The two-story house in a southern suburb of Yokohama has seen better days. The metal shutters are permanently drawn over the downstairs windows, the sliding paper window covers upstairs are in tatters, and the garden is overgrown. With a bit of effort and money, however, the property could be renovated into a perfectly habitable home once more.
But no Japanese wants this house. It is marked as "jiko bukken," which translates as a "stigmatized property," and it has stood empty for at least five years.
Something bad happened here, possibly a suicide, a fire that claimed a life or the death of an elderly person, what the Japanese refer to as a "lonely death." Murder is another obvious reason for a property to be shunned.
Kazutoshi Kodama, president of specialist property Kachimode Co., believes "jiko bukken" are a financial drain on owners and, for him, a business opportunity. Set up in December 2022, Kachimode "assists owners or properties with a history of incidents with the management of their rental properties."
Part of this service is a comprehensive "ghost investigation," he said. And far from being dismissed, demand for the service is soaring, he added.
