Two questions on renting/buying in Japan

My wife really wants to buy an apartment or house in the suburbs of Tokyo, which I have some strong misgivings about.

One of her reasons is that apparently it is very difficult to rent places once you reach retirement age - estate agents are too worried about potential problems such as senility, unexpected deaths, low income of the tenants etc., to rent to elderly people. My view is that if you have the money, then estate agents want it and you can find somewhere to live. If things in Japan were really that strict, surely there would be a really large number of homeless people.
What is the situation in Japan?

The other question is on apartments. I pointed out to her that if we bought an apartment at the age of 40, then by the time we were 70, the apartment would be knocked down and we would be in the above situation. She said that when the apartment was knocked down, because the owner would own part of the land, they'd get some money back. Is this true?

Source: http://forum.gaijinpot.com/showthread.php?121516-Two-questions-on-renting-buying-in-Japan&goto=newpost

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