[imagesource:archdaily]

With their population severely on the decline, the number of vacant houses in Japan has surged to a record high of nine million – that’s more than enough for each person in New York City.

These abandoned houses are known in Japan as “akiya” – a term that usually refers to derelict residential homes tucked away in rural areas.

More and more akiya are, however, being seen in major cities, such as Tokyo and Kyoto, and that’s a problem for a government that’s already struggling with an ageing population and an alarming fall in the number of children born each year.

“This is a symptom of Japan’s population decline,” said Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba. “It’s not really a problem of building too many houses” but “a problem of not having enough people,” he said.

According to figures compiled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 14% of all residential properties in Japan are vacant. These numbers include second homes and those left empty for other reasons, including properties temporarily vacated while their owners work overseas.

They aren’t all left to ruin, like traditional akiya, whose growing number presents a range of other problems for the government and communities, experts told CNN.

They include stifling attempts to rejuvenate decaying towns, becoming potential hazards due to the lack of maintenance, and raising the risks for rescuers in times of disaster in a country prone to earthquakes and tsunamis.

When an earthquake or a tsunami occurs, there is a possibility that vacant houses will block evacuation routes as they break down and get destroyed.

Akiya are often passed down through generations. But with Japan’s plummeting fertility rate, many are left with no heir to pass to, or are inherited by younger generations who have moved to the cities and see little value in returning to rural areas, experts told CNN.

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Some houses are also left in administrative limbo because local authorities don’t know who the owners are due to poor record-keeping. That makes it difficult for the government to rejuvenate fast-ageing rural communities, hampering efforts to attract younger people interested in an alternative lifestyle or investors eyeing a bargain.

Under Japan’s tax policies, some owners often find it cheaper to retain the home than to demolish it for redevelopment. And even if owners want to sell, they may have trouble finding buyers, said Hall, from Kanda University.

“Many of these houses are cut off from access to public transport, health care and even convenience stores,” he said.

Japan’s architectural history and culture made the situation there particularly dire. Homes in Japan aren’t valued for their longevity, he said, and unlike in the West, people don’t typically see merit in living in historical buildings.

“In Japan, the newer the house, the higher the price it sells for,” he said.

 

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Japan’s population has declined for several years – at the last count in 2022, the population had shrunk by more than 800,000 since the previous year, to 125.4 million. In 2023, the number of new births fell for the eighth consecutive year, reaching a record low, according to official data.

Japan’s birth rate has hovered around 1.3 for years, far from the 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population, and just last week Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said the number of children under age 15 had dropped for the 43rd straight year to a record low of around 14 million, as of April 1.

Yuki Akiyama, a professor from the faculty of architecture and urban design at Tokyo City University has now devised an AI program to predict the areas most vulnerable to akiya. Still, he stressed the problem isn’t unique to Japan – it has now been seen in the US and some countries in Europe as well.

[source:cnn]