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You could be living in this Osaka house that’s legally named after anime’s greatest assassin

Casey Baseel Sep 20, 2018
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Golgo 13 has spent his life putting bullets in people, and now you can put your life in him.

In Japan, rental properties usually have an official building name that’s part of the legal address. Sometimes they’re meant to provide an elegant cachet, like “Villa Okura,” while other times the aim is cute fantasy, like “Fairy Tale Court.”

But in Osaka, there’s a home for rent that skips such frilliness and opts to just be badass by being legally named Golgo 13.

Making his manga debut in 1968 before going on to star in multiple anime adaptations, Golgo 13 is sort of like a morally gray James Bond. Instead of being a secret agent working for his country’s government, he’s the anime world’s greatest sniper and hitman, though usually his targets are villains themselves.

And this unassuming little house in Osaka bears his name.

https://twitter.com/mmng_trd/status/1039372065352994816

Located in the city’s Yodogawa Ward, the architectural Golgo 13 is a two-story detached home that was built in 2007, which would have made it a nice place for the assassin to settle down in if he’d wanted to retire after roughly four decades on the job. But it can now be yours, giving you the power to impress delivery people, banks, potential employers, or anyone else who has to ask you for your address.

https://twitter.com/mmng_trd/status/1039373342589894656

Japanese address numbers are assigned not based on position on the street, but by the order on which buildings on the block were built. Because of that, buildings customarily display their name on their exterior walls to make them easier to find, and not only does the Golgo 13 house do so, it even uses the exact same font as the manga/anime franchise’s official logo, making it absolutely clear that the reference is intentional.

▼ It also designates the house as “Golgo 13 Building 1,” implying that there may be yet another Golgo 13 house elsewhere in the city or planned for the future.

ちゃんと書体まで揃えてあったりして、怒られないのかなと笑 pic.twitter.com/yPKr9oc9gN

— エスピーⅡ (@okanjou357) September 12, 2018

The first floor consists of a kitchen/dining/living space, plus a bathroom, shower/bathtub, and laundry area. Upstairs are two connected bedrooms, and with total of 63.76 square meters (686.3 square feet), Golgo 13 is, by Japanese standards, of acceptable size not only for a single occupant, but also newlywed couples or even families with a child.

▼ The home is unfurnished, which would fit the spartan lifestyle of a solitary sniper.

狙撃にぴったりなイメージの室内 pic.twitter.com/u0XuL98ypp

— 触手の槍 (@shokushunoyari) September 13, 2018

Even the color scheme, with white walls and a bright red door, is reminiscent of the anime character’s frequent depictions dressed in an ivory suit with a crimson tie, and the building’s angular walls evoke memories of his chiseled facial features.

https://twitter.com/tokumei_masaki/status/1040054682796797952

However, Golgo 13 series creator Takao Saito wasn’t born in Osaka, but in Wakayama Prefecture, so this isn’t a situation like the one with Conan O’Brien enraging Conan Town in Tottori. It seems like the impetus for the building’s name is because it’s located near Juso Station on the Hankyu Kyoto Line, and Juso, written with the kanji characters 十三, literally means “13.”

▼ Juso Station

Golgo 13 is currently vacant and available for 91,000 yen (US$820) a month, a surprisingly affordable amount for a house of this size in a major Japanese city (the real estate agent listing can be found here). Be advised, though, that before moving in you’ll have to pay 10,000 yen as a deposit and 30,000 yen in key money, since a certain amount of advance payment is standard in the worlds of both Japanese real estate and contract killing.

Source: Chintai Jutaku Service
Top Image: Chintai Jutaku Service
Insert Image: Wikipedia / Rsa
[ Read in Japanese ]

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s always been impressed by Golgo 13’s ability to think “…”