Random Japan #13 :: Abandoned and Overgrown
This house has seen better days.
Abandoned houses are a major problem in Japan. Many are falling apart and causing problems, they attract criminals, and they are just eyesores. Yet the government either can't or won't do anything about it. In fact, the government is causing the problem. The tax code encourages building houses on one's property by giving a tax discount, so the owners of these abandoned houses have little incentive to have them torn down.
On the other side, there is a growing community of thrill-seekers who break into these abandoned houses (called haikyo) and explore them, documenting their findings on blogs or youtube.
I pass this house often when I take my son to his pre-school. He calls it the Totoro house. I guess it reminds him of the one in that movie.
If you like this random photo from Japan, be sure to check out @kaliju's awesome random Korea series. The latest entry there is Random Korea #2 - The Streets, The People and...Things!
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wow..nice and amazing. Thanks for sharing @dbooster
Thanks for the comment :)
I Like thrill seeking by finding abandoned houses - locating the owner, buying them, fixing them up and then selling them!
I don't know how common such a thing is in Japan. Houses here typically have no value. As such, the used house market is almost nonexistent. Everyone buys the land and builds their own house. It's tremendously wasteful, but it is the Japanese way.
actually that doesn't sound wasteful at all - I like the idea of building you own house on your own piece of land - It's something I hope to do someday - would love to build a cabin in the woods.
Sorry, I didn't make it clear. It's not the building that's wasteful, it is the destroying what was previously there. Even houses that are still perfectly livable will be torn down so the next person can build their own house. That is the wasteful part.
Oh .. well that changes things .. it does sound a bit wasteful when you put it like that.