Super-aged Japan now has 9 million vacant homes. And that's a problem

has surged to a record high of nine million – more than the entire populations of Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide combined – as the east Asian country continues to struggle with its ever-declining population.

"This is a symptom of Japan's population decline," Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba, said. The numbers include second homes and those left empty for other reasons, including properties temporarily vacated while their owners work overseas.They aren't all left to ruin, like traditional akiya, whose growing number present a range of other problems for the government and communities, experts told CNN.

That makes it difficult for the government to rejuvenate fast-aging rural communities, hampering efforts to attract younger people interested in an alternative lifestyle or investors eyeing a bargain.Overgrown vegetation surrounds a vacant house in the Yato area of Yokosuka City in the Kanagawa prefecture.

"Many of these houses are cut off from access to public transport, health care and even convenience stores," he said.Trending videos showing people - mainly foreigners - scooping up cheap Japanese houses and turning them into stylish guesthouses and cafes have garnered many followers on social media in recent years, but Hall warned it's not as easy as it seems.

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