September 20, 2024 2:31 PM

As sales of Japan temples and shrines surge, a crackdown on bad-faith buyers

Benmou Suzuki's dilapidated 420-year-old temple, located deep in the forest near a tiny Japanese mountain village, hardly looks like prized real estate. Yet the monk was recently approached by two men, who said they were real estate brokers and wanted to know if he was interested in selling. He suspects they weren't really interested in the ornate building at the trailhead of a sacred mountain, but the special tax status that comes with running a religious property. "There are people out ther...