Episode 2 · May 11, 2026 · 1h 10m

9 Million Empty Homes: The Opportunity Hidden in Plain Sight

Read in 1 min · Listen in 1h 10m

Japan has nine million vacant homes. One in every seven properties in the country is sitting empty — and most of the people who should know about this have never heard of it. In the first proper episode of Old Houses Japan, host David and co-founder Victoria break down the akiya situation from the ground up. Not just the number — but what's behind it, what's inside it, and what it actually looks and feels like to stand on a street in rural Mie or Wakayama where half the houses have gone dark. They cover the three forces that created nine million empty homes — post-war urbanisation, Japan's new-build ideology, and an inheritance law backlog that left properties registered to people who died thirty years ago. The 2024 law change that's already moving the market. The difference between an akiya and a kominka. A prefecture-by-prefecture look at where the real opportunity is right now — including the house David and Victoria drive past every time they go to their own renovation in the Fukano Rice Terraces, that just appeared on an akiya bank for the first time. Plus the first two recurring segments of the season: The Numbers Don't Lie — where Victoria reframes the 13.8% vacancy rate as something no other country has. This is the episode that explains why the window is real. And why it's moving.