With the population in Japan shrinking and Japanese buyers vastly preferring new over used homes, older homes are often abandoned when owners die or younger generations refuse to inherit them. The Japanese government estimated in 2018 that there were nearly 8.5 million abandoned homes in the country. Jaya Thursfield and his wife, Chihiro, moved from London to Japan after buying an abandoned Japanese farmhouse in Ibaraki, a Japanese prefecture about an hour's drive northeast from Tokyo. With many Japanese buyers preferring newly built houses, some homes are demolished after only 20-30 years. And while houses in the US typically appreciate in value, houses in Japan tend to gradually depreciate in value over time.

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Persons: Jaya Thursfield, Chihiro, Richard Koo, Koo, Bethany Nakamura, Nakamura, it's Organizations: Service, Privacy, Japan, Japan's Ministry of Land, Transport, Tourism, YouTube, Law, Nomura Research Institute Locations: Wall, Silicon, Japan, Infrastructure, London, Ibaraki, Tokyo, Jaya, America