The end of pandemic restrictions on businesses in late March helped spur the economy. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than half of Japan’s economic output, led the growth, as did capital expenditure. The relaxing of Covid rules resulted in increased spending at restaurants and hotels, as well as on clothes, according to the Cabinet Office.

Japan’s housing sector has been flat for years. But if dwellings are plentiful and attainable, why should that be a bad thing? These days, when Japan’s property market makes the headlines at all, it’s usually for the wrong reasons: The millions of homes sitting empty across the country, perhaps, or the notoriously poor investment that buying a house can prove. But look at it from the perspective of housing as a roof over people’s heads rather than a store of a value, and Japan starts to look like a success. Even in these post-Covid times, the country faces no affordability crisis. Rents are stable — one key reason that inflation is so comparatively low — and housing can be found for almost any budget.

Once thought of as impossible to sell, each of the properties is marked by a dark history. They were the sites of various unfortunate incidents, including the deaths of previous residents. But now, Marks’ Jobutsu Estate website, named after the Japanese word for "resting in peace," is showcasing these properties rather than giving them a pass.