#Japan #hit #population #crisis #empty #houses #reach #million #units
Jakarta –
Japan is hit by a population crisis. This has resulted in many empty houses reaching 9 million.
According to Sora News, Saturday (4/5/2024), empty houses in Japan are known as akiya. It’s a combination of aki (empty) and ya (house). Akiya refers to a house that has no permanent inhabitants.
Despite having population problems, several large cities in Japan actually have high densities. This week, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released the results of the Housing and Land Statistics Survey conducted every five years. And they say there are nine million akiya in Japan.
The nine million akiya show an increase of around 510 thousand akiya since the last survey five years ago, or double from 30 years ago.
An even more astonishing statistic from the report is that 3.85 million of them are abandoned houses. That figure is equivalent to 5.9 percent of housing units in Japan.
Akiya includes holiday homes used by families during holidays or homes that have been completed but have not been sold. Meanwhile, the ‘hochi akiya’ house is truly an uninhabited house and is not sold or used for other purposes.
The following is data regarding the number of abandoned houses in Japan
1978: 980,000
1983: 1,250,000
1988: 1,310,000
1993: 1,490,000
1998: 1,820,000
2003: 2,120,000
2008: 2,680,000
2013: 3,180,000
2018: 3,490,000
2023: 3,850,000
Then, why did this situation occur? The most obvious answer is that Japan’s population is aging and birth rates are falling. Fewer people means less total demand for housing.
In addition, the trend of smaller families means the demand for homes has decreased compared to previous generations. As for previous generations, families usually consisted of parents and several children, and even grandparents living together.
Meanwhile, in the last few generations in Japan, there have been signs of continuing population migration from villages to big cities. This can also be seen from several rural prefectures which have data on more than 10 percent of abandoned houses.
It is likely that many members of the last few generations born there moved to pursue educational and professional opportunities that were not available back home. For example, three of the top eight prefectures are those on Shikoku, the only one of Japan’s four main islands that does not have a single Shinkansen station.
Highest percentage of abandoned houses/hochi akiya (compared to total housing units)
Kagoshima: 13.6 percent
Kochi: 12.9 percent
Tokushima: 12,2 persen
Ehime: 12.2 percent
Wakayama: 12 percent
Shimane: 11.4 percent
Yamaguchi: 11.1 percent
Akita: 10 percent
Meanwhile, the capital city of Tokyo has the lowest percentage of abandoned houses, namely 2.6 percent. However, other prefectures with urban centers also have many abandoned houses, such as Kanagawa (3.2 percent), Aichi (4.3 percent), as well as Osaka, Fukuoka and Miyagi, all of which are at 4.6 percent.
However, travelers who want to live and buy a house for a holiday in Japan should think again. The reason is, the condition of the abandoned houses is quite worrying. Many people are concerned about the potential safety risks of abandoned houses, such as during earthquakes, typhoons or landslides.
According to the report, the houses were left unoccupied and unmaintained for years. That left about 20 percent of the houses damaged or rotting and uninhabitable without repairs. It is predicted that abandoned houses in Japan will continue to increase in the future.
Watch the video “The presence of foreigners helps cover the population crisis in Japan”
(wkn/wkn)
