自测原文

A 段｜又怕又想看，价格开始松动忌讳

In Japan such unfortunate houses are known as jiko bukken, or “incident properties”. Though many recoil at the thought of living in one, they have long fascinated the public. Mr Matsubara has built a career from inhabiting dozens of them; his memoirs have become best-sellers and inspired films. Now rising housing costs are making these properties look less unappealing to the wider public.

Incident properties are priced anywhere from 10% to 50% below market value, depending on the grisliness of the previous occupant’s demise. Such discounts of course exist elsewhere, but Japan’s culture around them is unusually elaborate. Oshima Teru, a property investor, runs a popular website mapping jiko bukken across the country, marking each with a fire icon and a description of the death. “It frightens me, but I can’t stop checking it,” says Kobayashi Yoko, a housekeeper in Tokyo. If she discovers that a client’s house is on the map, she invents an excuse not to go.

B 段｜人口与规则，把事故房推入现实市场

Demography is making such properties harder to ignore. The government recorded more than 20,000 kodokushi or “lonely deaths” in 2025, defining them as people who died alone and went unnoticed for at least eight days. In 2021 it issued a guideline saying that landlords need not disclose them, except in case of extraordinary circumstances, such as severe decomposition. The change also aimed to make it easier for older people to rent, since many landlords fear a lonely death taking place in their property.

Niki Hidenori, who runs a property firm focused on jiko bukken in Kobe, says more tenants are “weighing the price and taking a pragmatic approach”. In March average studio rents in central Tokyo rose by 13% year on year, a record high for the 22nd consecutive month. A recent survey suggests a majority of Japanese would consider living in a jiko bukken. Investors are drawn too; legally, a death need not be disclosed after three years have elapsed, so a property bought at a discount can later be sold at full price.