Built more than 70 years ago, it had only three rooms for private use that get little sunshine and was inhabited by mites and cockroaches. A previous occupant had been assassinated there.
Two half-broken television sets and dial telephones only. No computers. Requests for renovations would be turned down because there was no budget.
Few would be willing to rent a house like this. But that was the condition at the prime minister's quarters in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, for decades.
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