February 6, 2025
TOKYO/YAMAGATA – The number of burglaries targeting vacant houses that have not been occupied for a long time, has starkly increased in regional areas.
The loss from such burglaries is particularly noticeable in the Tohoku, Chubu regions and part of Kyushu . The total amount of losses exceeded ¥1.1 billion last year, increasing more than ¥300 million from the previous year. Police authorities are calling for thorough measures to be taken.
‘Low risk of being caught’
GRAPHICS: THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
Last year, a few Vietnamese men were found guilty and given prison sentences for repeatedly burglarizing vacant houses. “We looked for unoccupied houses by checking if there were weeds growing in the front yard and stole accessories and other things we could sell,” one of the defendants said at their trial at the Yonezawa branch of the Yamagata district court.
Prosecutors pointed out that the men had used a smartphone map app to look for areas with possible vacant houses, cased the area and checked to see if the electricity and water was working. The prosecutors said the men had sold some of the stolen goods to secondhand stores. One of the defendants was quoted by investigators as saying, “We thought the risk of being caught would be low if we targeted vacant houses.”
Even in Chubu, Kyushu
According to the National Police Agency, there were 8,192 cases of burglaries of vacant houses across the nation from January to November 2024, according to preliminary figures, with the total losses amounting to about ¥1.16 billion. As of the end of November, both the number of cases and amount stolen exceeded the entire year of 2023, which had been the highest since 2020 when figures started being kept. Compared to the same period in 2023, the number of vacant house burglaries grew 10% and the amount of losses increased by 60%. The amount of losses increased about 3.7 times from 2020.
By prefecture, the most occurred in Saitama Prefecture, with 1,058 vacant house burglaries occurring from January to November 2024, followed by Gunma Prefecture with 775 and Chiba Prefecture with 673.
The Tohoku region, where there had previously been few cases, have seen a surge in burglaries. From January to November 2024 in Yamagata Prefecture, there were 94 burglaries of vacant houses, up from one year-over-year, while the number increased from seven to 89 in Iwate Prefecture.
The Chubu region also saw an increase in the number of vacant house burglaries from January to November 2024, with 288 in Shizuoka Prefecture up from 79 and 67 up from 19 in Yamanashi Prefecture. Burglaries of vacant houses have been increasing in part of the Kyushu region, as well, increasing to 48 from 18 in Kumamoto Prefecture and 60 from 23 in Oita Prefecture.
Foreigner theft rings
Vacant houses are targeted because they are less noticed by other people, easier to ransack after breaking in and it takes longer to discover the robbery. Vacant houses refer to houses that have not been inhabited for a long period of time. One of the possible criteria of a vacant house is that no one has used the house for about a year.
In recent years, there have been many foreigner theft rings. Three Vietnamese nationals who were identified by the Gunma prefectural police, had reportedly committed about 420 burglaries from September 2023 to July 2024, mainly targeting vacant houses in Gunma, Tochigi, Saitama and Niigata prefectures.
A member of another group identified by the Saitama prefectural police reportedly told investigators, “We’ve heard that home appliances and valuables often remain in vacant houses in Japan.”
“Relatively new vacant houses are often broken into,” a senior official at the Metropolitan Police Department said. “Some groups focus on houses that have been left unoccupied for long periods of time, such as for medium- to long-term business trips.”