Why Japan is Giving Away 8 Million Free Houses 

This video was available on Nebula last week. Sign up to get early access and entirely exclusive Originals like my series "China, Actually" for just $15/year: curiositystream.com/polymatter -Evan

You missed the whole "people moving from the countryside to cities" angle, another reason why so many houses in small villages are empty.

There’s a lot of problems with these houses unfortunately: 1) These older homes have 0 insulation, the grandparents are huddled next to a space heater in the winter so they don’t freeze overnight 2) The house and land transfer might be free but you’re often required to renovate the building to meet present codes before you’re allowed to legally live in it 3) The example of Asago is pretty typical, these quaint countryside villages might be beautiful to the outsider but they’re kinda depressing to live in as a younger person. There are few people of your age to socialize with, the stores/services naturally cater to old people. You’re surrounded by other abandoned homes/businesses. If you have kids you often have to send them to far away schools due to the decline in rural child populations. 4) The villages that offer these deals are generally in the middle of nowhere. It’s going to take 90-120 minutes of transit just to get to an airport or major train station, and then whatever time it takes to go to a major city. Edit: 5) To people saying it’s free or that it would be a good summer home, almost all of these deals come with the condition that you legally live at that residence. The towns want you to pay taxes there more than anything. In order to be a legal resident, you’re going to have to make sure the home passes safety standards as a “liveable residence” as well as transferring your official address to that home. The address change can be quite inconvenient here because our outdated bureaucracy still manages so much with paper, and all important notices, bills, etc are going to be mailed to your one official home residence in Japan.

There was huge missed point here! Japan does NOT have a housing crisis because homes fundamentally are not seen as appreciating assets. Your neighbors are not worried about the valur of their homes lowering or anything like that. Many western countries are facing crisis precisely because houses are seen as investments rather than places to live. If a house is always supposed to gain value, eventually only the few could afford it.

Louis-San, a French/Japanese RU-vidr living in Japan did a video today debunking this myth. They are not really houses but shells of houses. They need to be renovated to seismic norms of today, which means they will be basically stripped down and rebuilt. You need to be a permanent resident, which is extremely hard to get in Japan, to be eligible to buy one and they are mostly in very remote or abandoned villages. Then it must be your primary house, meaning you have to live there permanently to be eligible, you can't buy them as cottage. In short, be ready to wait between 2 to 4 years before you can expect to live in them from the start of the buying process to the delivery of the renovated house and the actual end price make them not appealing at all. I thought it would be great to make an update on this video since your videos are usually on target factually. For those interested in watching his video, look for his channel but i warn you there is no english subtitle i am aware of. RU-vid does not offer english generated subtitles from what i saw.

Ironic that Japan, a country with a deeply ingrained cultural sense of communal responsibility, has the absolute most freedom in its zoning laws for private landowners and builders, while the US, which has made an entire national history and culture out of individual liberty, struggles to build more housing on private land because the zoning laws are so complex and neurotic.

As an Australian, I personally love Japan’s zoning system. My house is 20 minute drive from the nearest store even though I live in the middle of a suburb with 10,000 people packed in. In Japan, they have little restaurants and stores throughout their streets, it’s brilliant. I’d give anything to walk to a corner shop these days. No longer thanks to Australian zoning laws Edit: I need to correct this comment. It is not accurate at all. I am travelling Japan currently and it’s only true of the cities. Suburbs in Izu peninsula are extremely inconvenient. Nearest konbini is 25 minute walk away. Bus only comes every 2 hours. I made a generalisation based on my experience with cities and towns. It does not hold true for most of Japan where tourists don’t go.

Japan got a lot right. Mixed zoning is such a common sense no-brainer. I'm lucky to live in a city (in the U.S.) where my grocery store, gym, doctor, library, and favorite restaurants are all a maximum of a 15 minute walk from me. But I grew up in American Suburbia which is a hellscape. So I think Japan's approach to zoning was actually brilliant. It's just the whole having to demolish a house every 30 yrs thing.

I used to live in Kyoto and I remember hearing so many stories about shoddy workmanship even on brand new homes. Japanese people typically don’t like to buy a house that someone else has lived in so good luck in trying yo sell it someday unless you are in a very desirable area. I lived in a very nice two story traditional style house and it was like a tinder box. I would never light a candle in it! The walls are very thin and uninsulated. They feel more like what we would call a barn or shed as far what we’re used to. The heating system is a space heater and/or sitting around a ‘Kotatsu’ which is like a round sort of coffee table with a blanket draped over it. You sit cross legged on the floor and drape the blanket over your lap. There’s a heater underneath. That’s it! And most of Japan is very COLD in Winter! Lots of snow! And I doubt that they are going to let just anybody move to Japan and move into these houses. Japan is very picky about who they allow to move there. Even ethnically Japanese who move to Japan from countries like Brazil say they feel like outsiders, like they are never embraced by the culture. They are tolerated but never really accepted. I’ve had them tell me this personally. Everything about them is so different including body language and mannerisms.

This housing code thing is the same throughout most of Asia. For a country that calls itself the land of the free, America for sure has some of the most un-free housing and building codes. Edit: This is not as harsh of a criticism as this comment section has made it out to be. It's just; coming from a foreign culture, this kind of regulations(on how the building must look, HOAs, single family only zones) no feel like a beach of my personal freedoms. I don't know enough to comment on the American housing market.

Having lived in Japan 30 odd years with in-laws who are in real-estate, I can assure you that cheap/free houses is entirely dependent on location. All the major cities do not offer free houses so don't get your hopes up unless you want to live in a small town.

There is a RU-vid channel, called Tokyo Lama, where a couple details the process of securing one of these countryside houses (paperwork, costs, etc). They’ve been slowly renovating & upgrading the house and property over the past 3 years. Very informative for those folks considering purchasing one of Japan’s abandoned homes.

Finland was in a similar situation before Coronavirus. Mortgage interest rates were negative, one office building in the middle of a town was sold for a whopping 1 Euro. After Covid it has been easing a bit as people have been moving back from Helsinki to the rest of Finland.

I'm a Brazilian of Japanese descent. This year I'm going to live and work on Japan for a year or two (maybe more, who knows). The process for doing do was remarkably easy considering I'm a nobody from a 3rd world country with no degree who can barely even string together basic sentences in Japanese. Thing is, I'm young (25) and I'd wager they are in real need for young people like me to work in some low wage jobs. I'm not complaining, I've always dreamed of living in an actually functional and safe country.

As anyone who's ever owned a house can attest to, an unkept house will eventually rot away. Those beautiful houses are rotting away as we speak...a pity.

I stayed in a two-story traditional house in a small town a few years back in the middle of winter. The toilet was unusable at might (due to freezing temperatures) and thoughts of the poor insulation still gives me chills to this day. As the walls were ultra thin, my voice (which I lowered to just above a whisper when talking on the phone) carried over the entire house (during the night) causing the owner to complain. End of story. Thanks for reading. .

I live in Japan. I was supposed to move into an old akiya 2 yrs ago, they supposed to have given it free to me, before I moved…. the winter came and dumped tons of snow, broke into the already broken roof, made the house unlivable…busted the pipes, so I couldn’t claim it. They also wanted my Japanese children to move with me but the young want to live as close to town, where life is. I spoke to the countryside neighbors who told me I would get mental coz iwamizawa was nothing but white out 20 feet of snow daily. Becoz of TONS OF SNOW…There is NO WORK available for MILES (only in the short summer months, you have tomato-picking,etc) I met another English teacher there who told me not to make the same mistake he had made, coz each winter he leaves iwamizawa, because of japans demographic time bomb, there aren’t any kids to learn English, even when facilities are free in Maple lodge, (the only hotel there WITH HARDLY ANY WORK AVAILABLE!!!.…this really upset me to hear it but after a few months I realized that ONLY IF a person wanted to DISENGAGE ENTIRELY & go off grid, should you think of it…but that sort of thinking is opposite to what the Japanese want…they want revival not survival instincts…if I just want to evade inflation…and not contribute to the growth of the Japanese economy by restoring the old history of the houses with COSTLY RECONSTRUCTION, EXPENSIVE LAND TAXES (THE buyer has to pay land tax for ALL THE YEARS IT SAT UN-LIVED in…give them your 1st and last born of YOUNG LIFE (KIDS).and MANY MANY MORE SERVICES to the RURAL community ….they said I should just FORGET ABOUT taking a free house from them…after you’ve wasted time and money, they’ll just tell you FREE DOESNT REALLY MEAN FREE…go figure. (I was LUCKY to have ESCAPED…the lure…of “free”….will you be?)

I grew up in a small town in Canada and I remember the town nearby was selling land for $1. Because people wanted to live in the city not the country.

I was wondering why Japan was handing out such great deals on their houses and then when he said the number of vacant houses were going to double in 10 years, I connected the dots and remembered that Japan has a population crisis.

Every family has that one person who will break the family's financial struggle, I hope you become the one 😊

There are "free houses" all over the world. There are a ton in the US, Italy and Japan for example. They're all even more proof that free is the most expensive thing you can get.

While the quality of these homes is often not good, it's remarkable how Japan has almost completely decommodified housing and made homes into just that - a place to live.

One big thing he didn't mention is you dont really get a free home. You do get a free home, but the paperwork is massive for which you have to hire someone. And you have to out of your own pocket do the renovation of the home in japan according to government standards, this is the big money spender here. Also taxes (which are relatively small) Keep another thing in mind, these free homes might look enticing. But many of the abandoned homes aren't up for sale. Because they are family heirloom, and people would rather let it rot pay the min taxes an don't sell and these are the majority of the houses. So keep that I mind. It makes an easy title for clickbait or on the surface it looks good. But when you dig deep it's a bit of a mess.

Very well-made and researched video. One thing to note is that these free or extremely cheap abandoned houses tend to be in a state of disrepair or have some other underlying problem that will lead to even more problems down the line (think plumbing or foundation-related). I personally know a few people who have successfully renovated these places to something interesting and livable, but just like an old beater that you keep in your garage and try to fix up, these will in most cases become a money pit.

There’s a saying “old men plant trees knowing they’ll never see the shade” In America old men buy up all the trees that their parents planted and charge insane rent prices, then bulldoze the other trees for golf courses and stroads

Another reason why Japan seems to have more houses is that old houses are often subdivided into 2 or 3 "pencil" houses, adding to the number of houses built in a single plot of land

I’m wondering why, when I spent 6 months in Kyoto and Osaka twenty years ago, I saw so many homeless people living on public land in “tents” they had formed from blue tarps. If there are so many free houses, why weren’t they moving into them?

Japan should do a rejuvenation programme like Singapore’s to make them desirable to live in, as well as attract blocks of younger people to live in those communities.

I feel like "your neighbors have no say over what you do with your property" should be the motto of America, not Japan.

shhhhh, don't let Blackrock and their AirBnB subsidiaries know

Honestly the quality of your videos is the reason I've been watching you for years, its a wonder why you don't have any many subscribers or views are you deserve

Wow! What a amazing video! I learned so much from that! Something I thought that may have a correlation to this topic is the Great Fires of Edo. Historically, Japanese homes have been made predominantly of wood. With such a high concentration of wooden structures, it wasn’t uncommon during the Edo period to have catastrophic fires every decade or so in major cities like Edo (Tokyo) that would burn down almost a third of the city. In order to combat this, many of the common homes back in the day were built using wood joints and without nails so that they could be easily deconstructed to prevent fires from spreading. There are even stories of residents willingly telling the kajiya, or firemen, to prematurely tear down their own homes to create fire alleys. It’s interesting how so many natural disasters have shaped this consumable view towards real estate in Japan. edit: I also wanted to add if anyone is interested, that the Great Fire of Meireki that started on March 2, 1657, burnt down an estimated 60-70% of Edo. This included Edo castle which is now the imperial residence.

Tokyo Llama has a good video on everything you need to know buying these houses-he bought one.

The economics of housing is so different in different parts of the world. Here in the US....we have more land than most, but people still can't afford any. It's really weird, and there are hundreds of analysis of it, I'm sure. PS. I miss A Hill To Die On. Those videos still make me laugh, and I link the Fahrenheit one at every opportunity.

Nice content as always

That zoning law is like in Indonesia. I live in a residential area. I'm not very familiar with the law here, but near my place, there are traditional market (2 min walk), super market (3 min with motorcycle), many delivery service offices/drop points, dozens of street food stalls and local stores that sells snacks, frozen food, LPG, car wash, drinking water, even building materials. I'm loving it!

Erm... actually, yes, there are terms and conditions for someone to get these homes, and they vary quite a lot depending on prefecture. Even though the content of the video is mostly right, the intro was pretty misleading. There are several different programs for people getting abandoned houses in different states of disrepair and legal abandonment. It of course starts with most of those homes being abandoned sometimes for decades, so they are in such a ruined state that you almost have to rebuild everything in them, if not tear it all down and start from scratch. Some are not as bad, so they won't be given free, but with prices well bellow market. You will be dealing with government sometimes, or sometimes it's relatives of the former owners. Well, not directly, it's either through some program or a real estate agency. Some of them require you to not only start reforms as soon as you get them, you are expected to move in with family in a given period of time - you cannot get it for rental, 3rd parties or stuff like AirBnb. I think some allow that, but most of the programs I heard about you can only take the property if you are moving in. Another good part of those are only granted for Japanese citizens, or foreigners with permanent Japanese Residence visas. Some requires you to have a job locally. Some have age gates, or are only giving to young families with small children. The spectrum is kinda huge. There are all sorts of different situations there. That is, if you are talking about all the abandoned houses in Japan... perhaps there is a program that is giving out abandoned houses for free with no strings attached there, but I find this very hard to believe. Real Estate in Japan is notoriously more stringent and selective. It's hard for even foreigners who have been working years in Japan and have no intention of leaving to sometimes rent a place, let alone buy one there, or get one for free. Some property owners explicitly won't sell or rent for foreigners. But you know, this isn't unique to Japan... I've just watched a video on a similar thing happening in southern Italian towns. Another thing to note on the video is that while yes, the mixed zoning rule allows for a lot of things in Japanese neighborhoods, it also comes with very strict regulations on what commercial and industrial places can do if they are located in a mixed zone. Everything from how much noise they can do, how tall buildings can be, what materials can be used, along several other things are tightly controlled. There is also a kind of a mixed assumption there... it is true that most of the real estate market and absurd rate of new constructions is due to older places getting torn away and new places being built to replace it, but a good portion of those old houses and homes are incredibly well built and sturdy - reason why they are still standing to this day. There are also lots of poorly built houses that came up in the 60s and so, mostly in urban centers, but it isn't the norm, particularly for abandoned homes that tends to be in small villages far away from urban centers. Take note that these villages in the inaka where lots of these abandoned homes are, are also losing ground in terms of public transportation... if you intend to get something way out in the boonies for free, there are chances you will also need a car to go to bigger cities, and you might not have access to many facilities. There are exceptions of course like the one shown in the video, but most abandoned houses are located in villages that are also getting abandoned, train service might stop at some point, and stuff like hospitals and schools are also going away if it still exists. It's less aging of Japan and other factors, and just plain urbanization. Kids of families who lived there moved to the city and have no plans to go back. But in the age of these properties also lies problems that have nothing to do with how well built these places were. Very old traditional homes requires specialized maintenance and service for upgrades and repairs, they are expensive and sometimes very hard to find, and the expertise in it is dying with the older generations. Particularly for a category of homes known as minka houses, several aspects of the architecture, design, materials and a bunch of other stuff is close to artisanal, it doesn't fit mass produced stuff, so repairs and reforms can get super expensive to do. Like the video said, code is also being constantly updated... so it ends up in a mix of things which often results in it being more profitable for owners to tear an old house down and build a new one in place to live, sell or rent rather than trying to do a full scale reform. So, it's a huge combination of factors that led to this very unique real estate situation that Japan has. But interestingly enough at least for me, I think the weird way real estate works in Japan is also kind of a factor in a more equal economy that Japan has. For instance, rent in major urban centers like Tokyo are still pretty expensive for what you get, but nowhere near the discrepancy in prices that you have in countries like US, Australia, Canada and UK. You'll pay half for more space in smaller cities, but it's not some completely absurd discrepancy. Even if you go a bit outside central Tokyo... say an hour away by metro, prices starts becoming pretty reasonable. But anyways, I'm getting outside the topic here... there are lots of channels on RU-vid with people going for these almost free places with several attached terms to them... Tokyo Llama comes to mind. If you are interested, check them out!

Japanese got it right Housing should not be an investment vehicle, cause that means every generation expects price to be higher There gotta be a ceiling eventually

Thanks so much for citing our book Emergent Tokyo in the sources! Hope you liked it. :)

Great work Thank you

It's true, the land a house is on is worth more in japan than the house itself. When a family inherits a house they most likely just level it and build something new to get money out of it, or just sell the land which is more valuable this way than if it had a house on it.

From my understanding, part of the issue is that the Japanese don't like to buy "used" homes. There is a cultural view of treating used homes like used sneakers- something creepy and dirty. Also they don't really maintain them as well as other cultures. So homes (the structure, not the land) more than a couple decades are viewed as worthless and often torn down and a new one built.

Great video! I rarely say this, but the ad in this is legit, I like the Nebula A LOT.

Very interesting story, I had no idea property was not an asset for future gain. Great narration and presentational short doc.

Most of the reasons why Japan can't give away houses in some places is because they make it so difficult for outsiders to immigrate there and settle in permanently. You would think that their country's demographic issues would make it more likely that they relax immigration rules, but there has been a significant lag in that regard. It also doesn't help matters, on the domestic front, that many young Japanese individuals are too single-minded in their thinking that greater prosperity can only come by moving into a large city. The internet and the emergence of remote work is increasingly making that less and less true.

Now if only it were easier to get Japan to let you live there. I could easily work from home, and ive got many years or construction and repair experience. I could take one of them old 0 dollar houses and make it shine.

This video is so fascinating !

the current issue is how to revive a rural place with population and economy, which is what I have been focused on for the last ten years and more. as an architect I have been building in the rural sites, studying the relations of people and nature. I have held classes in architectural schools focused on the issue of rural living model, not just houses as a building, but rebuilding the entire network. the real challenge is behind the romantic getaway homes and villages.

"Its free real state"

Japan does have so immigration subsidies to help the population but from what I remember you have to be of Japanese descent to get major help. Ofc you dont have to but it will be more challenging

These abandon houses and even cheap property are everywhere even in the US. Except there’s a reason why they’re cheap or abandoned. There’s literally houses in Detroit for example you can claim for practically free but if they aren’t already looted and still standing you would deal with high property tax in an depreciating land and a crappy neighborhood or no neighbors at all even which basically makes it renting but with all the disadvantage.

I you want to see crazy go to old-town Dubai. When I was there I saw a jewelry store, a moped shop, and a small grocery store right next to each other on the bottom floor of about a 10 story building with, I assume, apartments on the upper floors. It was amazing. It's nice to have a townhome and not be stacked up like cord-wood, but my gym is very close, yet it's still 3/4 of a mile away. The USA got screwed by the NIMBYs, so now we have massive blocks of 1 and 2 story housing and zero walkability and terrible mass transit.

Even in western countries the value of a home is mostly in the land value, not in the house itself. Here in Canada, similar to Japan, many houses older than ~30-40 years will have little or even negative value compared to empty, developed land (i.e. has water, gas, electrical, sewage, etc). Particularly nice or well maintained houses will fair better of course. The shrinking, aging population, in combination with an ongoing migration to Tokyo and other major cities, is what is making the land value so low. When there are far more rural / small town properties than potential buyers the prices are going to tank. Meanwhile here in Canada, where we have a growing population and people moving to all sorts of towns, big and small, I've been looking at houses in small towns and they're in the $1m (USD$700k) range. The average house in the larger city I currently live is around $2m.

Bit random but I've been trying to watch this on Nebula for a few days and I can never get passed the first few seconds before it buffers for eternity, Had the same issue with PolyMatter videos before and never on any other channels, anyone else have similar issues?

They have a similar system with their cars, they produce so many parts that they mandate motor changes at certain mileages and basically corner the market into buying new cars consistently. Not sure exactly how it works but it's effect on the market is very similar

I really like that polymatter is diversifying and talking about countries other than China

The graphics in this video that contain two different x- or y-axes (e.g. at 3:55) are a little confusing. It's not clear which curve belongs to which axis, and the plot at 7:49 is also very hard to decipher; white bars should both be to the left, and perhaps colour the axis ticks differently?

Something interesting that was glossed over a bit here is the reason *why* a house is a depreciating asset in Japan. And the reason is simply that the value of the land and the value of the house itself are assessed separately. This contributes to the dynamic where if you wish to sell a residential property, you have to build a new home on it to have a chance. As a result, most homes on the market in Japan are less than 5 years old. This also makes the real estate practice, common in the United States, of sitting on empty properties to drive up rental prices while those empty ones keep appreciating totally non-viable. If you don’t sell or rent your property, you either hold a rapidly depreciating asset in the house, or pay substantial tax on the structureless property. All of which further increases supply in the market.

Man I love your videos

I am too old to move there now, but since japan had a good tourist year. I am curious how it will evolve further. from all the countries I have visited japan has some unique qirks that you just gotta love

Now this is a certified neighborhood classic!

South Africa is a mix: There are specific areas for specific things and suburbs, etc. But then there are some neighbourhoods that have it all: factories, apartments, restaurants - all on the same street. I'm thinking of a neighbourhood in my city, Cape Town, called Observatory. Such neighbourhoods are populated by students, young professionals and artists. The "uppity" people will only go there when they feel like having something different/cool for lunch.

Wow! This video is an eye-opener for me.

So basically the solution to housing affordability is letting private individuals and companies build houses how ever tall they want, Who would've thought.

Japanese countryside is wonderful to visit but how would you make a living out there? With the right type of job, sure you can make a living, but it’s about the rest of community?

I'm currently looking for a house in Japan. Think you can make make a part 2 to this? You did some good research. Unfortunately, there are no free houses in my area. I live near Osaka. Many of these houses seem to be far away from major cities.

very interesting. What is the Airbnb market like in Japan?

"There are worse ways to spend zero dollars", made me spit my coffee all over the place. So damn funny, delivered with his dry manner.

Despite building considerably more, prices in Tokyo are still rising and apartment prices recently exceeded the late 80's bubble peak, albeit nominally but bear in mind Japans very low inflation rate and they could soon (in the next 3-5 year boom) exceed in real terms too. Yes Japanese buildings depreciate more quickly, but it is the land underneath where most of the value lies. So whilst the declinig population and free/abandoned homes creates low house price growth in aggregate, where people actually want to live, ie where the jobs are (Tokyo, Osaka etc) house prices and rents are far from cheap. Indeed before the 2008 GFC, Tokyo especially had it's own mini land boom and subsequent bust, again masked by the national average. This belies the simple supply and demand econ 101 can create affordability story, land prices are a function of credit and mortgage structures, notably Japan even has 100 year mortgages, which sustain high prices, and completely contradicts the anti immigration narrative that growing popultions are a major cause of house price inflation.

that nebula ad intro in th end was smooth ngl

11:04 this looks so peaceful. Streets are cleaned, minimal traffic, cars are appropriately parked, sky is blue and sun is shining. I really want to visit japan some day.

Bro, u miss out on property tax. When Japanese old forks died and pass to their property to their kids, the kids got to pay 1-time “inheritance tax” so most don't want the house or cannot afford to pay this tax, therefore empty houses (anyway Japanese hated having a foreigner as their neighbor) citing noise and cooking smell as these reasons 😮

Me as a Canadian who wants to gut these ridiculous zoning codes: “How do you learn this power oh wise master?”

Note that traditional houses that survived the war bombings are still up in some areas like Kyoto, some are several centuries old,, because wood can be maintained to last a long time

Lived in Tokyo for several years (renting) - earthquakes are constant so earthquake-proofing is a major consideration. Older buildings - whether houses or apartments - are generally avoided by locals because building codes are constantly being updated and older buildings are considered unsafe. Used to work in a very modern skyscraper in Marunoichi that used to “bend” and sway wildly from side to side during earthquakes to absorb the shock. At least in the big cities every district has a public address system (and regular emergency drills) so they’re fairly well prepared for natural disasters but many smaller towns don’t so if the mobile network goes down you’d be on your own in an emergency. From memory it’s the earthquakes that make buildings vibrate rather than shake that are the really dangerous ones.

a person living in india, the game is totally different. real estate always appreciates in india. and its considered the best investment for a middle class. japan is totally different

Ive been fortunate to travel to 76 countries so far. Japan is my favorite. It has everything for me. It is my dream. I will move there one day.

The temptation to not use the "free real estate" meme as a thumbnail must have been immense

Nice video

excellent and very necessary video. we gotta get "used homes" more into the english lexicon.

Interesting topic. I feel like I'm missing something however... What about land prices? You talk about housing depriciating in value, but I assume that if you have a house in Tokyo for example, the building itself might be worthless, but the land it sits on will probably be worth lots. So, how does land value factor into all this? Are the free houses only in areas with close to worthless land? Does Japan use a system where land is rented in stead of owned? Is the house free, but the land still has to be paid for? Or is there a whole different system in place?

When they have to, they can demolish pretty quickly in Japan. I was renting a flat in Monzen-Nakacho - outside Tokyo central, but within the Metro lines. On the route I walked to the nearest Metro station, they started demolishing a house on a Monday morning, and by the Friday it was a bare plot of earth, neatly raked over, like a zen garden!

This is a great video, but there is also a cultural-philosophical component stretching back to Japanese spirituality and metaphysics. There's the idea that structures are inevitably transient, that they are just points in the ever-flowing stream of time, of creation and recreation. Ise Shrine, arguably the most important structure in Japanese Shintoism, is constantly reconstructed, with the most recent rebuild happening only about ten years ago. The same philosophy is even in the Metabolists after WWII. Not to oversimplify or set up an overly broad dichotomy, but there is not the same traditional devotion to the idea of a specific physical structure lasting for centuries that you see in, say, England.

Very interesting video. It's true that Japanese want to live in brand new houses! I live in a so-called rich area in Yokohama. I've seen many used georgeous houses in our neighbor for sale for a while, and then they were demolished, finally only lands were sold. People don't want to buy old houses even it's so beautiful looking, but want to build new houses with the lastest technology against natural disaster.

I wish Canada was more like Japan this way; we have so much land no one can use & a housing crisis; Japan's system would solve the biggest issue I myself & everyone I know has.

good idea to reduce tax for a building, on a site, but then the tax should go up proportially to the number of tenants cause then you might get a density issue.

This is like the opposite of what we have in Melbourne, Australia. Houses cost million AUD. Small 2 bedroom apartment in St kilda is half a million AUD. Sadge. I hope will have the market crash here at some point or I will be living on a street.

I sold a couple properties in 2020 and I'm waiting for a house crash to happen so I buy cheap. In the meantime, I've been looking at stocks as an alt., any idea if it's a good time to buy? I hear people say it's a madhouse and a dead cat bounce right now but on the other hand, I still see and read articles of people pulling over $225k by the weeks in trades, how come?

Here in Canada, we fight and struggle for anywhere affordable to live. Most of the developed world is in a housing crisis. So this sounds amazing.

Is there a website where I can view these properties?

This just makes me dream about saving and properly restoring beautiful traditional houses that already withstand earthquakes.

Just one look at some of those houses, I'd say it's about $50,000.00 of fixes at the least and you'd better know how to build and maintain. You could also find deals in West Virginia by the way in the USA.

It's crazy to think of a house as a depreciating, consumer good, similar to a car. It's such a weird concept especially from a Canadian perspective.

In Japan 1400sqft is a comfy home on a vibrant street. In America 1400sqft is someone's dream living room on a 30-year mortgage.

Well one thing to consider is they consider capsule hotels as ok living spaces. Tons of "homes" size of many closets in the US.

Well, if you manage to navigate the paperwork and get it for free, you will have to renovate it which might set you back anywhere between 15 and 50k $

Note that Japan is a country that houses are like cars: they depreciate over time. This due to countless factors such as building regulations, construction materials, etc.

I am amazed at the quality of this documentary

I have a decent amount of money saved up and just moved from Canada to New Zealand and would definitely consider getting a house in Japan and spending 50k renovating depending on the laws for a foreign to own land and live there when they want. If I had to get a visa to visit my own home every time I want to enter the country it wouldn't be worth it. I hear for younger people it can be depressing living in the countryside since all younger people are fleeing to the cities but I'd like a quite place to chill at for half the year and grow some food. I wonder if they have high speed internet in rural areas.

American zoning codes that have created a completely car-centric society. We need a nationwide overhaul of all the various municipal zoning codes. There's far too much local control in this country.