‘A problem of feeling’ [‘kimochi no mondai’]: Why Japanese empty houses are left empty (but full of stuff)
‘A problem of feeling’ [‘kimochi no mondai’]: Why Japanese empty houses are left empty (but full of stuff)
Speaker
Natasha Durie (University of Oxford)
Date and Time
November 19, 2025, 2.15 pm 3.45 pm
Venue
Zürichbergstrasse 4, CH-8032 Zürich, Room ZUB-314
Abstract
Japan’s 9 million empty houses [akiya] are striking reminders of the country’s shrinking, aging population increasingly concentrated in smaller urban households. Existing literature has tended to focus on these demographic shifts and how they have weakened demand for older rural homes. However, this does not address why, despite pressure from government and charities, many owners remain reluctant to sell or demolish their empty houses.
Drawing on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Gifu Prefecture, my research illuminates the lingering feelings of obligation and attachment that many owners have to their empty houses. I discuss how they remain important places to store belongings, to house the ancestors, and to visit for Obon (the day of ancestral worship) and New Year. I hope to show how Japanese empty houses remain ‘empty’ not simply because of financial or legal challenges, but because of the specific ‘problems of feeling’ that postpone decisions about disposal. Highlighting the objects, memories, spirits, people, and possibilities that continue to occupy these spaces, this challenges conventional notions of decline and emptiness as well as dominant narratives around empty houses in Japan.
Organization
Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies - Japanese Studies