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Japan is Giving Away Free Houses (fastcompany.com)
There are some 8 million abandoned homes -- or akiya -- in Japanese suburbia, according to The Japan Times . And if you've got a visa allowing you to live in Japan, some of them can be yours for free or very low prices, and the government may give you a subsidy to renovate one. From a report: There are even databases devoted to helping people find these homes, known as "akiya banks." What's driving the government to give away homes? In part, it has to do with Japan's aging population: According to the World Bank, the country's population decreased by -0.2% in 2017 alone, while China and the U.S. slowly grew 0.6% and 0.7% respectively. There are simply fewer people in Japan than there once were -- roughly 1.3 million fewer people than in 2010 by one count [paywall].
Someone in the kitchen?
...or a subservient Oriental, and I'm there.
on a FedEx cargo flight because he thought they were gingerbread houses!
Fuck a house, all good Japanese sperglords want anime.
So how do the Japanese feel about a bunch of foreigners as next door neighbors.
You mean they are not charging for the free houses? How unusual.
There's one downside about the houses -- they're all in Fukushima or are downwind from it.
The USSR built the concrete sarcophagus at Chernobyl in a few months. Fukushima went up in 2011 and is still spewing radiation into the environment.
the question is are there jobs?
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I'm a 10" dick packing buff Negro. Those Oriental cuties will enjoy me laying some pipe.
the radiation away... the houses are safe :)
[($)]
Decreased by -0.2%? So they increased by 0.2%?
They're all near the Fukushima power plant.
Too much bukkake, not enough creampie.
Japan has a xenophobia problem coupled with some of the strictest immigration and naturalization laws in the free world. So many skilled non-weeaboo non-Muslim-country foreigners would love to call Japan home if it weren't for the pervasive xenophobia there. They seriously have to relax the immigration laws. I understand not letting in Muslim refugees that will refuse to assimilate and create dangerous no-go zones in the country, but people that aren't from a cancerous culture should be allowed to visit and apply for residency more easily.
Well, you gotta bring furniture but the house is free!
It's free real estate.
That's what Japan better start producing before the gene pool becomes too shallow to dive in.
As fun as it may be to visit, Japanese culture is still "uncomfortable" with foreigners moving to Japan. Japanese youth love American culture but it's more like how people in the US like Anime: it's a sliver of their culture and not really representative of anything. Depending on how they process applications, they may be trying to get expatriated Japanese to return to Japan. Essentially, the Japan majority is like those in the US who want to build a giant border wall but it's all just below the surface like the rampant racism in parts of the US.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Sounds like a good place to retire!
#DeleteChrome
They don't take kindly to fake wanna-be doctors telling them it's safe to eat plastic. You wouldn't fit into Japan. They'd fact check you to death day 1.
Also they're not nearly as racist as your inbred cohort, sorry. They look down on you for being STUPID, not "western" per se. It's a distinction with no difference in your case though, true.
Japan is hit by earthquakes all the time. This has resulted on some very strict building codes and they are getting more and more strict. At the same time companies invent new ways of protecting the buildings from damage.
In 1995, Kobe was hit by a magnitude 7.2 quake. That went very bad, but it was a learning experience. It revealed a lot of flaws, which could be corrected. It turned out that the typhoon protection in the roofs of a lot of buildings made them deathtraps in case of major earthquakes and the design is now banned in new buildings.
In 2011 a magnitude 9.0 hit and lasted for an amazing 5 minutes. We have all seen the videos of cities being flooded by a tsunami. However most people missed the big news regarding the buildings. They were still standing. It was the most powerful quake ever measured in Japan and one of the most powerful ever recorded, yet the buildings survived. The reason is they replaced the buildings with modern ones, which fulfills the modern building codes. The Kobe quake era buildings would not have had a chance to survive.
Because of this, buildings in Japan lose value fast. People want new buildings with new safety. You can encounter houses with negative value meaning the plot would be worth more without houses. The thinking is that the old houses have to be torn down, meaning it's just an extra expense.
Now there are abandoned houses being offered for free. I think we can assume those houses aren't state of the art. In fact odds are they are pre 1995. Not only is that a safety issue, they might be uninsulated because traditionally Japan added temporal insulation during the winter because insulation would make houses too hot in the summer. On top of that the houses are in locations with de-population issues. If they were in good locations, the houses would be sold as building plots. This means poor job options in the areas of the free houses.
It's not a good offer. I don't think anybody will accept such houses, even for free. However if it's possible to get fast internet access, like optic fiber, then just maybe somebody will use this to start internet based businesses. It could create some upstarts, which can't afford to get enough storage space in the cities.
If the Japanese government would really do something to keep people in rural areas, they should look to the railroads. Right now they let people pay for railroads locally and if there aren't enough people, they will reduce the number of trains, close the line and use buses and then close the bus lines. So far every time a railroad dies, the community dies and it's a big topic in Japan because it makes it harder to keep people in farming communities, which in turn means less production of food for the cities. They know this and debate funding, but nothing happens. There are other issues like no daycare, meaning it's a problematic area if you want to have children. It looks like the government makes a move with free houses because it's free for them too (more or less), but as long as they aren't touching the reason why the houses have been abandoned and become unsellable, it will have a hard time being a success.
All the Japanese who found Japan too stifling moved to other countries, and while the ones that remain may be nice enough to tourists, they are not so sure they want you as neighbors.
I've met lots of welcoming Japanese, but at the same time most of them who were in America were there because Japanese culture, especially education/work expectations didn't suit them. Compared to the average american most of them worked harder, but at the same time played harder too. Another issue is that most of them are culturally ingrained to be non-aggressive to a fault. While American society has been declawing its own populace, many japanese are even more vulnerable due to their upbringing.
Of the second generation japanese-americans I know, none of them had any interest in moving back to Japan, and most of them, while they enjoy visiting, only do so for a few weeks or month at a time, and do not seek longer stays, even with family, property, or wealth over there if they wanted it.
I am not sure what lead Japan to the position it is in today, although American colonialism certainly played a part (Go look up the Opening of Japan before blaming Japan for its eventual actions going into WW2. The entire period was caused, yet again, by America mucking in the sociopolitical balance of a foreign culture without understanding the full consequences of it. And all for a gas station in the middle of the pacific ocean.)
But tearing down homes is costly, and a decades-old tax break that promotes construction by setting property tax on vacant lots at six times the level of those with buildings discourages demolition.
Well maybe, just maybe they could adjust the tax to encourage people to at least tear them down.
I think, therefore you are.
"... the country's population decreased by -0.2%..."
Hmm, wouldn't that be an increase? The negative sign has me thrown.
I saw this movie. I move in, everything's cool, but then there's this little boy meowing at me and a creepy girl spider-walking down the stairs. Thanks but no thanks!
These houses are all right next to Fukushima.
At least you get a waterfront view!
...since, for the most part, the places are located in rural farming communities where there are no jobs (other than farming), which is why nobody is buying them. Many are in significant disrepair because the previous owner(s) died, left the house to an urban-dwelling heir, and said heir refused the bequest (which you can do in Japan) because the taxes would have been more than the property is worth. Still... if you don't mind living in the boonies... why not get your house for free?
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Let's be clear about one thing:
Real estate booms destroy population growth.
Allowing debt-fueled spending to pour into real estate will always and forever eventually impact family formation.
The only way that the banking/political class has come up with to fight this trend is immigration -- but with automation replacing labor, the price of new family formation may ultimately be non self-sustaining.
With national movements on the rise to counter the necessity of immigration, the current solution will likely not bear fruit. (Not to mention that no amount of immigration is going to keep houses at their current bubble levels. The only thing that could buy some time are negative interest rates or 100 year mortgages. But let's not go there please).
The inescapable outcome for the Western World.. and likely the globe, is slow population decline as reproductive rates continue to fall. (Which is actually a good thing).
This means there are far too many houses out there.
Governments need to adjust to lower tax bases. Banks need to adjust to the fact that they're insolvent. (By definition of course, all banks always are).
The same thing is coming to Europe. And the US.
Give it 20 years.
We are all Japan.
(Cue the name calling by people who's ideology makes them emotional)
Let's be clear about one thing:
Real estate booms destroy population growth.
Allowing debt-fueled spending to pour into real estate will always and forever eventually impact family formation.
Please explain how you think this works. I have no idea, so do tell.
Oh, and "whose", not "who's". Possessives do not take apostrophes.
Except the part where immigration is not a necessity and negative birth rates are a natural response to a population exceeding the density threshold that a geography can sustain, therefore negative birth rates come into play to bring balance to the system. It will only be beneficial in the long-term if Japan allowed its population to reduce, but also deconstructed urban areas and reduced them as much as possible proportionally while instead focusing on vertical urbanization such that as much land is given back to nature, and of course giving a fuck off to foreign migrants since they are counter-intuitive to what must be done for the greater good of everyone.
Not yet. The soil's contaminated. Need a tsunami.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
Libya gave a house to newly weds, or a cash payment. Despite this it managed to be the richest country in Africa (for its inhabitants). So, with Japan being the richest country in Asia and giving away free houses should we expect a NATO intervention? Just kidding, of course. They never managed to kick the Americans out.
Not the OP, but it's not his or her concept. It's pretty well documented that high cost of living and high housing prices in particular result in delayed children. Japan's rate of population growth never recovered from the '80's housing boom.
Exactly. (I'm the OP)
The greater the % of expendable income the faster the population rises. The correlation is remarkably tight -- but it's a delayed correlation.
The biggest hit to household expendable income typically comes in the form of housing costs -- be they rent or mortgage payments.
The interesting wrinkle from an economics perspective is that housing booms create temporary wealth effects in roughly 50% of society. (And long term wealth effects in around 10-15% of society). The short/medium term liquidity created from a boom can actually keep population growth going well into the boom.
When the bubble bursts though, population growth typically craters for all but the top 10-15% of the population.
And for the slightly less than 50% of society that had the misfortune of renting throughout the housing boom, family formation took a beating long before the collapse.
(Also: Oops, yeah "whose").
Since there are even houses to give away.
I'm kinda serious...
Japan needs young people and families. Millions of young people and families need safe places to live and raise their children. There may be some synergy there.
The only downside that I see is that in order to get a free house you have to be Yoko's housemate. That girl is CRAAAZY.
There are small towns desperate to spread cost of upkeep where infrastructure deteriorated. Water pipes old need replacement. These towns are very rural and have limited income capacity. There are some factory jobs or farming jobs. Need at least an intermediate Japanese skill.
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Japan is fun for a visit, but living there is hard.
I worked in Japan for 3 yrs in Shinagawa-ku. In Tokyo and other tourist friendly places, it is livable, but most Japanese will ignore you unless forced to deal with you. Police will assume you are guilty of whatever the issue is, because you are gaijin (other).
If you marry a Japanese person, many things will be easer because he/she will handle all the govt stuff for you, but you kids will always be hÄfu. There are many people with non-Japanese blood, but 100% Japanese language and culture who are effectively treated as outsiders all their lives. Unless they win some international competition, then they are claimed as Japanese. That Naomi Osaka who beat Venus Williams. Naomi may have been born in Japan, but she's lived most of her life in the USA.
Travellers mistake the quiet Japanese as being very polite. While most Japanese are on the surface polite, once you learn the languages, you'll overhear what they really think. It isn't flattering. No matter how fluent you are in Japanese, they will always be surprised when you speak it, even when you have a 100% local accent. I always found phone conversations best, because they would assume I was Japanese.
If you are single, there will be Japanese of the opposite sexo who will be extremely forward. Just standing in line at a hotel, I was offered sex by a woman who was probably 20 yrs old than I was at the time. She said in broken English that she wanted to have multiple babies from me and would let me do anything, anything, I wanted with her body. She wasn't unattractive, just not my type.
Before that offer, I'd never, anywhere, had a woman make such clear offers, though I've been approached back home a few times every year by women who were very forward. Dated a few who admitted I had "something" - pheromones - something, which forced them to approach me.
Anyways, you should spend 3+ months in Japan before deciding whether you want to live there. By that time, any novelty will have worn off and you won't be the odd person to you real friends anymore.
Also, you'll need, must, mandatory, learn Japanese. That will take about 6 months to learn enough to understand and be understood everywhere. In a few weeks of intensive Japanese, you can certainly travel everywhere.
Bring a handkerchief with you everywhere, but never use it on you nose.
And don't have tattoos.
A decrease of -0.2% would be the same as an increase of 0.2%...
always wanted a houseboat :)
[($)]
So home ownership in my country is looking next to impossible, and Japan is begging theirs to be occupied? I can't even afford a single-bed apartment!
I wish my country was giving away free houses.
For me it's kids being annoying that stops me breeding.
decrease -0.2%, so increased 0.2%?