Whether you avoid such houses no matter the cost, or actually prefer the stigmatized house more than a normal one because of the price, today you and I are going to explore how to find out if a property in Japan comes with a dark history and we’ll also try to uncover some tips to help you to either avoid or choose such a place.

What Is Stigmatized Property?

Stigmatized property is called 事故物件 (じこぶっけん/juko-bukken), 訳あり物件 (わけありぶっけん/wakeari-bukken), ブラック物件 (ぶらっくぶっけん/black-bukken), or in legal terms 心理的瑕疵物件 (しんりてきかしぶっけん/shinriteki-kashi-bukken) in Japanese. 瑕疵 (かし/kashi) means flaw; defeat; blemish and a property with “kashi” is a place that buyers or tenants may shun for reasons that are unrelated to its physical condition or features. Such reasons include murder, murder-suicide, family suicide, individual suicide, solitary death and arson. On top of that, it includes things like whether or not a gangster organization (yakuza) used the space, or if a religious cult exists nearby.

The Law And A Loophole

Although both the civil law of Japan, as well as the building lots and building transactions business law (what a mouthful) dictates that realtors to inform any prospective tenants of any “stigma” involving the previous tenant or property, the law doesn’t actually state what specifically that stigma is. Therefore, the realtors themselves have to decide what exactly is worth informing prospective tenants about by referring to precedents. In fact, it seems to be pretty difficult for realtors to judge because there are various precedents which could change depending on the situation.

For example, one precedent indicates that the prospective tenant needs to be informed for at least two years following some form of stigma, whereas the other said that it has to be 20 years, though the average accepted duration is typically between 5 to 10 years. There was also a precedent stating that the tenant has to be informed of such incidents 10 years after it happened unless a different tenant has already lived there.

This precedent created a loophole: the requirement of informing tenants of a stigma applies only to the most recent tenant and once the place has been rented a second time, whatever occurred prior to that need no longer be reported. Because of this, many people just changed the registered tenant’s name to their family member’s, or even hired someone to temporarily live there. This rampant, immoral method has actually caused a lot of hassle in the courts. For this reason, there is now a consensus among real estate companies to inform the prospective tenant of the stigma if the incident happened within the past 10 years or if the prospective tenant is the third registered tenant after the incident, though, again, it is still left to the realtor’s or owner’s discretion.

First, Simply Ask the Realtor

So now let’s suppose you’re in the market for a new apartment, and you spot one that’s pretty good. The location is favorable, the structure is very durable, and the unit has plenty of storage space and gets a lot of sunshine. It’s also in close proximity to a train station and convenient shopping places, but the rent seems too good to be true. Tintintin~♪ Bingo♪

If that’s the case, you are likely to find that the apartment may have experienced an “unfortunate incident.” In general, rent for stigmatized properties is usually listed at over 20% less than normal. Even if it is listed at the normal rate, you’re likely to be able to negotiate the price down by 20% or more, so long as you know that the stigma exists.

So, say you do find a place that is priced at the normal market value. How can you figure out about the stigma then? One thing that may set off some warning bells is if it was renovated. The place looks brand spankin’ new and it’s only this price? Or, even more suspicious, what if only part of the location is renovated. The flooring in this particular room is so beautiful but the walls are kind of old and shabby looking… or, why is the bathtub so new and high-tech when the toilet’s oshiri button doesn’t even move back and forth?

These are the kinds of things to look for, so if you notice any of these things or anything else that seems fishy, you can simply ask the realtor if this is a place with an undesirable history. As long as the realtor is a good person and follows the consensus, you will be informed, especially when you directly ask. You may also want to check if the neighboring units are occupied too, because it’s common for people to move away if there was an event or issue at the unit you’re looking at.

So, whether you’re trying to avoid a stigmatized unit or if you’re trying to find one so you can negotiate the price down, those are the things you need to do.

What To Ask?

Let’s say you do ask and they say “Nope, not stigmatized.” You know that look in their eyes. They seem uncomfortable and are making weird movements, just like a lier would! Something is wrong here…

One way to get past this is to ask for more details. Here are some questions that will help you to figure out if it is actually that type of place:

• How long did the previous tenant live here and how long has the unit been vacant (exactly when did they move out)?
• Did the tenant move out within two years of moving in?
• Did they move when it wasn’t normal moving season, such as March? Why?

If the realtor hesitates to answer or tells you that he/she doesn’t know the reason, you should keep being skeptical. With enough digging, you might make the person slip up and tell you something they didn’t intend to, or you may just catch them in a lie.

Furthermore, if you are enthusiastically recommended a unit with phrases that sound as though the person is rushing to sell the place, such as “I’ve never seen such a good place”, “I’d like to live here if I were you”, or “It’s so rare that such a place is available at this price”, then you may want to think twice. Maybe it is too good to be true. Oh and by the way, if you are seeking a stigmatized property and don’t mind being honest about that with the realtor, feel free to reveal that information right where you stand. In that case, no one would lie. They’re probably having trouble selling the place and that might come at a relief to them. That being said, maybe you could say that out front and then catch them at their lie.

Second, Go To Well-Disclosures Real Estate Site

If the situation arises when you’ve asked the realtor your questions, but didn’t get enough confidence boosting information and thus are still skeptical, the next thing you should do is to check out the real estate sites, such as SUUMO, which discloses stigmatized information.

As for SUUMO, not only are they unafraid to reveal stigmatized property but they’ve also even attempted a new and unique approach to offloading stigmatized property. In a very positive way, they try to convince the potential renter that it’s actually a great thing to live in a place where someone violently died! The following is what they wrote for the unit.

“事故物件♪
人気の事故物件♪初期費用が少額♪TDL近い♪バストイレ付き♪ー初期費用の少ない事故物件でました！一人暮らしなのに一人暮らしではないような感覚にさせてくれる寂しがり屋さんにオススメのお部屋です♪”
Stigmatized Property♪
Popular stigmatized property♪ Low initial cost♪ Near Tokyo Disneyland♪ Private bath and toilet♪ It’s a stigmatized property, which means low initial cost! You’ll be living alone, but you’ll never really feel like it. This room is perfect for lonely singles♪

It came with pictures of not just the apartment and surrounding area, but also of a cute, friendly ghost character ‘お化けのQ太郎(おばけのきゅうたろう/Obake-no-Q-taro)’, which means ‘Ghost Q-taro’ and was made by the creators of ‘ドラえもん(Doraemon)’, 藤子不二雄(Fujiko Fujio).

The price was 23,000yen(US$230) per month with no deposits for the 107 square-foot unit with a kitchen, balcony, bathroom, and toilet. It seems that this unique idea succeeded in its purpose and the ad was taken off shortly after.

事故物件・訳あり物件情報センター(Jiko-bukken・Wakear-bukken-Jouhou-center), which is Stigmatized Property Information Center is another website on which you can find these properties, as well. Although they only cover the Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba areas, they actually focus solely on stigmatized property for their business, whereas SUUMO only partly deals with such properties. So if you are looking for such a place, you can search for an ‘only stigmatized property’ realtor.

Third, Check Out Oshima Teru

Oshima Teru CAVEAT EMPTOR is an up and coming website operated by Manabu Oshima since September 2005. The site’s main purpose is to map out every property where unnatural deaths occurred and to show you the ‘stigmatized properties’ with burn marks from fires. Originally, it focused on the greater Tokyo area, but now they have extended into a near worldwide coverage including North America and Europe. They glean data from police reports and the media, visit the actual places or the courts to learn the correct addresses, and use Google maps to indicate where all the “stigmatized properties” around the world are. This site is getting popular and they even made a Google app. This site is also for free so to all of you are thinking of moving I’d recommend searching for a stigmatized property on Oshima Teru to make a stigmatized property your own.

However, despite the worldwide coverage of Oshima Teru, most places are limited to major cities. So, what can you do now? Unfortunately, your last resort may be to walk around and ask the neighbors by yourself: “This unit is very cheap compared to the average price in this area, so is it only this unit or is everyone in this apartment building paying the same price?” Although it may be a difficult, time-consuming way, you may be able to gain fruitful information not only regarding stigmatized properties, but also about your potential landlord’s or neighbors’ personalities.

Finally Make Your Own Decision

Though I listed the ways to figure out if the unit is stigmatized, most likely you will just be informed by the realtor because they will be afraid of being sued for hiding it from you (should you move in and find out later). Some real estate companies actually went bankrupt because of having a bad reputation from hiding such things.

Interested in buying or renting a stigmatized home? Go ahead! Although, there are also some cases where tenants complained of “residual smells” being left behind by decomposing corpses, or tenants who developed insomnia due to the psychological pressure of knowing what occurred in their unit, so you should also consider those things before making a decision. But, if you value a good deal over trivial things like your psychological health, I won’t hold you up any longer.

Me? As I told you earlier, there is no way that I could move into one of those places or learn that I used to live in one. However, my curiosity was far too great and I actually felt compelled to find out whether or not I unknowingly lived in stigmatized house. Unfortunately, or perhaps luckily, I couldn’t find any verifiable proof that the incident I wrote about in a previous article actually occurred there, perhaps because it was such a old case. Personally, I’m glad that I didn’t find anything out. I guess it will just have to remain an eerie possibility for my mind to nibble on.

So what about you? Think you could live in a stigmatized property? Where would you draw the line? Is suicide okay but not murder? Or perhaps the line is between murder suicide and regular murder? Let me know your opinion and where you stand. Oh, and if you’ve lived in a stigmatized property, tell me all about it, I want to know!

But more importantly, the Yamaguchi family has basically had a yakuza monopoly for the last few decades, gobbling up more territory and profits than any other yakuza family in Japan.

In one interview with online magazine The Rumpus, yakuza expert Jake Adelstein compares the Yamaguchi to the house that Walton built:

Adelstein: They basically have a monopoly. You can’t have a price war with Walmart.

Rumpus: The Yamaguchi-gumi is the Walmart of the yakuza.

Adelstein: It is. It occupies so much turf now.

How did the Yamaguchi get to be the Walmart of the yakuza, driving out all of the small, mom-and-pop yakuza families? Low, rollback prices? Big box stores? Elderly greeters at the front of every yakuza business?

It’s easy to imagine that the Yamaguchi became a monopoly through some dramatic chain of events that culminated in a massive shootout, but the Yamaguchi’s rise to power was a lot less cinematic.

A lot of it comes down to adaptation.

Going Underground

For a lot of Japanese history, the yakuza were more or less openly tolerated. A lot of what the yakuza did was obviously illegal, but the groups themselves weren’t necessarily outlawed.

Yakuza groups were sort of seen as just another part of society. Members used to carry their very own yakuza business cards and be friendly with police.

But in the last couple of decades, the Japanese have passed more and more laws that make it harder for yakuza families to operate the way they used to. Nowadays, yakuza bosses bear some legal responsibility for the crimes of their underlings, and restaurants like Pizza Hut even refuse yakuza service.

So the Yamaguchi family, under the leadership of Yoshinori “Mr. Gorilla” Watanabe, adapted to these laws and toned down the stereotypical yakuza image.

You won’t see a lot of the ornate, full-body tattoos that the yakuza are known for, and not many underlings are slicing their pinkies off, either.

And for a group of mobsters, the yakuza barely use guns. Because of Japan’s strict gun laws, firing a gun at somebody violates so many laws that it’s better to just forget about the whole thing.

The Yamaguchi and really, the yakuza as a whole, became more subdued and focused less on the tradition and pageantry that made them stand out, and more on the things that made them so incredibly rich and powerful.

The Future of the Yakuza

Even though the Yamaguchi has made it to the top of the yakuza ladder, it doesn’t mean that they have it easy. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

The Japanese government and foreign countries have continued to tighten the vice on the Yamaguchi and other yakuza groups. The #2 boss in the Yamaguchi was recently sentenced to six years in jail for extortion, and last year the US government froze all of the Yamaguchi’s American assets.

But despite all of the hardships, there’s no doubt that the Yamaguchi, and all yakuza groups in Japan, will continue to blackmail, extort, traffic, and generally terrorize Japan. It’s hard to keep a good gangster down.

Read More: Jake Adelstein’s Japan Subculture Research Center

With reform on the table, some Americans are looking at other countries for ideas on how to shape new law. One of the places that’s been getting a lot of attention in Japan.

Japan is at one extreme when it comes to gun culture. There are tight gun laws, few gun owners, and even fewer gun deaths. In recent years, there have only been about a dozen deaths in Japan annually from firearms.

So how do the Japanese do it? What does Japan’s gun culture (or lack thereof) look like?

What Are Gun Laws Like in Japan?

Gun laws in Japan are some of the strictest in the entire world. There are laws against owning a gun, owning bullets, and discharging a firearm. Basically, any sort of interaction with guns is illegal in Japan, unless you’re licensed, or with the police or military.

Some Japanese tourists find going to a Hawaiian shooting range easier than buying a gun in Japan

Even if you belong to that small portion of the population that can own a gun, there are a lot of restrictions, even if you’re dead. In one particular instance, a police officer who had committed suicide with his service weapon was posthumously charged with a crime.

And that small population can only own certain types of guns. You can basically buy guns for sporting and hunting, which limits it to shotguns and air rifles. Handguns and semi-automatic weapons are strictly forbidden.

How Do You Get a Gun in Japan?

Getting a gun in Japan is really, really hard. There are many steps that you have to go through before you can actually buy a gun. These steps include:

• Written test, only offered on certain dates.
• Psychiatric evaulation.
• Drug test.
• Criminal background check.
• Gun skills competency test.

Only after you pass all of those will you be eligible to buy a gun. Even if you pass all of these tests, it’s not uncommon for the police to periodically and informally check up on gun owners. One retired Japanese police officer recalls that

Sometimes, police officers even go to the neighborhoods where a gun owner lives and interview neighbors to make sure the owner isn’t causing problems or having issues with his spouse.

Clearly, buying a gun in Japan is a serious committment and responsibility.

How Many People Own Guns in Japan?

A very, very small percentage of the Japanese people own guns (close to 0.1% of the population) and that percentage has been declining for years. In 2011 there were only a little over 120,000 licensed gun owners in Japan, down from 140,000 a few years earlier.

Of course, like with any law, there are those who slip through the cracks. Yakuza own guns, but less and less so. Because illegally owning a gun carries such stiff penalties, the yakuza would rather avoid guns altogether than get taken down for such an easily avoidable offense.

How Does Japan Compare to the Rest of the World?

As I said earlier, the Japanese have some of the lowest rates of gun ownership and gun deaths in the world, but I wanted to see how Japan stacked up against the rest of the world.

I grabbed data from the Small Arms Survey, the CDC, and the UN, and graphed the numbers for the five countries who visit Tofugu the most. Here are the numbers:

And here they are graphically:

Obviously, the Japanese approach to gun law has worked well in Japan, but it’s not a strategy that would work everywhere in the world.

For instance, Switzerland has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, but still has a relatively low crime rate. These sorts of laws are so dependent on a country’s history and culture that it’s not really something that you can just copy and paste law from place to place.

Even if the Japanese approach isn’t something that everybody can adopt, it’s still an interesting example for the entire world to look at.

Read more: Even gangsters live in fear of Japan’s gun laws, A Land Without Guns: How Japan Has Virtually Eliminated Shooting Deaths

But in Japan, like virtually anywhere else in the world, there are just so many drugs out there that it’s hard for the government to keep tabs on all of them. It’s especially difficult because people are always hard at work engineering new drugs that get around existing laws. In Japan, these are called “loophole drugs” (脱法ドラッグ).

The Japanese government has been trying to stem the tide of new, artificial drugs by banning what it can. Last summer, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry designated four new drugs as narcotics in an attempt to quell the burgeoning loophole drug business.

The whole thing feels a bit like a futile game of whack-a-mole — for every new drug the government bans, there’s some guy in a lab somewhere inventing two more drugs that fall between the cracks of existing laws.

One of the most infamous loophole drugs in Japan is synthetic marijuana, otherwise known as “spice.”

RRRRRAGHAGHAHGAHGAA SPICE MUST FLOW!!!

Right now in Japan, spice is in a weird cycle. The government bans new variations of spice every few months but, until they’re banned, those spice variants are perfectly legal. Any shop can legally sell spice as long as they say that it’s not meant for human consumption. And then the variation of spice is banned, a new variation hits shops, and the cycle begins anew. It’s like the Circle of Life, but with fewer singing animals and more drugs.

Vice magazine, while it’s not accidentally revealing the location of antivirus magnate and murder suspect John McAfee, produces a lot of interesting videos. I’m a big fan of its videos on North Korea, and its video about Mormons in Mexico was really fascinating.

Just last week, Vice released a video looking at synthetic weed in Japan. The video follows a Japanese woman purchasing and smoking fake weed for her first time ever. Unsurprisingly, a dude with huge dreads leads the whole effort.

A spice trip can go real bad, real quick

But the party may be coming to an end pretty soon. With spice being such a fringe, barely-legal substance and completely unregulated, it’s done some damage to its users. Bad trips and some hospitalizations have made it clear that you should take spice at your own risk.

In the last couple of years, the US military has really started cracking down on its soldiers stationed in Japan using spice. The military’s put into place a strict, zero-tolerance policy towards the drug in any of its forms, and has started testing and disciplining soldiers for their use of spice.

And just last month, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry decided to take a sledgehammer to this game of whack-a-mole and introduced sweeping, new bans to prohibit synthetic weed once and for all. Under these new rules, almost 800 drugs will be banned (compared to the 90 or so that are banned now).

Will this be the swan song for drugs in Japan? If history is any indicator, probably not. Even if it’s sniffing glue or chugging cough syrup, people always seem to find a way to get their fix.

But fear not! You aren’t the only person who’s ever gone through this cycle of culture shock, and you definitely won’t be the last.

So let’s take a look at fitting into Japanese culture, everything from the initial culture shock to deciding to become a full-blown Japanese citizen.

First Stage: Culture Shock

When I was thinking about doing the JET Program, a representative from the program visited my school and gave a little presentation to everybody who was interested. I was really surprised when he straight-up told prospective JET-ers that it’s not only normal, but expected that you’ll get frustrated with Japanese culture and homesick for your native country.

JET even has a 4-stage description of culture shock on its site, breaking down what culture shock looks like:

experiencing anxiety, lack of self-confidence, panic attacks, loss of initiative and spontaneity, excessive anger over minor things, strong desire to associate with people of their own nationality, and isolation.

“Man, I hate being an outsider in a strange, new culture!”

But this kind of culture shock is usually just a little bump in your visit to Japan. Given enough time, most people adjust and get right back to loving Japan and its culture, moving into what JET calls “Adaptation and Biculturalism.”

Seconds Stage: Longer Stays

The longer you stay in Japan, the more the situation changes. Some people stay in Japan for years for work, study, or personal reasons. And over time, people usually go back to that feeling of culture shock and begin to wonder about certain things:

“Do people accept me? Am I acting Japanese? Am I fitting into society? Can anybody hear what I’m thinking right now?”

There was a great discussion of this topic last year that got kicked off by YouTuber and gaijin-in-Japan bobbyjudo:

[yframe url='www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rsai8W1qq0']

bobbyjudo, watch out for that kappa! It’ll suck your insides out your bum!

After that video, tons of people responded with their own videos and thoughts. The Gakuranman did a great roundup of the responses from the Japan YouTube community.

The people in the Gakuranman roundup are a lot smarter than I am, so you should check out what they have to say if you’re interested.

Third Stage: Turning Japanese

Some people love Japan so much that they decide to permanently become a part of Japanese society by becoming a citizen. Why? I’d say typically for family reasons (marrying a Japanese person), but there are tons of other reasons too.

Take Donald Keene, for instance. Donald Keene is knows pretty much all you need to know about Japan after studying and living in the country for decades. Keene has even received honors from the motherlovin’ Emperor himself. And this year, at the age of 88, Keene is to abandon his native United States and resettle in Japan for the rest of his life as a Japanese citizen.

Talk about dedication.

“Haha yeah, me and ol’ Akihito go way back!”

Obviously, becoming a Japanese citizen isn’t something to take lightly. Citizenship is an incredible commitment, and in the case of becoming a Japanese citizen, you have to do a lot more compared to countries like the United States. Not only do you have to adopt a Japanese name, but you have to renounce your citizenship from your native country.

Like I said, it takes commitment.

There are even websites like Turning Japanese that give you step-by-step guides about how to become a legal Japanese citizen.

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Have you been to Japan and experienced culture shock? What have you done to deal with it? Tell me about it in the comments!

P.S. Are you, like Donald Keene, also a recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun? Follow us on Twitter.
P.P.S. Maybe you’ve received an Order of Culture instead? Check us out on Facebook or Google+!

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“Drugs are bad, m’kay?”

Let’s face it, Japan can be a weird place sometimes.When Japan isn’t inventing such useful things as poop-powered motorcycles, they’re churning out some of the strangest movies known to man.

And while you might think that only explanation for Japan’s weirdness must be copious amounts of psychedelics, it turns out that the Japanese do not mess around when it comes to drugs.

Japanese drug law is among the harshest in the world, and can be even worse if you’re a foreigner. Nobody is safe, not even a (former) Beatle.

Drugs in Japan

Japanese law and society at large usually view drug possession as almost an unconscionable act. Japanese citizens who are caught growing, possessing, or using illegal drugs of pretty much any kind find themselves in deep trouble.

Not only do drug offenders face up to five years in prison for their first offense, but there’s tons of other, non-legal repercussions too. A couple years ago, both a rugby player and a sumo wrestler were found to be in possession of marijuana, and both athletes had their Japanese sports careers ended.

People who get caught with drugs can be fired from their jobs, expelled from school, and have their life flipped, turned upside-down Bel-Aire style. In other words: it sucks to get caught with drugs if you’re a Japanese citizen.

Drug trip, or classic console game Rez? You decide.

And if the criminal penalties weren’t enough of a deterrent, drugs are really pricey in Japan compared to other parts of the world. According to the United Nations, Japan is the most expensive place in the world to get high. Tokyo sure ain’t Amsterdam.

So between the threat of jail time and the incredible expense, it’s not surprising that drug usage in Japan is pretty low.

But the way Japan treats its own citizens pales in comparison to the treatment that foreigners face for drug charges.

Gaijin on Drugs

If you’re visiting Japan from another country, it’s probably best to not even think about drugs. The law is never kind to foreigners in any country, but if you’re a gaijin with drugs, you’re a gaijin in trouble.

The US State Department warns of how harsh Japanese law can be on foreigners caught with illegal drugs in Japan:

…offenders can expect long jail sentences and fines. In most drug cases, suspects are detained and barred from receiving visitors or corresponding with anyone other than a lawyer or a U.S. consular officer until after indictment. Solitary confinement is common.

Yikes. Given, this sort of treatment might be more reflective of Japan’s justice system, but that’s a whole other issue for another post.

But seriously, don’t do this – you’ll be shot where you stand.

The Rolling Stones, former Beatle Paul McCartney, and Paris Hilton have all been denied entrance to Japan because of prior drug charges in their home countries. (But really, can you blame the Japanese for banning Paris Hilton from their country?)

Usually though, celebrities are eventually allowed into Japan. But for the rest of us who aren’t lucky enough to be greeted at Narita by hordes of screaming fans, it’s doubtful that you’ll ever be welcome in Japan if you’ve faced a drug charge at any time in your life.

And, as a recent story shows, if you try to get drugs into Japan from elsewhere, you can find yourself in pretty hot water. An American student studying in Japan is in jail at the moment because a friend of his sent him marijuana-infused sweets. In the eyes of Japanese law, it doesn’t matter that this student legally receives medical marijuana in his home state.

Is Japan’s drug policy too harsh? That’s definitely an issue up for debate. But the bottom line is if you’re looking to visit or live in Japan, you should be so drug-free that you make the Pope look like Hunter S. Thompson.

P.S. Got the munchies from reading this post? Follow us on Twitter.
P.P.S. Are you more of a straight edge kinda person? Check us out on Facebook or Google+.

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