another fool wrote:
> "John W." <worthj1970@yahoo.komm> wrote in message news:<3F4A11F2.40109@yahoo.komm>...
> 
>>Ed wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>Hell, if somebody wants a full-fledged house, all they
>>>have to do is take a ten kilometer hike from my house and they can take
>>>their pick of free houses from a whole ghost town. I can't say that the
>>>roofs don't leak, or that the wells aren't dry, but they're houses, and the
>>>one remaining guy living there isn't going to be adverse to a decent hard
>>>working neighbor.
>>>
>>
>>You're kidding, right? They're just there for the taking? Old farm 
>>houses? That's pretty damn cool. I've always had this dream of living in 
>>rural Japan.
>>
>>John W.
> 
> 
> Hmm...  How do they handle property taxes in Japan (and property sales
> for delinquent taxes like in the US)?
> 
> I wonder if they have auctions in different prefectures for houses
> that were abandoned etc...
> 
> And where are these ghost towns?

I've heard a couple of times that there are homes/farms held by the 
local goverment (or coop or something like that), and if you agree to 
farm the land you can live in the house rent free. Not sure if that's 
just a tall tale or not, but it sounds like a good plan if they'd let a 
gaigin in on it.

John W.