Japan s death tainted homes gain appeal as property prices soar

TOKYO - The house that property consultant and ghost investigator Kazutoshi Kodama regularly surveys has a grim history: Seven years ago, an elderly woman hanged herself in the bathroom and in 2024 her son died in the house alone, his body undiscovered for roughly 10 days.

Mr Kodama says he has stayed nearly 20 times in the house – located in a quiet residential area in Chiba near Tokyo – from 10pm to 6am, monitoring with four video cameras, a thermal camera, an electromagnetic field meter, an air pressure gauge, a thermometer and an audio recorder. He takes notes of the readings every hour.

When he is satisfied there are no paranormal phenomena such as unexplained electromagnetic disturbances, he will issue a certificate deeming the property free of ghosts.

In Japan, homes where murders or suicides have occurred are classified as “jiko bukken” or “misfortunate properties” that may provoke psychological distress for new owners or tenants. So are homes with “socially isolated” deaths – the most common type of misfortunate property where bodies are not found for some time and sufficient decay has set in to warrant special cleaning services or even the replacement of floors and wallpaper.

Modern thinking around misfortunate properties has been shaped by Japan’s ancient Shinto religion, which holds that when a person dies with regrets, their spirit lingers on earth, often at the site of their death, bearing grudges or overwhelmed by grief.

“Finding renters used to be virtually impossible,” said Mr Kodama, who founded his company Kachimode three years ago to offer what he calls ghost investigation services for prospective buyers and tenants.

“But with rising real estate prices, people have begun considering misfortunate properties as an option.”

Japan’s property prices have skyrocketed on a surge in construction materials and labour costs as well