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'I live with a ghost': Japan's haunted homes attract bargain hunters

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Japan’s stigmatised properties, known as jiko bukken, suffer from cultural taboos linked to beliefs in yuurei spirits following deaths or fatal fires. Under 2021 government regulations, real estate agents must formally disclose such histories for three years on rentals and indefinitely for homes being sold. Consumers are utilizing crowdsourced platforms like Oshimaland to actively seek out these marked properties to bypass escalating housing prices. For instance, entertainer Ryua saves substantial rent on a Tokyo bedsit, while an American buyer secured a rural Kagoshima home for half its typical market value.

Key points

  • Non-superstitious tenants and homebuyers in Japan are deliberately leveraging cultural ta…: Non-superstitious tenants and homebuyers in Japan are deliberately leveraging cultural taboos to secure heavily discounted living spaces.
  • Escalating domestic real estate prices are pushing budget-conscious individuals to recons…: Escalating domestic real estate prices are pushing budget-conscious individuals to reconsider traditionally avoided homes tied to traumatic events.
  • Crowdsourced documentation platforms have made it easier for bargain hunters to track and…: Crowdsourced documentation platforms have made it easier for bargain hunters to track and negotiate deals on stigmatised properties.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

- Published

From the moment Ryua first walked into her rental apartment in Tokyo she believed it to be haunted.

"When I visited the place for a viewing there was a man standing there, glaring at me," she says.

"Since the estate agent couldn't see him, I realised he must be a ghost."

While someone more squeamish would probably have quickly left the flat never to return, Ryua chose to go ahead and move in.

"I'm a bit of a contrarian, so I decided I wanted to become friends with this glaring male ghost," adds Ryua, who works as an aidoru, a young entertainer, and who doesn't wish to share her surname.

Four years later, and still in the same apartment, she says she continues to experience paranormal activity on a daily basis. She says she hears endless footsteps and the ghost talking.

Although Japan has increasingly marked Halloween, external in recent years, many Japanese people take ghosts seriously all year round. The country has a word, "yuurei", which means a lingering, troubled spirit.

These are the ghosts of people…

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