Buyers Want Japanese Temples for Tax Breaks
2024-09-30
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1Benmou Suzuki is a religious worker at a 420-year-old temple that is not in very good condition.
2It is deep in the forest near a small Japanese mountain village.
3It does not look like a valuable property.
4Yet two men recently asked Suzuki if he was interested in selling.
5He said he thinks they did not want the old, ornate building next to a mountain that is considered holy.
6Instead, 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.
8Japan's population is decreasing and interest in religion is less intense.
9There are fewer people to support the country's many temples and shrines.
10Suzuki's Mikaboyama temple, for example, is in a small town, which also has three other Buddhist temples, one Shinto shrine and a Christian church.
11Japanese officials say they are seeing more sales of religious properties to buyers who do not continue to run them as religious centers.
12Officials fear many are buying them to avoid paying taxes or possibly even to hide criminal activity.
13Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs oversees religious places.
14An official from the agency said, "It's already a sense of crisis for us and the religious community."
15The public is unhappy about the sales, too.
16In Osaka, a temple sold in 2020 was later torn down for a property development.
17In Kyoto, news reports said a temple was destroyed to make a parking lot.
18The owner of an active religious center in Japan is a corporation that pays no taxes.
19Even non-religious businesses on the property enjoy lower tax rates.
20The law permits many different activities like restaurants, hair salons and hotels.
21The 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.
22Where there has been damage to a religious place, agency officials visit, warning the religious leaders about selling to such buyers.
23It might seem easier for Japan to change its laws for purchasing religious properties.
24But the agency said the government does not like to change laws related to religion.
25They do not want to limit religious freedom, which Japan's constitution protects.
26Osaka-based property dealer Takao Yamamoto said interest is rising quickly.
27He said a religious corporation license can sell for $210,000.
28Some 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.
30Recently, a lot of Chinese people are trying to buy them," Yamamoto said.
31For 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.
33I'm Jill Robbins.