Buyers Want Japanese Temples for Tax Breaks

2024-09-30

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1
  • Benmou Suzuki is a religious worker at a 420-year-old temple that is not in very good condition.
  • 2
  • It is deep in the forest near a small Japanese mountain village.
  • 3
  • It does not look like a valuable property.
  • 4
  • Yet two men recently asked Suzuki if he was interested in selling.
  • 5
  • He said he thinks they did not want the old, ornate building next to a mountain that is considered holy.
  • 6
  • Instead, they wanted the special tax status that comes with running a religious property.
  • 7
  • "There are people out there who want a temple, even a mountain temple like this," said 52-year-old Suzuki.
  • 8
  • Japan's population is decreasing and interest in religion is less intense.
  • 9
  • There are fewer people to support the country's many temples and shrines.
  • 10
  • Suzuki's Mikaboyama temple, for example, is in a small town, which also has three other Buddhist temples, one Shinto shrine and a Christian church.
  • 11
  • Japanese officials say they are seeing more sales of religious properties to buyers who do not continue to run them as religious centers.
  • 12
  • Officials fear many are buying them to avoid paying taxes or possibly even to hide criminal activity.
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  • Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs oversees religious places.
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  • An official from the agency said, "It's already a sense of crisis for us and the religious community."
  • 15
  • The public is unhappy about the sales, too.
  • 16
  • In Osaka, a temple sold in 2020 was later torn down for a property development.
  • 17
  • In Kyoto, news reports said a temple was destroyed to make a parking lot.
  • 18
  • The owner of an active religious center in Japan is a corporation that pays no taxes.
  • 19
  • Even non-religious businesses on the property enjoy lower tax rates.
  • 20
  • The law permits many different activities like restaurants, hair salons and hotels.
  • 21
  • The cultural affairs agency said it has increased its efforts to end the legal status of inactive religious corporations to stop sales to non-religious owners.
  • 22
  • Where there has been damage to a religious place, agency officials visit, warning the religious leaders about selling to such buyers.
  • 23
  • It might seem easier for Japan to change its laws for purchasing religious properties.
  • 24
  • But the agency said the government does not like to change laws related to religion.
  • 25
  • They do not want to limit religious freedom, which Japan's constitution protects.
  • 26
  • Osaka-based property dealer Takao Yamamoto said interest is rising quickly.
  • 27
  • He said a religious corporation license can sell for $210,000.
  • 28
  • Some religious properties, especially those where burials take place, are advertised for millions of dollars.
  • 29
  • "Anyone can buy independent sites as long as you have money...even foreigners can buy them.
  • 30
  • Recently, a lot of Chinese people are trying to buy them," Yamamoto said.
  • 31
  • For his part, Suzuki says he does not plan to sell Mikaboyama temple and is working on ideas to raise money to keep it up.
  • 32
  • "Temples are places for local people to gather and forge connections. We just can't get rid of them," he said.
  • 33
  • I'm Jill Robbins.