Has Someone Died in Your Apartment? Oshima Teru Knows
Is your apartment haunted, or did you ever wondered if someone's died in your flat?
Your landlord might be hiding something, but Oshima Teru knows. Oshima Teru is a website run by a company of the same name, which at first glance looks like a simple map of Japan. The only difference is, there are a bunch of flame marks everywhere. These flame marks don't represent a sick, “fire” house, they actually represent something a lot worse. If you see a flame mark, unfortunately, it means someone's passed away there. And not just natural deaths, but homicides, suicides, fires, etc. Click the flame, and you'll see the cause of death.
Many people know of Oshima Teru in Japan, but not many know that it's actually a company that started nearly 200 years ago. The website & map opened up in 2005, but the company itself has actually been around since 1837. But they didn't really have much to do with real estate back then, and no one really knows why they decided to become the go-to death map of Japan.
Many people know of Oshima Teru in Japan, but not many know that it's actually a company that started nearly 200 years ago. The website & map opened up in 2005, but the company itself has actually been around since 1837. But they didn't really have much to do with real estate back then, and no one really knows why they decided to become the go-to death map of Japan.
But how do they gather all this information and accurately map out where people have been killed/died unfortunate deaths? There are a ton of suicides in Japan, and it might seem impossible to document all of them. But the team at Oshima Teru consists of IT staff who create the maps, and staff who go out and gather all the information, along with some volunteers. For homicides, they source information from the news, go listen to the court hearings, and track down addresses from there. For suicides, they are always interviewing and surveying neighborhoods.
You might also wonder what the point of Oshima Teru is, apart from just making you feel like shit after realizing how many people commit homicides/suicides. But there actually is a good reason, and it has to do with laws about landlords/real estate's duty to inform the tenant. In Japan, if there is a suicide, homicide, death from fire, renovation due to death, or if the tenant asks, the landlord is obligated to tell them. So if you see your house on the map but haven't heard anything from your landlord, ask them about it, and lower that rent, save money. Or move out.
