I have heard something like that because Japanese are getting old and don't have children so after they die 😢 the house is just left empty 😅 but the first house is nice with the big yard and it's clean 😮 the size is big compared to Tokyo area which everything are packed together but the advantage for that is everything is close by within the walking distance in the urban area everything is spread out the market needs to drive there not much stores if you are considering the house you should think about the school hospital are those close by my house is about one hour drive to the La city 😢 and to My mom's house and my siblings are One hours away from them but the school are near by so is the super market and hospital one good thing for me is the street are wide and straight driving to those places is not a problem plus macdonald's food and other fast food restaurants are not too far just need to drive to those places 😂 Air is good the city temperatures is cold during winter and hot during the summer but after few years here I am used it 😅 shopping I do it on Amazon 😅 beds and sofa I got them from IKEA and I got everything I need for the whole house but they have a delivery service 😂 it's extra money for it but I don't need to put them in the car and unload them 😅 transportation is another issue to consider can you drive? Is the place easy to get the other city? highway my city has one major highway to get in OR out unless it's the weekday people drove to work and back 😮 It can get crowded but weekends are good no traffic unlike La area the freeway is always busy 😂