Going to the scene of the “isolated death business”…Surprising commonalities among people who visit “Seibutsu Fudosan”, which specializes in accidental properties.

Last year, the number of cases exceeded 22,000.

A lonely death occurs when a person dies quietly in his or her own room with no one to take care of him or her. Among these cases, “lone deaths” are those in which more than eight days had passed before the death was discovered, and the number of such cases is on the rise as Japan’s population ages.

According to the “Estimated Number of Isolated Deaths in Reiwa 2025,” released by the Cabinet Office on April 14, 2014, there were 22,222 isolated deaths in Reiwa in 2013, up 366 from the previous year, and 80% of them were males.

The room, located on the first floor of a rundown apartment in a residential area of Asakusa, Tokyo, had a gap in the front door that was heavily taped with vinyl tape to prevent the leakage of foul odors. When the special cleaning staff removed the tape, a strange odor wafted into the hallway.

When the door was opened, one large bath towel was laid on the doorway. That is where the body was found. It seemed that decomposed body fluids had spilled out over a wide area, and it was a situation that would have made me hesitant to step into the room without a cloth.

The room was a six-mat studio. The calendar on the wall was stuck in August of last year. Next to the small television set was an undergarment stretched out at the neck. The TV magazine “The Television” was piled up by the window, discolored and sunburned, and in the refrigerator there was oolong tea, Pocari Sweat, Ajinomoto, and soy sauce.

The owner of the room has a monthly income of 120,000-130,000 yen, as inferred from the Japan Pension Service notices piled up on the floor. He is said to be a man around 68 years old, a native of northern Kanto, who worked as a carpenter and construction worker after graduating from a local junior high school, and earned his living by working part-time for the last 20 years of his life. A flyer for a kama-meshi (rice cooked in a pot) delivery service on the table brought to mind the lonely later years of the man’s life alone.

According to Kenjiro Sakura, president of Next Corporation, a company that handles “special cleanups,” including the disposal of lonely deaths, isolated deaths do not only occur to people who live alone.

He says, “We had a couple whose wife had dementia and the husband was taking care of her. The husband died first, and the wife, who was left behind, was unable to understand the situation due to dementia and ended up staying there for about 10 days.

Also, in a two-family house where the children lived on the third floor and the father on the second floor, there must have been no parent-child interaction, because the children did not notice for two to three weeks that their father had died in his room. They live with their family, but they die in isolation. …… both in the last few years.”

Murder is half the price.”

Isolation cannot be prevented even when under the same roof. One of the characteristics of recent years is the increase in isolated deaths among working-age people in their 50s and 60s.

Those who die are not always those in heavy nursing care. There have been cases of isolated deaths of healthy people who do not use day care services or helpers. Even if a healthy person suddenly becomes ill and collapses, if he or she lives alone and someone does not come to the house every day, there is inevitably a delay in discovering the death,” said Sakura.

As the problem of solitary and isolated deaths becomes more serious, a new business has emerged. This is “Seibutsu Fudosan,” a real estate service that specializes in handling accidental properties. The service was launched in April 2007. According to Koji Hanahara, president of Marks Life Corporation, which operates the service, many of the properties are rooms where solitary deaths or suicides have occurred.

In addition to information from funeral service companies, we also receive referrals from nursing care facilities, hospitals, and professional teachers. Another common case is when a real estate company introduces a property to us.
Some people wonder, ‘Why would anyone buy such a property?’ On the other hand, there are a certain number of people who think, ‘If it’s inexpensive, why not? Sales are going well.

According to Mr. Hanahara, sales prices “often rise or fall depending on the manner of death.

In general, the price tends to be about 10% lower than the market price for solitary or isolated deaths. Suicide deaths tend to be around 20% lower, and in many cases, properties where there has been a murder are half the market price. The recent rise in real estate prices has extended to accidental properties as well, and the prices of waukered properties tend to rise in line with the land price market.

For the owners and the bereaved families, accidental properties are a burden both mentally and financially.

In the case of an isolated death, the property cannot be sold if the odor remains. We have to hire a specialist to clean it ourselves and repair the floor before we can put it on the market. The owner has to bear a large amount of expense before the sale. On the other hand, in our case, we buy the property as it is, so the seller can let it go with zero outlay. After special cleaning and sorting out the belongings, we also call in a priest to conduct a memorial service.”

Hanahara’s memory is etched with the case of a detached house where a couple in their 30s and their young daughter lived. The house, where the husband had committed suicide due to depression, had been cleaned by the wife, every inch of it neatly.

When I told her, ‘If the house has been used with such care, the next buyer will definitely appreciate it,’ she burst into tears. It was as if something she had been holding in her heart was released a little. For the remaining family members, this is a precious house filled with memories. Once I realized that this was the reason why the wife kept the house so clean after the death of her husband, the way I looked at the property changed.”

The site of a murder case, which was widely reported in the media, was once flown in as an accident property. A few years ago, there was a horrific incident in the Kanto region where a younger brother murdered his older brother. Even the “crime scene” was purchased by a client who decided to use it as an investment, and is now occupied by a welfare recipient.

The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research estimates that the percentage of single-person households will rise from 38.0% in 2008 to 44.3% in 1950. The future in which nearly half of all households will live alone is just around the corner.