“Akiya” abandoned, cheap/free* houses in Japan / annotations, resources, riffs, musings, stories

An Akiya (abandoned) building (former post office?) with a splendid postbox – taken from one of many sites I’ve dug around, sorry can’t remember which one… so many! if this is your photo, please tell me and I’ll add credit.

+ Cheap Houses Abound in Japan +

memo: have resources to add/ recommend? please drop a comment or contact – of course, there are loads, and this will get ya started.

Background Riff

So many vacant houses in Japan – millions! The general term you’ll hear is “Akiya” houses (free/cheap abandoned houses). Sometimes the owner is unknown, sometimes there are mysteries, sometimes houses have businesses attached, and sometimes from way back in the Meiji or Edo period! Sometimes someone died in odd circumstances within, or sometimes just died.

Often very (very) messy, always requiring work, a lot sometimes. Materials, labor, and disposal can be really expensive in Japan so good to remember (speaking generally for anyone else who is reading along, not just you :-)). But hey, you are crafty, right? Keep in mind, it’s a whole other style of construction than “western” places. Tile roofs! Foundations, plumbing, electric are all different, and sometimes you’ll need boundary surveyed.

Importantly: Foreigners can buy houses/properties in Japan BUT just cause you own a house, doesn’t mean you get a visa. CheapHousesJapan Newsletter has a great overview (appropriately called: Can A Foreigner Buy Property In Japan? Read this first).

Plus:

Immigration to Japan is *extremely* difficult, so the pithy “Millennials, you are going to Japan” headlines are very overstated, to say the least
These cheap/empty/trad places are usually quite remote and require a lot of work. “No big deal, right? I’m handy!” is the first hunch but keep in mind, the cost of upgrading can be very high (gotta have cash since no mortgage or home improvement loans for you unless you are well established) and building skills are very different than “western” houses.
In snowy areas (where many/most of these houses are, not beachfront or modern/urban), keep in mind the houses are uninsulated and literally made of curvy logs, complicated joints, sticks, mud, and paper
Also worth noting that internationals often look at Japan like we could fit the whole country in our “back pocket” without realizing most of the population lives in the megasaki-opolises between Tokyo > Nagoya > Osaka and 90% of the country is blissfully rural and mountainous (a lot of it quite like Cascadia really) and can require long drives on twisty roads to get to services

Handy Vocab:

Akiya = abandoned/unused houses, see also,
Akiya banks = directories managed by municipal govs seeking to find residents for akiya (often to prevent eyesores, demolition, and/or revitalize areas)
Minka/Kominka = traditional houses of various styles and eras
Machiya = traditional townhouses (usually narrow and deep)
Administrative Scrivener (行政書士 or gyoseishoshi) = your ace to do the transaction
Kura / Naya = various types of out-buildings on compounds/farms
Note to self: add more terms here

Situation, in brief

The big cities are growing and the countryside is shrinking, fast. Young folks move away to the big city to work, old folks stay in the country, working til they grow old, and in Japan, folks grow very old. When they die, often the heirs are unknown or simply refuse the “inheritance” or they try to think they will go back and fix it up and enjoy the legacy but year after year paying property tax, they finally realize they won’t ever fix it up. In other words, property/houses is generally/always a depreciating asset in Japan.

Anyway, the laws of changed significantly in recent years allowing local governments to expropriate more easily so there are loads and loads of these houses available, does definitely take some hunting around though. Indeed! It’s definitely a scavenger hunt… so this dossier is a clearinghouse of resources, stories, articles, musings, directories, etc.

Worth Noting

Often inaka/country-area properties have a couple of buildings, kura (granary/storehouse / barn), naya (garage/tool shed) various shacks and barns, and sometimes an extra house. These can be used for materials to scavenge sometimes, or other times revitalized, or other times are just another thing that needs torn down and gracefully disposed of.

Also note that some properties come with legacy hotel licenses which can be very valuable to make some kind of Guest House project. Note: short-term/ad-hoc rentals like Airbnb require licenses like other guesthouses.

Regular real estate agents generally don’t really do this (cause there are little/no commissions on cheap houses) and often also because there’s (oddly) no one to sign an agent contract with so that’s when “legal scriveners” (Administrative Scrivener 行政書士 or gyoseishoshi) come in.

Some areas have incentives to provide information as they are looking for new residents to revitalize the communities, but in other jurisdictions, they have no motivation to publicize the information. Sometimes city governments have directories too or sometimes local governments even help (because they want to get folks – especially young families – living there) but probably don’t help you because unless have a visa.

Tax offices often sell these houses/properties by auction since folks don’t pay and as such, the tax office seizes houses and sells them. Sometimes someone is still living within which, with renter rights in Japan, can be cumbersome and expensive.

The nature of abandoned houses is such that the families who *technically own* the properties, are either generally unclear, are avoiding the issue, or the status is completely uncertain (which of the grandchildren inherited the responsibility?)

Let’s Make a Start!

There’s no “central clearinghouse“ for all these kinds of listings but there are various online operations compiling listings – some as consultants or “go-betweens” or otherwise helping you out for a nominal fee. (yes some people gripe but heck, its a lot of work sifting though millions of options so govern yourself accordingly) Carry on!

example of Cheap Houses Japan ig/fb/newsletter posts – this one is right near us! come be our sorta neighbor, especially if you love pottery

A great way to start is: @CheapHousesJapan on Instagram and/or Cheap Houses Japan (web) flowing curated descriptive snaps from scoured listings (mostly under 100K USD, *almost* move-in ready, and close-ish to train/bus) with a Cheap Houses in Japan paid newsletter to access to more detailed info with 20 listing per week and a guidebook with all the basics of getting started buying property in Japan. Totally worth it if you are ready to pounce and super fun to daydream. {Also on Cheap Houses Japan on FB if that’s your thing.}

AkiyaBanks.com is ummm… a round-up of Akiya banks divvied up by region/ prefecture. More of a guide to guides rather than listings on their own.

{yeah, there are loads more, add a comment to suggest your faves, please}

It’s alllll happening, so…

Obvious now, in February 2024, this topic needs another page just to showcase interesting people doing cool things with their houses as there is an incredible amount of well, interesting people doing cool things with their houses, (beyond the carpetbaggers and speculators who have entered the arena with obnoxious aplomb) however, in the meanwhile, here are a few new fresh tasty delights for your amusement:

Inaka Lifestyle’s super-handy resources (thanks Bitsii):

How to Qualify to Live In Japan; A Visa Flow Chart
The Getting-Settled-In-Japan Checklist: What You Need for Your New Life in Japan
Visa for Japan: Immigration Lawyer Directory (including the magical Administrative Scriveners (行政書士, Gyōsei shoshi)!)
- and their well-curated IG flow & dreaammmy YT channel, ergo:

Sample Setouchi Inaka Homestead life:

Also in this “interesting lifestyle” – and in Ehime-ken, the same Setouchi bio-region as us in Okayama – category is Benton Homestead on Ōmishima island, a foreign couple named Evan and Dani with the unique seemingly-complicated-but-doable Start-up Business Visa candidly sharing their journey with logistics and results. Dig their IG too + natch they’re rocking YT, as such:

Pleasing Stories / Overviews

Relevant articles and a round-up of no-nonsense DIY property-selling bulletin boards and directories and whatnot (use Chrome or whatever for dodgy but passable translation and let daydreaming begin!). (some may be paywalled)

A race against time to save Japan’s traditional homes
These homes are packed with charm, full of history and quickly disappearing by Joy Jarman-Walsh (more below) via Japan Times, June 4, 2022

In April, more than 300 people gathered for a weekend north of Kyoto to share their love for Japan’s vanishing traditional homes. | MITSUE NAGASE

Fueled by pandemic, Japan rediscovers allure of old houses
Wooden ‘kominka’ are beautiful and cheap, but restoration costs can be high by Alex Kerr (more below) via Nikkei Asia, June 15, 2022

Kominka: Discover the Enduring Beauty of Traditional Japanese Houses via Tsunagu Japan

Alternative paths in Wakayama: Foreigners making homes in rural Japan by Alena Eckelmannvia via Japan Today, Feb 6, 2022

Giving back: Recycling abandoned homes in rural Japan by Alena Eckelmann, via Japan Today, Dec. 29, 2021

Lessons in Sustainable Living From My 100-Year-Old Japanese Farmhouse – Hannah Kirshner in Food52 with a long-form sustainability-focused story about a build in Ishikawa, Feb 27, 2021

i offered this comment to above (just being friendly ;)):

“Hello from Sunny Okayama where my wife Ryoko and our new baby live on ancestral land in a “cottage” (kinda shotgun house slapped together) next to the parents who renovated Grandma/Grandpa’s kominka about 4 years ago keeping all the original touches but doing some practical and comfortable upgrades. We don’t get much snow here but does get chilly and summer’s of course hot and humid. We are staying in a big tatami room while we do some changes to the cottage – lovely sliding doors, changed form original but maintaining aesthetics, engawas (where i sit now) now have thermal glass windows but also open fully for the fresh breeze. We’re now bring this full circle as we use the old sliding doors to the cottage reno, plus re-wrap the tatami mats rather than tossing out, plus adding an efficient wood stove (my wife is an arborist so always has wood gathered) plus we adding a new room, moving kitchen into a more open location and whatnot. We also added a new ofuro bath so the 3 of us can bathe together. Unlike the parents’ house, the cottage is sorta slapped together but we resisted a tear down and start again and making incremental changes. (Funny the parents said “you will just live in our house when we pass away” to which i replied, “you are 65 year old healthy Japanese so that means 30 years from now!”

Anyhow, the property also has a magnificent 150+ year old “kura” grain barn with massive wood beams, mud walls and 3 thick doors with cast iron puzzle keys. This has turned into my art studio and music lounge (needs a few little upgrades for safety and power/lighting) and a “naya” tool shed for wife’s business which also has loads of Grandpa’s heavy duty pre-war farm tools (including probably 6 pick axes!).

Documenting loads of this life (amongst other projects) at https://daveostory.com/tag/tsuchida-cottage/ if curious. Not a plug, just me saying “right on with your awesome project”.”

Handy (recent) Videos

Japanology Plus – Traditional Homes, video with the charming Peter Barakan, a short overview of visiting the “Open Air House Museum” in xxx, and talks to architects using trad techniques to make modern houses more eco/sustainable, Feb. 18, 2022

100 year-old house renovation reveal with talented carpenter Jon Stollenmeyer, video with super-fun JJ Walsh live visit with master carpenter here in Okayama, Nov. 4, 2022

more fantastic videos & channels below…

Communities and Conversations

“Your mileage may vary” – please drop a comment with errors and omissions (will open in a new tab/page)

Kominka Facebook group (private with application) and Kominka Japan website – a load of folks sharing their stories and tips about finding and reno-ing houses (also grew into a host of Minka Summit Japan), a great place to start!

A Reddit AMA “I just bought a used house in rural Japan after a five-year search. AMA about house/land hunting, abandoned homes, the real estate process, or the reform process (which starts soon!).”

smart snippet from AMA about searching: “Individual towns tend to keep track of their empty houses via their homepages. Search the town name in Japanese, plus “空き家バンク” and if they have something it will pop up. As far as I know, Akiya banks are locally managed.” + This person’s house/project

Japan Simple Life (forum)

A real estate company with some useful advice (in English): WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE BUYING A VACANT HOUSE IN JAPAN

Directories/Resources/Programs:

Koryoya Old Houses Japan IG and Koryoya.com (portal for Kominka and Machiya for sale

Lifull’s Home (another listing directory, pre-set for Okayama where i live)

Monsoon Planning (houses for sale and rent)

Akiya-Now (yet another directory)

House/land look-up Vill.co (choose by prefecture)

City of Okayama (where I live!) List of unoccupied houses + info about abandoned houses

Setouchi City (Okayama-ken) subsidies for moving there and they help you (you prob don’t qualify but whatevs)

Another Akiya listing “bank” – note Chugoku (the area with Okayama and surrounding prefectures, sometimes translates as China, it is not China, it is “Middle Area of Japan”) Carry on.

Akiya at home (yet another directory)

Public Real Estate portal/directory

Ie Ichiba (directory, set for Okayama)

{More Okayama area thanks to Shelly and others at Foreign Homeowners Okayama FB grp}

OK Smile with houses, land for sale/rent, mostly in Okayama

Yakage, Okayama town vacant houses directory

Ibara, Okayama with handy inaka living Q&A and settlement programs

(tip: other areas like Soja and Kibi Chuo have websites too. Just search for 田舎/空き家 and the area you’re looking)

Akiya Kanrishi (association of owners of unoccupied homes…)

Inaka Seikatsu (yet another directory)

Inakanet (yet another directory)

Koryoya (Kansai-area-specific directory)

Koryoya (Hokuriku-area specific directory)

Bousou.net (yet another directory) {translated blurb}:

“Full of real estate information such as Boso’s rural living properties, old folk houses and land! Updated daily on our site!
Enjoy rich content such as interviews with migrants and how to choose a property for living in the countryside.”

Ijurikkoku Ayabe (Japanese resource for living in rural areas, with practical cultural info and stories) hattip to <insert name here cause I can’t recall>

(Related to above) Ijurikkou Ayabe (a directory mostly about the Kyoto area currently for sale) they are really encouraging people to move to the area, ergo:

Japan is a country with an extremely poor urban and rural population balance. In particular, the degree of population concentration in the metropolitan area is unprecedented in the world. Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate is less than 40%, the lowest among developed countries, but the declining population in rural areas makes this even more serious. Leaving unbalanced population imbalances is a risk to the country. Japan was able to recover at an astonishing speed after World War II because of the power of the regions!

A migration-oriented country is a project that encourages migration and energizes Ayabe City. At the same time, it is in line with national policies that encourage migration from large cities to rural areas. That’s why it’s an immigrant country!

The population of Ayabe City will increase to 40,000 in the next 30 years!

The goal of the Migrant Nation Project is to “populate 40,000 in the next 30 years.” Even if Japan’s population declines, it should be possible to correct the population imbalance.

Japan’s population declines, it should be possible to correct the population imbalance.

Grant program in Daisen Town (Japan’s *best* mountain :)) in Japan’s least famous prefecture (and my old home) Tottori

Through the Daisen-cho vacant house / vacant lot information utilization system, a young person who purchased the vacant house registered in the utilization system will remodel the vacant house, dispose of household goods, or dismantle the vacant house and then build a new house on the same site. By issuing a subsidy for the purchase of vacant homes for young people in Daisen Town within the budget, we will promote settlement in Honmachi, utilize vacant homes, and revitalize the local economy.

Even more stories

Kinda hesitate to share this as it sorta hypes the hypes its talking about not hyping but… more riffs for your “cheap house in Japan” file (remember: visas for foreigners aren’t easy but hey, where is? Anyhow some pleasing reads about a notable demographic and geographic shift)

Rescuing the minka by Susan Essoyan, Dec. 20, 2007, LA Times

Japan is giving out free homes in 2022! Will you get one? via
Ronin Blue YT

(yet another) rather sensationalized article from “The Insider” – Yeah these articles are such clickbait as don’t mention the challenges of visas, community fit, renovation costs, scarce labour, rubbish removal, etc. just “free houses, near Tokyo, all you can eat sushi ” but folks love em. anyhow: The Japanese government is looking for people to occupy some 8 million empty homes. Local authorities are giving away free houses and renovation subsidies to incentivize move-ins & also from Insider.com “Japan is trying to lure people into rural areas by selling $500 homes, but it’s not enough to fix the country’s ‘ghost town’ problem“

CNN (sponsored by Japan Government apparently?) Expats buy Japanese country house for a song and get way more than they bargained for (maybe in ~~Nagano, Niigata?~~ Answer: Tochigi) – they did a lovely job!

Minka: A Farmhouse in Japan (article introducing a film via NYTimes (paywall)

An ongoing building project in Okayama (Japanese, FB page)

RE investor and consultant Shu Matsuo has a detailed How to Buy a Cheap Akiya House in Japan as a Foreigner (Step-By-Step) and offers a free downloadable “practical guide” (pardon the over-the-top thumbnail)

Related-ish:

Pre-fab houses to put on your cheap land instead of renovating: BESS

Muji is making (at least prototyping) 3 styles of pre-fab houses with architectural charm

Japan Open Air Folk House Museum, representative historic houses from around Japan, disassembled and reconstructed in Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa-ken

All About Kura from Japan This {kura storehouses are common on olden farm properties, and built this dang fortresses, can be made into guesthouses, art studio, chill-out spaces, etc, / with lots of different details and styles, mine is truly the best ones ever though}

This is my kura and I love it

Regarding “Free” Houses in Japan in Vice” (from a comment…)

“Someone sends me one of the various articles about the abandoned/free/cheap house situation in Japan weekly – which is fun and fine… but the articles gloss over so much truth and nuance of the situation.

Here are a few notes (rapidly written and unedited) about this topic – curious to hear other opinions (and yes i do know several people who have taken advantage of such deals but they are either Japanese/married to Japanese – so NO you can’t just show up from another country and claim your house and ping uber-eats for sushi delivery). Let’s go:

When I was in Japan in the early 1990s, I found renegades who were already re-populating remote areas… while the aging population situation is MUCH more pronounced now, a de-rural-edification began after WW2 when so many never returned home and villages were populated only by old folks who were moved into bigger towns by US-led occupation government initiatives. As such, many remote rural area were unsettled for decades – increasingly so in the “bubble years” of the late 1980s and early 1990s when there was a gold rush of great jobs, etc. Anyhow, I stayed in remote areas and learned many old ways of Japan (harvesting mushrooms and mountain vegetables and rice, etc).

Being back now, I recently visited the village where I farmed enoki mushrooms (Saji, Yazu-gun) and while it was a calm mountain village in those days, there was “life” – now it and many other villages are amalgamated into the larger city and seemed almost empty. The basic shops and gas stations etc are closed and despite improved roads, didn’t see another car for 30 mins.

Realize the article is trying to be “cute” but it’s much more complicated than they make out. As for Akiya’s abandoned property directory, there are loads of places available but what Vice neglects to say is:

One more thought about immigration, there is a big move to open up immigration to bring in workers for “rough work” on a temp basis (mostly targeting lower-wage-expectation Asian countries) as well as easing requirements for “unique skill” workers (including some creative industries and high-skill – international law/business, etc) but still a loooong way to go as the pinch of the aging population is just starting to be felt and there is a lot of denial about the impact (esp by the elder-dominated political class). There is no chance but to open up more or let the country wither – Either way, I’m along for the ride.

Personally, I hope things open up and diligent respectful foreigners come to re-populate rural areas and keep the culture and interestingness alive and growing. Come visit for starters!”

More:

Japan Travel Field Notes

Japan: Travel primer / places to go, getting around, accomms, culture, etiquette and geography

Notes about Kominka Houses

Have something to add to the resource list? Especially links to your projects and experience… drop a comment below or get in touch

Pingback: Event: Kominka Summit, April 2022, Kyoto — Dave Olson Creative Life Archive

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June 3, 2021 at 00:35

These resources are great! Thank you! I lived in Tokyo for a couple of years and am thinking of looking for something as a vacation home while exploring visa options. Japanese bureaucracy terrifies me, unfortunately.

daveo
January 1, 2022 at 20:31

So glad you find my round up helpful, I try to keep adding new resources so keep checking back if you’re looking around for a perfect place.

“Akiya” abandoned, cheap/free* houses in Japan / annotations, resources, riffs, musings, stories

Background Riff

Situation, in brief

Worth Noting

Let’s Make a Start!

It’s alllll happening, so…

Pleasing Stories / Overviews

Handy (recent) Videos

Communities and Conversations

Directories/Resources/Programs:

More Stellar Videos

Even more stories

Related-ish:

4 thoughts on ““Akiya” abandoned, cheap/free* houses in Japan / annotations, resources, riffs, musings, stories”

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“Akiya” abandoned, cheap/free* houses in Japan / annotations, resources, riffs, musings, stories

Background Riff

Situation, in brief

Worth Noting

Let’s Make a Start!

It’s alllll happening, so…

Pleasing Stories / Overviews

Handy (recent) Videos

Communities and Conversations

Directories/Resources/Programs:

More Stellar Videos

Even more stories

Related-ish:

Keep Diggin'

4 thoughts on ““Akiya” abandoned, cheap/free* houses in Japan / annotations, resources, riffs, musings, stories”

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