The estimated number of uninhabited houses across Japan continues to rise as the supply of newly built properties keeps growing despite the declining population, while the demolition of unused homes or efforts to list them on the market make slow progress. According to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, there were 260,000 more vacant houses in Japan last October than five years earlier. The number was put at a record 8.46 million, accounting for 13.6 percent of Japan's total.

Unoccupied and badly maintained houses are not just an eyesore; they are safety hazards in terms of their potential use in crimes and the danger that they could collapse during a natural disaster, injuring anyone nearby and creating obstacles to rescue efforts.

Legislation that was passed in 2015 and designed to deal with this growing problem empowered municipal authorities to tear down properties that pose safety problems. The latest data indicate such efforts have so far not had much effect. The national and local governments should work together to stop the problem from becoming more serious as the population decline steepens.