I am dealing with a guy spewing utter nonsense sometimes. Usually I can ignore it. What I can't ignore is his claim about housing in Japan that only costs like 100 Yen. Since I have casually study Japan for a geography presentation in my senior year at school, some alarm bells went off. Housing in Japan is anything but cheap.

He gave me a link to website that led me into the world of Akiya.

What is Akiya? Akiya is Japanese for abandoned house. Usually these properties are in rural areas. Only expensive part are the taxes and fees for land register entry. You can even easily scrap your new house for building materials.... Not very fast. Instead of tiny home in acceptable state with Youkai tree close by you might buy something that looks like this. >What the fuck? Those homes are totally a bum hovels! You might mutter, and you are right. Many of these homes have been not maintained for years. If rot didn't do such a property in, termites might. Good bye cheap building material. Have I mentioned that Japan is prone to earth quakes and some regions are pretty wet? There are also other problems besides disrepair mentioned in some article I have found like these:

Usually, the Akiya you will find in desirable locations are very damaged and potentially falling down and unlivable or you simply don’t know who owns the house and it can be difficult to find out. You can also find some that are in good condition, but those $500 or free homes will not be found here. Those that are in better condition will still be old, and not as cheap as you think. There are reasons that they have not sold yet. Some of these reasons may not be an issue for you, but they are still something to keep in mind for your future of owning property in Japan. Most of these homes will be found in the countryside of Japan. Personally, I like living in the countryside, but if you plan to buy a house there (particularly an Akiya), it may be necessary for you to drive. A number of countryside towns in Japan are accessible by train, but many are not, and these Akiya are more likely to be farther away and potentially in the mountains. This can put you quite far away from supermarkets, banks, and all of the conveniences many people love about Japan.

What is it (really) like to buy a Japanese Abandoned Akiya Home As you can see buying abandoned houses isn't as lucrative as some people think it would be. A acquaintance inherited such a house. He walked away from it, because all it did was eating away money he doesn't have and frankly I have seen such houses getting bulldozed to make places for new buildings instead more often than getting refurbished.