Japan PM Kishida moving into haunted official residence with grisly history of murder

Two military uprisings and a Japanese prime minister’s assassination have occurred at the official residence in Tokyo since it opened in 1929

In 2005, an exorcism was held to ward off evil spirits and the last two prime ministers stayed away, but Fumio Kishida could move in as early as next week

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters at his official residence in Tokyo. Photo: Kyodo News via AP

Published: 11:44am, 11 Dec 2021Updated: 2:55pm, 11 Dec 2021

For the first time in nearly a decade, a Japanese prime minister is set to live in the official residence – a century old structure that is a monument to art deco aesthetics and clouded by an ominous history.

No date has been formally announced but national public broadcaster NHK has said Fumio Kishida could move as early as this weekend into the two-storey 5,183-square-metre (55,789 sq ft) mansion that was opened in 1929 and meant to be a symbol of Japan’s entry into early 20th century modernism. The residence underwent a renovation completed in 2005, which reportedly was proceeded with an exorcism by a Shinto priest to ward off evil spirits that some in political circles worried had gathered over the decades.

Kishida, who took office about two months ago, is moving to be nearer to the prime minister’s office, a glass and steel structure opened in 2002 a few metres away, to be quickly on hand in case of an emergency. He has been living at a residence for lawmakers, news agency Jiji Press reported, and will be the first prime minister in the mansion since Yoshihiko Noda in 2012.

The official workplace and residence of the Prime Minister of Japan, or ‘Kantei’. Photo: Facebook

The last two prime ministers stayed away. Kishida’s predecessor Yoshihide Suga commuted to work from the housing complex for parliament members. The location may have helped him wheel and deal with lawmakers away from the media.

Shinzo Abe, the prime minister before Suga, lived at his private residence in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, about 15 minutes away from the office by car. Even though the official residence was unoccupied, it still cost taxpayers around 160 million yen (US$1.4 million) a year for upkeep, according to Noda.

Abe had lived in the official prime minister’s residence for about 10 months during his first time stint in 2006-2007. During that period, the revamped residence became the home to six, short-serving prime ministers who averaged a little over a year in office and was seen as an inauspicious place for a new leader.

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