I live in a Japanese small town and have been looking into this, some random thoughts: This keeps getting resensationalized[0], While it varies a lot per regi

I live in a Japanese small town and have been looking into this, some random thoughts: This keeps getting resensationalized[0], While it varies a lot per region, a lot of these can come with clauses such as making it your residence, doing certain maintenance/reparations/replacement etc. I have been looking around a bit for something like this in the local akiyabanks, but there's just a handful of items on there, most have been there for years and the entry of new ones is really low. Not to say that there hasn't been success, but the reality is that most of these require significant investment and/or dedication to be attractive. There are also other programs, like renting them out rent-free in exchange for maintenance (really, would you invest 100,000s of yen to replace the boiler in exchange for rent on your 6-month notice rental contract?). Still, most empty homes are not part of anything like this and are left to ruin. Anywhere except the bigger cities (and sometimes even there), this has a significant impact on towns. Driving anywhere in a more remote prefecture and you see abandoned houses falling apart pretty much everywhere. It can really be nice living here, though. 0: https://soranews24.com/2015/04/10/so-who-wants-a-free-house-by-the-sea-in-japan/ https://soranews24.com/2015/04/10/so-who-wants-a-free-house-..., https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191023-what-will-japan-do-with-all-of-its-empty-ghost-homes https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191023-what-will-japa..., https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/05/asia/japan-vacant-akiya-ghost-homes/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/05/asia/japan-vacant-akiya-g..., https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/japanese-ghost-houses https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/japanese-ghost-houses,