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Haunted Real Estate
Apr. 18th, 2025 06:58 amIn Japan, 'accident properties' that have been the scene of a death carry a heavy stigma. Meet the people selling and renting these homes, often at a discount.
https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-stigmatized-properties-rent-buy-cheap-jiko-bukken-2022-7
I won't quote from this article, which is a bit morbid, but the idea is that you can usually get a steep discount on an apartment or condo where someone died. From what I understand, it was generally common practice to knock down a house (or apartment block) every 40-50 years so that it wouldn't become "unclean" through association with death, but very few people have had that sort of money since the economic recession of the 1990s.
I've been reading a lot about the 2025 Osaka Expo, and a major theme of the national pavilions seems to be: inexpensive architecture that can be quickly put up, taken down, and otherwise adjusted to accommodate climate change. A lot of countries are incorporating Japanese architectural principles of "lightness" (in the sense of "easy to put up, take down, or alter") into their pavilions, and they look amazing. I would happily live or work in any of those buildings. Still, it's amusing to me to think about how much of contemporary Japanese architectural philosophy stems from a serious concern about not having to deal with haunted real estate.
https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-stigmatized-properties-rent-buy-cheap-jiko-bukken-2022-7
I won't quote from this article, which is a bit morbid, but the idea is that you can usually get a steep discount on an apartment or condo where someone died. From what I understand, it was generally common practice to knock down a house (or apartment block) every 40-50 years so that it wouldn't become "unclean" through association with death, but very few people have had that sort of money since the economic recession of the 1990s.
I've been reading a lot about the 2025 Osaka Expo, and a major theme of the national pavilions seems to be: inexpensive architecture that can be quickly put up, taken down, and otherwise adjusted to accommodate climate change. A lot of countries are incorporating Japanese architectural principles of "lightness" (in the sense of "easy to put up, take down, or alter") into their pavilions, and they look amazing. I would happily live or work in any of those buildings. Still, it's amusing to me to think about how much of contemporary Japanese architectural philosophy stems from a serious concern about not having to deal with haunted real estate.
