(あきや)

empty house, vacant house

(ぜんこく)

nationwide; the whole country

(ふえる)

to increase; to grow

(にほん)

Japan

(すむ)

to live; to reside

(いえ)

house

(くに)

country; the government

(しらべ)

investigation; survey

(やく)

approximately, about

(けん)

counter for houses

(ぐらい)

about, approximately

(りゆう)

reason; cause

(ひとつ)

one (thing)

(じんこう)

population

(すくない)

few, scarce

(おや)

parent

(なくなる)

to pass away; to die (polite)

(あと)

after

(こども)

child

(とおく)

far away / distance

(まち)

town

(つかう)

to use

(ふるい)

old (things)

(こわす)

to break, destroy

(おかね)

money

(そのまま)

as it is, unchanged

(ひと)

person / people

(おおい)

many

(あんぜん)

safety

(もんだい)

problem

(でる)

to come out; to occur

(たてもの)

building

(こわれる)

To break; to be destroyed

(ごみ)

trash, garbage

(すてる)

to throw away; to discard

(やすい)

cheap / inexpensive

(うる)

to sell

(みせ)

shop, store

(かふぇ)

cafe

(かえる)

to change

nobody / no one does ~

だれも with a negative verb means 'nobody'. In this article it describes houses where 住んでいない — nobody is living there.

has not ~ / is not ~ing

Negative te-iru form expressing that an action has not taken place or a state doesn't exist. Rain has not fallen.

is doing, has been doing (ongoing state/action)

Expresses a continuing action or resulting state. Formed with て-form + いる. Can describe an action in progress or a state resulting from a past change.

is called ～

Passive form of 呼ぶ (to call); used to state what someone/something is called.

to become (い-adjective)

Expresses a change of state for い-adjectives. Drop the final い and add くなる. Indicates something has changed or will change to a new state.

there are cases/times when ～

Describes a possibility or occasional occurrence.

if / when (natural consequence)

Conditional と indicating a natural or expected result. 一緒に捨てると…火が出て means 'if you throw them away together, fire starts.'

doing things like ~ and ~

Lists representative actions among several. Implies there are other actions too. Used twice in this article.

there are times when ~

Indicates that something sometimes happens.

come toward (action approaching)

Indicates motion toward the speaker or a location. Here it describes rocks flying toward people.

空き家が全国で増えている

Vacant houses are increasing across the country

日本では、だれも住んでいない家が増えています。

In Japan, the number of houses where nobody lives is increasing.

このような家は「空き家」と呼ばれます。

Houses like these are called "akiya" (vacant houses).

国の調べでは、空き家は全国で約900万軒あり、家の7軒に1軒ぐらいになりました。

According to a government survey, there are about 9 million vacant houses nationwide, roughly one in every seven homes.

空き家が増える理由の一つは、人口が少なくなっていることです。

One reason vacant houses are increasing is that the population is shrinking.

親が亡くなった後、子どもが遠くの町に住んでいて、家を使わないこともあります。

After parents pass away, their children sometimes live in a distant town and do not use the house.

古い家を壊すにはお金がかかるので、そのままにする人も多いです。

Because it costs money to tear down an old house, many people just leave it as it is.

空き家が多くなると、町の安全に問題が出ます。

When there are many vacant houses, problems arise for the town's safety.

建物が古くなって壊れたり、ごみが捨てられたりすることがあります。

Buildings can get old and fall apart, and trash can be dumped there.

そのため、空き家を安く売ったり、店やカフェに変えたりする町も出てきました。

For this reason, some towns have started selling vacant houses cheaply or turning them into shops and cafes.