As Japan's population ages and family homes empty, a booming secondhand goods market—now worth ¥3.3 trillion—has become both a necessary service and a gathering place for exploitation. Households navigating grief, inheritance, and the quiet weight of accumulated lives are turning to item collection companies, only to find that rapid market growth has outpaced the trust required to make such transactions humane. The Japanese government and industry are now attempting what markets rarely do on their own: draw a line between stewardship and opportunism before the harm compounds further.