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As property prices soar, 'death tainted' homes find buyers in Japan
Bangkok Post Group
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7/1/2025
In Japan it used to be hard to find takers for homes where a death had occurred. But as property prices soar, more buyers are finding that discounted prices make up for a fear of restless spirits. - REUTERS
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00:00
Kazutoshi Kodama is a real estate expert with a difference.
00:05
He's also a ghost hunter.
00:07
And he's investigating a property that saw a suicide and later another death.
00:14
I spend eight hours at a location from 10pm to 6am
00:18
carrying out a full survey of video, sound, electromagnetic waves,
00:22
temperature and humidity, atmospheric pressure and using a thermal camera
00:27
in order to be able to certify that there's nothing present at the property.
00:35
Once he's satisfied, he'll sign the house off as unhaunted
00:39
because this home in Chiba, near Tokyo, is a jikobuken,
00:44
a property stigmatized by association with a death.
00:48
And such homes would once have struggled to find a new owner or occupant in Japan.
00:54
In the country's native Shinto religion, when a person dies with regrets,
00:58
their spirit often lingers at the sight, becoming a ghost with a grudge.
01:03
But as Japanese property prices saw,
01:06
some home hunters are finding that a discount helps overcome the fear of restless spirits.
01:13
Akira Okuma is a real estate agent specializing in homes with difficult histories.
01:18
In the case of this house, it's priced at around a 20% discount
01:28
because it's a stigmatized property.
01:30
It'll be renovated before it's handed over to the new owner,
01:33
which I think makes it very attractive to prospective buyers.
01:36
Home prices have jumped in Japan as the cost of building materials and labor soars.
01:48
The cheap yen has also lured a flood of overseas buyers.
01:52
That has seen the average price for a second-hand condo in Tokyo
01:56
jump by around a third over the past year.
01:59
Now one expert estimates tainted homes can typically be rented for 7% to 8% less than usual.
02:06
There are also hot buys for investors who don't have to live there.
02:11
And the new popularity is creating demand for some specialized services.
02:16
The smell used to stick in my throat, says Tatsumasa Morikagi,
02:24
but he reckons he's getting used to it.
02:26
He's cleaning up the last remains of an elderly man who died here
02:30
and whose body wasn't found for over six months.
02:34
But physical cleaning won't be enough for some potential occupants.
02:39
Many need their home to have a more spiritual cleansing too.
02:46
That's where Buddhist monk Enku Watanabe comes in.
02:50
Sometimes people who died alone don't realize they're dead, he says.
02:55
His job is to tell the spirits it's time to move on to paradise,
03:00
leaving this home free for its new and more earthly residents.
03:04
.
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