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Old teahouse home in the heart of Tokyo goes to auction

Oona McGee Sep 1, 2020
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A hidden treasure opposite the Imperial Palace looks set to go under the hammer for a high price.

For such a built-up megalopolis, Tokyo has quite a few hidden gems tucked away in the shadows of the city’s skyscrapers. It’s not every day you come across a gem like this, though, as today’s hidden treasure is an old home located just a stone’s throw away from the grounds of the Imperial Palace…and it could be yours to own.

The two-storey home is located in the business district of Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, not far from the British Embassy and about a 30-second walk from the palace moat.

▼ The house’s location (zoom in on the red pin) is pretty spectacular.

Sitting in between two giant skyscrapers, the old building looks tiny by comparison, but its traditional appearance is far more charming. While the exact date of the building hasn’t been revealed, locals say its been here for decades, and was built by a man who became successful in business. The man’s wife was a tea ceremony teacher, so he designed the building to look like a traditional tea house.

Google Street View shows the building hasn’t changed since 2009, when there was a classic Mercedes parked out the front.

The only thing that’s been updated in the past 11 years is the Mercedes, which is now a modern model.

The man who built the home sadly passed away 10 years ago, leaving his daughter, aged in her 60s, to live in the house on her own.

▼ The view of the house from the street behind.

Locals say the house is much bigger than it appears from the street, as it has nine rooms on the ground floor, two toilets, two bathrooms, an inner courtyard, and even a well on the grounds.

While the reason for the sale remains unclear, on 5 August the Tokyo District Court announced that they would be handling the sale, with the auction open for bids from 2 September.

Sitting on an 80-tsubo parcel of land, which translates to about 240 square metres, or 2,846 square feet, this home is set to go for a high price at auction, with the bidding estimate starting at 450 million yen (US$4.25 million). However, given its location in one of the city’s busiest business districts, big companies and hotel owners are expected to fight it out for the valuable land, which experts say could raise the price to well over 800 million yen.

So if you’ve got millions of yen lying around and are looking to purchase a hidden gem in Tokyo, this old teahouse home is waiting for your bid. Otherwise, it looks like it’ll disappear from the landscape forever, like so many other old buildings in Tokyo, to make way for progress in the form of a younger, flashier, taller model.

Source: Yahoo! News via Hachima Kikou
Featured image: Pakutaso
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