Abandoned houses are known in Japan as “akiya” – a term that usually refers to derelict residential homes tucked away in rural areas.
But more akiya are being seen in major cities, such as Tokyo and Kyoto, and that’s a problem for a government that’s already grappling with an aging population and an alarming fall in the number of children born each year.
“This is a symptom of Japan’s population decline,” Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba, said.
“It’s not really a problem of building too many houses” but “a problem of not having enough people,” he said.
According to figures compiled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 14 per cent of all residential properties in Japan are vacant.
The numbers include second homes and those left empty for other reasons, including properties temporarily vacated while their owners work overseas.
They aren’t all left to ruin, like traditional akiya, whose growing number present a range of other problems for the government and communities, experts told CNN.
They include stifling attempts to rejuvenate decaying towns, becoming potential hazards due to the lack of maintenance, and raising the risks for rescuers in times of disaster in a country prone to earthquakes and tsunamis.
The problem of too many homes
Akiya are often passed down through generations.
But with Japan’s plummeting fertility rate, many are left with no heir to pass to, or are inherited by younger generations who have moved to the cities and see little value in returning to rural areas.
Some houses are also left in administrative limbo because local authorities don’t know who the owners are due to poor record-keeping, they said.
That makes it difficult for the government to rejuvenate fast-aging rural communities, hampering efforts to attract younger people interested in an alternative lifestyle or investors eyeing a bargain.
Under Japan’s tax policies, some owners often find it cheaper to retain the home than to demolish it for redevelopment.
And even if owners want to sell, they may have trouble finding buyers, said Hall, from Kanda University.
“Many of these houses are cut off from access to public transport, health care and even convenience stores,” he said.
Trending videos showing people – mainly foreigners – scooping up cheap Japanese houses and turning them into stylish guesthouses and cafes have garnered many followers on social media in recent years, but Hall warned it’s not as easy as it seems.
“The truth is most of these homes are not going to be sold to foreigners, or that the amount of administrative work and the rules behind it (are) not something easy for somebody who doesn’t speak Japanese and read Japanese very well,” he said.
“They’re not going to be able to get these houses for cheap.”
Japan’s population has been in decline for several years – at the last count in 2022, the population had shrunk by more than 800,000 since the previous year, to 125.4 million.
In 2023, the number of new births fell for the eighth consecutive year, reaching a record low, according to official data.
Japan’s birth rate has hovered around 1.3 for years, far from the 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population, and just last week Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said the number of children under age 15 had dropped for the 43rd straight year to a record low of around 14 million, as of April 1.
So, all that means the problem of too many homes and too few people looks set to continue for some time.
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