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Another fallout of Japan's ageing population - Akiya houses - and it's not looking good

Another fallout of Japan's ageing population - Akiya houses - and it's not looking good

Akiya homes

Japan is facing a novel housing problem -too many houses and not enough people. As per reports, as the ageing nation struggles with the ever-declining population, the number of vacant houses in Japan has surged to an all-time high of nine million. To put it into context, this is more than enough for all the people in the populous US state of New York.

'Akiya' houses

As per a CNN report, abandoned houses in Japan are known as 'Akiya' houses, which usually refer to a house located in a rural area, and in derelict condition. However, that is no longer true.

More and more Akiya houses are located in major Japanese cities like Tokyo and Kyoto.

Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at the Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba, said that "this is a symptom of Japan's population decline".

"It's not really a problem of building too many houses" but "a problem of not having enough people," explained Hall, as quoted by the report.

Data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications shows that 14 per cent of all residential properties in the nation are vacant.

All of these are not Akiya or ruins, but include properties vacant for a variety of reasons: they're somebody's second home, owners moved abroad, etc. Additionally, some houses are without owners; due to poor record-keeping, local authorities don't know who the owner is.

A growing trend on social media shows people, mainly foreigners, scooping up these Akiya properties and renovating them. However, as per Hall, that is not as easy as it seems.

"The truth is most of these homes are not going to be sold to foreigners, or that the amount of administrative work and the rules behind it [are not] easy for somebody who doesn't speak Japanese and read Japanese very well."

"They're not going to be able to get these houses for cheap," warned Hall.

A declining population

For years, Japan's population has been on a steady decline, so much so that in 2022, Elon Musk warned Japan would "eventually cease to exist" without a higher birthrate.

The billionaire tweeted, "At risk of stating the obvious, unless something changes to cause the birth rate to exceed the death rate, Japan will eventually cease to exist. This would be a great loss for the world."

In 2023, the number of babies born in Japan fell for the eighth straight year. Compared to the previous year (2022), the number of births in the country fell by a whopping 51 per cent to 758,631.

(With inputs from agencies)