What the article is missing are the restrictions being imposed on age and size of family. They hope young families will come into the rural areas and reinvigorate these towns. Here is another article with more specific details.
Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses
231–240 of 410 posts
Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Given how the job market is starving for employees Japanese companies in general have an abhorrent work culture. Let me hand wave cultural relativism for a second - sure, fine, it works great for the Japanese, or whatever, historical and cultural significance, fine. But I think I can make health arguments against it, let alone moral/value ones. I wish they'd explore Visas for remote workers - partner and I are very…
I started working for a Japanese tech investment company with this mindset. It's now outdated. I was shocked to discover that Japanese employment law has changed dramatically vs the perception. Someone died a few years back apparently, so the Japanese government stepped in. They closely monitor logged overtime hours. Bosses whose employees persistently log long hours (I think it is 60+ hour weeks) get a warning, firs…
Japanese boss dunks worker’s face in hotpot at office party [0].
[0]: https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2174669/wat...
Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses
#233So wait, there are places where there are houses being given away (e.g. US, Japan and Italy as far as I know) and I'm a person that has the ability to work remotely. Am I missing something? Is this my ticket to cheap housing and a more stress free life? At what point am I going to be scammed and/or disappointed?
Is it just me or is the prospect of working from home in the middle of nowhere terrifying? When you work from home, you wanna leave home often, where do you go if you're in the middle of nowhere? I work from home in the middle of a dense city, pay a premium for it! You leave home and there are about 100 places (cafes, theatres, museums, parks etc.) I can go to that are walking distance. Is that possible in say rural…
I work remotely from a town of 200 full time residents in the North Cascades Mountains in North Central Washington State. The closest grocery store is about 25 miles away and the closest stoplight is about 80 miles. You have to plan a bit around shopping and logistics but it is a wonderful place to live. We are in the middle of the largest maintained network of nordic ski trails in North America, I can literally backcountry ski from my front door and we have hundreds of climbing routes within a 10 minute drive. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
What reasons do people have for not wanting a perfectly good 20-30 year old house for half the price of a new one?
"Raze, rebuild, repeat: why Japan knocks down its houses after 30 years": https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/16/japan-reusabl... tl;dr it's a historical accident that has become a self-perpetuating cultural phenomenon
This doesn't explain similar phenomena, though, like the Japanese replacing their cars frequently: https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/12/world/why-the-cars-in-jap... https://www.picknbuy24.com/column_146.html It makes me wonder if a deeper cultural factor is at work here.
Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses
#235Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Given how the job market is starving for employees Japanese companies in general have an abhorrent work culture. Let me hand wave cultural relativism for a second - sure, fine, it works great for the Japanese, or whatever, historical and cultural significance, fine. But I think I can make health arguments against it, let alone moral/value ones. I wish they'd explore Visas for remote workers - partner and I are very…
I started working for a Japanese tech investment company with this mindset. It's now outdated. I was shocked to discover that Japanese employment law has changed dramatically vs the perception. Someone died a few years back apparently, so the Japanese government stepped in. They closely monitor logged overtime hours. Bosses whose employees persistently log long hours (I think it is 60+ hour weeks) get a warning, firs…
> Bosses whose employees persistently log long hours (I think it is 60+ hour weeks) get a warning
So what would a normal working week be? A warning at 60+ hours is hardly reassuring.
Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses
#236The more interesting thing about this is that it is part of a new type of economics, contraction economics. The global trend toward birth rates below replenishment means that first-world countries are maintaining their population growth through immigration. As some countries embrace restrictions on immigration, and ultimately all countries plateau in their population growth (projected to be around 2100) it means that…
We're likely going to experience significant population contractions not driven by "stabilization" as humanity approaches 2100.
Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses
#237The US saw similar efforts in Detroit and other Rust Belt cities. That mostly just resulted in asset flippers hoarding houses and letting them fall into further disrepair. I wonder what steps Japan is taking to mitigate that possibility.
Detroit: If you have a credit card and a want to own an apartment building, it is the place to be. Just needs some elbow grease. There MUST BE opportunity at $5 USD per square foot -- but it is hard to visualize. https://www.point2homes.com/US/Multi-Family-For-Sale/MI/Detr... [I think you can talk this guy down to $10k].
If you want the lowdown on Detroit (and other regions of the country) check out https://makeloveland.com/ They focus on helping people keep their homes and away from the county auction.
Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses
#238I lived in one of these! My friend was married to a Japanese woman and they got a free 10 year lease on an abandoned house. It was very romantic, especially with the tanuki running around in the ceiling.
Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they’d throw in a working visa I’d be intrigued
If you have the capital you can basically just buy an EB-5 investor visa. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrat...
All you need is to be a multimillionaire that wants to move to a nigh abandoned section of Detroit.
Re: Japan Is Giving Away 8M Abandoned Houses
#240This is just one of the many initiatives by the government or a local body to give away houses. The population in remote areas of Japan (aside from tourism) is declining quite fast.
I've had friends who have bought houses for as cheap as $600 in remote areas of Japan. [1]
If you are interested in owning a house in Japan then Okutama (a town close to Tokyo) is giving away houses with certain conditions. [2]
There are at least five other programs scattered around the Kyushu island and around the Tohoku region. You may want to check areas affected by natural / man-made disasters such as Rikuzentakata, which are "reviving" its cities or towns.
If you are a tourist you'll get accommodation and travel tickets to these "reviving" towns (free of charge) as well (just need to know where to look). [3]
[2] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/11/04/national/social...