Ryua knew her Tokyo apartment was haunted the moment she walked in for the viewing. "When I visited the place for a viewing there was a man standing there, glaring at me," she said. "Since the estate agent couldn't see him, I realised he must be a ghost." Four years later, she still lives there — and still hears footsteps and the ghost talking most days.
"I'm a bit of a contrarian, so I decided I wanted to become friends with this glaring male ghost," said Ryua, a young entertainer who goes by one name. Her apartment belongs to a category Japanese real estate calls jiko bukken, or "stigmatized properties" — homes where someone died by suicide, murder, fire, or alone and undiscovered for an extended period. Under government guidelines issued in 2021, Japanese estate agents must disclose such deaths to renters for three years, and indefinitely to buyers.
The belief underpinning the market is the concept of yuurei, a lingering, troubled spirit left behind by a violent, lonely or tragic death. For house hunters unbothered by the idea, the properties come with steep discounts: Ryua was told a man had killed himself in her unit, and pays roughly 30% less rent as a result — 45,000 yen a month instead of the usual 62,000.
Tokyo estate agent Erik Oskamp said Japanese renters are particularly averse to anything associated with death, even by proximity. "[Even] an apartment next to a cemetery will be difficult to rent out, especially if you can see the tombs from the kitchen," he said. "The worst thing is if a suicide has happened in the apartment. Even if somebody has jumped from the roof, many renters will move out." By contrast, UK law carries no requirement to disclose a death in a property at all, and US rules vary by state — California requires disclosure within three years, while Arizona and Oregon require none.