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LIVING IN JAPAN
Buying a Haunted House in Japan
Ghosts — love them or hate them, no one wants to live with them
There has long been a belief in ghosts and supernatural beings in Japan. You may be familiar with Japan’s Three Great Vengeful Ghosts — Taira no Masakado, Emperor Sutoku, and Sugawara no Michizane — but today’s story is a bit more personal.
It all started with a knock on our door.
Time to move
One evening, our landlord’s real estate woman came to our door and announced without fanfare, “The owner wants you to move out so his son can use the house.”
So what do I do, calm person that I am? I look at my busy spring schedule filled with days away leading tours and get into a panicky fluster.
House hunting is one of my least favorite things to do. Houses to rent in our city are few and ramshackle at best. Apartments are small and crowded.
I have never considered buying a house as one needs to have a full-time job with a Japanese company to qualify for a mortgage, and I’ve always been a freelancer.
My adult son who lives with me, though, had a different idea. He could get a mortgage and buy a house.
