A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in early December changed the Japanese prime minister’s plans. Sanae Takaichi. When the president arrived at her office 35 minutes late after the natural disaster, she decided to move her home to an apartment building next to her office.
The news doesn’t stop there. The most striking thing is that there are people who claim that it is Takaichi’s new house haunted.
The president previously lived in a residence for members of parliament. But the earthquake episode sparked a debate over response times and protocols and forced Takaichi to literally live “off” the grid.
The detail is that the building you have just reached has a reputation that combines heavy history and superstition: it is a stone and brick mansion inaugurated in 1929. associated with violent episodes of the 1930s and stories of apparitions Over time, this gave rise to the myth of a “haunted house”.
The residence was the scene two coup attempts in the 1930s. In 1932 Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai was murdered by young officers; In 1936, a rebel group tried to kill his successor. Keisuke Okadawho managed to hide while other people died during the attack.
There is even a specific sign of these events that fuels the legend: a bullet hole It survives near the main entrance and commemorates a time when Japanese politics were settled by gunfire.
With this history, it is not surprising that testimonies from “Presences”, shadows and noises.
The idea that there was “something left” there became part of Tokyo power folklore: some say that those who take up residence in this residence typically do not last long in office, a kind of political curse with tragic roots.
Beyond the paranormal side, The building is an institutional and architectural symbol. For years there was confusion as to whether his style could be linked to Frank Lloyd Wright, although the Chronicle makes clear that it was not his work.
Major renovations were carried out between 2002 and 2005, which included a dedication ceremony. Shinto purification. For many, this gesture acted, at least in the imagination, as a symbolic “exorcism” to ward off the bad energies associated with decades of violence and rumors.
Recent history also shows that not everyone takes the reputation of a “haunted house” seriously.
According to the press, it was the predecessor Shigeru Ishiba He lived there and said he wasn’t afraid of ghosts; Fumio Kishida He claimed he saw nothing unusual and slept without any problems.
Others, like Shinzo Abe And Yoshihide Sugadecided to live elsewhere for years, leaving the residence uninhabited for a long time and, for the believers, “unaccompanied” by their alleged spirits.
Takaichi, on the other hand, relies on the logic of management: being meters from the office in a country where an earthquake can change the agenda in minutes. The challenge will be whether their new routine – already demanding – adapts to a house that carries not only history but also a story that recurs every time someone crosses the door.
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