily need to be connected to a road.
Goods buildings (cultural goods)
| Building | Size | Produces |
|---|---|---|
| Soy Bean Field | 4×3 | Soy |
| Gallery | 3×3 | Paintings |
| Armorer | 4×4 | Armor |
| Instrument Workshop | 3×4 | Instruments |
All goods buildings have identical production values – only the good differs:
| Production | 5 | 10 | 20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost (Koban) | 1,000 | 2,000 | 4,000 |
| Duration | 5h | 10h | 20h |
Diplomacy buildings (Koban + diplomacy)
| Building | Size | Diplomacy | 5 min | 15 min | 1h | 5h | 10h | 20h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tōrō | 1×1 | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Decorated Torii Gate | 3×1 | 36 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Sacred Torii Gate | 1×3 | 36 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Shinto Shrine | 2×3 | 36 | 38 | 89 | 267 | 712 | 1,068 | 2,136 |
| Zen Garden | 3×2 | 108 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Tea House | 3×4 | 144 | 97 | 232 | 696 | 1,856 | 2,784 | 5,568 |
| Dojo | 5×3 | 270 | 139 | 334 | 1,001 | 2,668 | 4,002 | 8,003 |
From the 10h cycle onwards, coin production per hour drops significantly. In practice: prefer the 1h and 5h cycles, use 10h overnight.
Koban per hour comparison:
| Building | 1h cycle | Space | Koban/Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasshō-zukuri Hut | 33.4/h | 2×2 | 8.35 |
| Shinto Shrine | 267/h | 2×3 | 44.5 |
| Tea House | 696/h | 3×4 | 58 |
| Dojo | 1,001/h | 5×3 | 66.7 |
Expansions
| Sector | Soy | Paintings | Armor | Instruments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 2 | 20 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 3 | 34 | 20 | 8 | 8 |
| 4 | 50 | 34 | 8 | 8 |
| 5 | 55 | 50 | 20 | 8 |
| 6 | 60 | 55 | 34 | 8 |
| 7 | 65 | 60 | 50 | 20 |
| 8 | 70 | 65 | 55 | 34 |
| 9 | 75 | 70 | 60 | 50 |
| 10 | 80 | 75 | 65 | 55 |
| 11 | 85 | 80 | 70 | 60 |
| 12 | 90 | 85 | 75 | 65 |
Tip: Always use the good with the lowest quantity for expansions – production time stays the same, you just need fewer units.
Optimal flow
Phase 1: Start (evening, ~8 pm)
- Build 2 Soy Bean Fields → unlock an expansion after the first harvest
- Gasshō-zukuri Huts for coin income
- Start a 5h or 10h production run for the night
Phase 2: Shrines & Gallery (day 1–2)
- After the 2nd harvest: unlock Shinto Shrine → remove one soy field, build 3 shrines (depending on obstacles)
- If enough Koban saved: rebuild the 2nd soy field → unlock Gallery (2nd goods building)
- Quest 6 ("Have a Gallery") unlocks the merchant – negotiate immediately: 10+ of 3 different goods in one round
- This gives you 2–3 more expansions and enough Koban for at least 2 goods buildings
Phase 3: Mid phase (day 2–4)
- Unlock Armorer + Instrument Workshop → 4 goods buildings in parallel
- Tea Houses for diplomacy and Koban
- Expansions with the good of lowest quantity – maximum 8 goods per expansion (Japan needs fewer than other settlements)
- By the 2nd merchant use, all 6 expansions are usually done
- Replace Gasshō-zukuri Huts with Shoin-zukuri Houses (more efficient)
Phase 4: Late phase & finish
- With 6 expansions, space for: 4 houses + 4–5 shrines + 4 goods buildings (~day 3)
- Build Dojos (Koban + diplomacy)
- Count goods: if <10 still needed and the merchant can deliver → sell a building, replace with another
- Final quest (10× each good): merchant use is often enough – Dojo unlocked? Then use the negotiation directly for the 10-piece collection
TL;DR: 2 soy fields + huts → shrines → Gallery/merchant → 4 goods buildings. The merchant is the central lever – negotiate daily, maximum 8 goods per expansion. Logging in three times a day is enough.
Rewards
| Playthrough | Reward |
|---|---|
| 1 | Shinto Temple – Level 1 (population + Atk boost) |
| 2 | Emissary Oda Nobunaga + 1 Slot |
| 3–13 | Upgrade kits for the Shinto Temple (Level 2–9), further emissaries in between |
| from 14 | 28-day upgrade of the main building |
Emissaries & Slots
The settlement unlocks 4 emissaries and 2 emissary slots. The slots are located in your capital's Town Hall – you can choose from all emissaries of all settlements, a slot is independent of the settlement.
| Emissary | Daily Bonus |
|---|---|
| Oda Nobunaga | 16 FP |
| Tomoe Gozen | 100 goods of your previous age |
| Takeda Shingen | 80 goods of your current age |
| Oda Oichi | 100 goods of your previous age |
Timeless Dojo (secondary building)
5 levels – fragments only if you finish within the time limits:
| Rank | Deadline (1st playthrough) |
|---|---|
| Gold | ≤ 14 days |
| Silver | ≤ 17 days |
| Bronze | ≤ 20 days |
From playthrough 14 onwards, the limits become significantly shorter (~7 / 8.5 / 10 days). Bonus per level: daily a random unit of your age plus coins, medals, supplies and FP.
Shinto Temple (main building)
9 levels plus an "Ascended" level (orange). This lasts only 28 days, after which the building falls back to the normal max level. Unlocked by one more playthrough after reaching level 9 – that's the "from 14" entry in the table above.
The Shinto Temple provides population, attack and defense bonuses for various game modes (GG, GEX, QI).
Tips for a smooth run
- Click the merchant first, before building – he offers up to 3 random cultural goods daily against a negotiation mini-game; good deals are the fastest way to expansions.
- Keep diplomacy efficient: Shrines (36) and Tea Houses (144) provide significantly more diplomacy per tile than Tōrō (6). Zen Gardens (108) are the best decorative fillers.
- x4 chance: starts at 3%, +1.5% per completed settlement, cap at 22.5%. Set all 4 goods buildings to 10h production in the final phase.
- Koban coins are the settlement currency – shrines produce them passively (up to ~2,136/24h), a coin bottleneck like with the Vikings occurs less often.
- Japan is considered significantly easier than the Viking Settlement: higher coin production, fewer expansions needed – ideal as the second settlement after the Vikings.
- Only produce as much as needed. Overproduction is a waste of time – produce specifically for the next quest goal.
Duration & time management
| Play style | Duration per playthrough |
|---|---|
| Active (3× daily) | approx. 6–8 days |
| Only 1× daily | several weeks – Dojo fragments are lost |
You get the Shinto Temple and emissaries regardless of duration – the time limits only affect the Dojo fragments. Japan is one of the fastest settlements thanks to the merchant and high coin production.