The article title is misleading. A better title would be: "Japan has 8 million abandoned houses. A small fraction are being given away" The article then lin

The article title is misleading. A better title would be: "Japan has 8 million abandoned houses. A small fraction are being given away" The article then links to a blog which occasionally links to empty houses for sale for very low prices. The blog gets its information from local government "empty house banks". Many local governments have these, but lots of them are not web based, you would have to go to the government offices in person to ask about empty houses. In reality, the best way to find an empty house in Japan is to go driving around the countryside and talk to some locals. They know who owns what and who might be interested in selling.