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.