‘I flip abandoned homes in rural Japan – people offer me houses for free’

He adds: “There is a bit of a misunderstanding by a lot of people who think you can get these houses for free. 

“There are properties like that but essentially 100pc of the time these properties are run down and not in liveable condition. We help clients find properties that are nearly turnkey.”

Buyers looking for a vacant home in Japan that is in liveable condition should be prepared to pay between ¥5m (£25,000) and ¥30m (£150,500).

He explains that many of the vacant houses are holiday homes dating back to the “economic miracle” Japan experienced after the Second World War.

“In Japan’s economic heyday in the 1970s and the 1990s, it was considered vogue for people with the wherewithal to have a second home [for it to be] in the countryside.

“But after Japan’s economic heyday ended and people didn’t have that much money to work with, people began neglecting these vacation homes or selling them.

“What has ended up happening is there are a lot of these holiday properties across Japan but there just isn’t as much interest in owning a home in the intensity as there was previously. We’ve got a lot of supply and not very much demand.”

‘I couldn’t buy a bedsit in Birmingham for the price I paid’

Shabeur Rahman, a British expat and physicist in his mid 40s, was able to find one of the few vacant houses in Japan’s countryside that was ready to move into straight away. 

“The place that grabbed me was this detached property overlooking some rice fields with traditional Japanese architecture, and it didn’t require any work,” he says.

He decided he wanted to spend more time in Japan after having a “wonderful time” in the country during an internship in Yokohama in 2009.

He uses the property, in Ogawamachi, near Tokyo, as a holiday home when he is not travelling for work between Britain and the United Arab Emirates. 

“For the price I paid I don’t think I would get a one-bedroom apartment in Birmingham.

“It’s a three-bedroom house with 186 square metres of interior space. It’s a very good price and [it was] just a cash transaction,” Rahman says.