LWIF EP71: Disposable and Abandoned Homes in Japan

Have you ever heard that Japan’s houses only last 30 years? Is it because of earthquakes, Japan’s love of new, clean things, termites, humidity, population decline, or bad construction materials?

Sources

🛈 30 year building shelf life – http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/03/31/how-tos/japans-30-year-building-shelf-life-is-not-quite-true/ 🛈 Great Kanto Earthquake – http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/ENGLISH/ABOUT/HISTORY/history01.htm 🛈 Earthquake building codes – http://japanpropertycentral.com/real-estate-faq/earthquake-building-codes-in-japan/ 🛈 Lifespan of homes – https://www.ft.com/content/d95ea1f6-5512-11e4-b616-00144feab7de 🛈 Secondary market for home sales – https://www.ft.com/content/d95ea1f6-5512-11e4-b616-00144feab7de 🛈 Japan Real Estate Institute Website – http://www.reinet.or.jp/en/ 🛈 Inflation-Adjusted Japanese Land Prices – http://www.nri.com/global/opinion/papers/2008/pdf/np2008137.pdf 🛈 Vacancy in Tokyo – http://nbakki.hatenablog.com/entry/The_Number_of_vacant_Houses_in_Tokyo_2013 and http://www.toukei.metro.tokyo.jp/kurasi/2016/ku-03.htm and http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/XlsdlE.do?sinfid=000031375040 🛈 Vacant and abandoned homes in Japan – http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2015/03/06/how-tos/cheap-rural-homes-come-price/#.WHVhxLZ95E4 🛈 Types of homes that are abandoned http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/12/04/how-tos/japans-part-time-landlords-are-overestimating-single-tenant-needs/#.WHVhybZ95E4 🛈 Vacancy rate in the 23 wards of Tokyo – http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2016/07/02/how-tos/rise-vacancies-wont-mean-drops-rent/#.WTBJj2jytPZ 🛈 Japanese population graph – By Demmo – This diagram was created with gnuplot., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8003944 🛈 Japanese low birth rate – https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/business/japan-population-births.html?mcubz=2&_r=0 🛈 Japanese immigration – https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/business/japan-immigrants-workers-trump.html?mcubz=2 🛈 Tokyo Population http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/ENGLISH/ABOUT/HISTORY/history03.htm 🛈 Tokyo and Japan population declining http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/ENGLISH/ABOUT/CITY_VIEW/FILES/24_CITYVIEWTOKYO.pdf 🛈 Life expectancy – https://www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/as120/LifeTables_Body.html 🛈 US Housing Vacancies – https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/index.html 🛈 Montreal c1900 By Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942, photographer. Detroit Publishing Co., publisher. – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID det.4a08028. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1929211 🛈 Earthquake Brick House – By Nabin K. Sapkota – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39888719 🛈 Tokyo Firebombing – By US Army Air Forces – Library of Congress, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1311305 🛈 Great Hanshin Earthquake – By Masahiko OHKUBO from Kobe, Japan – #19950117 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (HD), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48171734 🛈 Termites / White Ants – By த*உழவன் (talk) 12:54, 31 October 2009 (UTC) – 1.USDA (Image), 2.USDA (Freedom of information), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8308277 🛈 Abandoned Home Japan – By VoyagerMU, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54322037 🛈 Housing Units Vacancy in first quarter 2017 in the United States – https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/files/currenthvspress.pdf 🛈 Map of Japan and popular cities – By Antonioga – Own work adding cities on this map., CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46741412 🛈 Prefecture of Tokyo – By T.Kambayashi, OpenStreetMap [3] – OpenStreetMap [1],Ministry of the Environment Government of Japan[2],, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22745812 🛈 Supply and Demand Graph – By SilverStar at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4681584 🛈 Supply and Demand Graph (More Supply) – CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11044484