Life in Rural Japan – Traditional Japanese House – Japan Abandoned House
Hey good morning from Japan everyone so uh yeah this morning I’m heading over to uh I guess like a wood cutting event the uh company that we bought our fireplace is putting on this uh event where you can go and I think you chop your own
Wood and I think you got toay like $85 or something like that but uh I figured I’d go ahead and take you along I’ve never driven that way at least the full extent but um it’s really beautiful countryside at least uh half of the part
That I have seen so I’m going to go ahead and uh Mount the uh GoPro onto the the the dash there on my little K truck but in the meanwhile check it out this a the the Japanese garden is starting to look really nice here is fall it’s
Almost November uh this maple tree is turning bright red as it normally does and uh so yeah just go ahead and come along and uh check it out and it might be a little bit long because uh it’s a it’s about a 45-minute drive uh obviously I’m not going to record the
Entire way but uh I think it’d be kind of cool for y’all to come and check it out and not quite sure if I’m going to record during the event right there but I’ll kind of play that by ear and of course I’ll be taking my little cake truck turn left um turn
Right there my GPS talking to me and I’ve discussed uh this little truck before but God I mean every single time there’s always different opportunities and this is an example of one of the benefits of having a little AK truck like this because um if I didn’t have a
Truck it’ be kind of hard for me to uh commit to go get a truckload F Lo of of wood right so quite frankly you know let me go ahead and show you real quick I’m already kind of um Gathering up some wood from here and there I got
Another pile there another pile over there in the end that I still need to split and uh get to again one of the many different projects I got going on but let me go ahead and prepare all right so let’s go ahead and uh get on over there like I said it’s uh
Over there by hatsukaichi which is near Hiroshima and the name of the company where we bought our uh our stove from is uh Woodstock and they put on this event I believe or in coordination with this other company I forgot the name of it but we’ll figure it out when we get
There again first time I ever done this uh but I think it’ll be an adventure so let’s go check it out I’m going to stop by and get an obento real quick with some lunch and it’s quite foggy right now so my apologies but coming back we’re going to take a
Different route uh and uh both routes I believe they’re going to be pretty Scenic here in the uh Countryside and Rural Japan y maguchi prefecture near near miwa so it’s beautiful town uh right now it’s the chestnut season and obviously it’s fall so all the leaves are falling
It’s just absolutely G turn right then turn right that dog right there on the right that lady she they uh usually walk by my house and uh that dog has become accustomed to getting a scratch from me and uh normally he won’t budge until uh uh I I scratch him a couple of
Times the hopefully it’s in here let’s see oh over there to the to the right I see let’s see if I can make it this way yeah that’s definitely definitely the place turn right then your destination will be on the right all right I see some some folks over there working
Already wow little putt putt place here and okay that’s cool little cafe B type of place clear this guy he’s probably guiding us through your destination is on the Right hi hi yeah so this place is called Woodyard and looks like they have lots of palletized wood yeah so this is the place looks like they have all kinds of different uh pallets different types of wood hard wood looks like there’s some Pine right there Cedar oh okay whole operation going on
Over here so I don’t know maybe I might be able to get a good pallet of drywood for myself for this winter so yeah I just went over there and uh paid for for the to take a pallet of wood today and I was asking him it’s
Not um dry yet so probably not until next year but um yeah he this the these are the folks that installed our stove and they they recognize us and uh and of course they’re asking where choke was at my wife and uh so she’s uh slacking off
She did not want to come but uh so and I asked him if I could go ahead and record yes she said yeah that’s that’s cool because they all right away told me that they watched the the V the YouTube video of uh when they were installing uh the
Stove in our house and it looks like a bunch of people are starting to show Up yeah so it looks like these guys are pretty much cutting up the uh the chunks and then uh I think these people are showing up here with our axes uh and then you just kind of cut it throughout the day I believe that’s what it’s going
To take place uh looks like it’s from 800 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and uh quite a few couples are showing up here with the kids and everything and kind of a day event and it’s nice and cool it’s uh almost uh end of October right now so
It’s going to be kind of an interesting Day Foree Don’t [Applause] fore [Applause] a forign spe fore foreign yes All right so basically the way it works is that uh see we came in at 8 and uh right now it’s around noon time and we just pretty much cut until they just kind of stop cutting and you just uh uh make your own pile and then
You just come and get it so they said uh probably take about a month to kind of retrieve it so it doesn’t disappear and they want their pallets back so I got about a month so from here I’m going to take this home and then uh make a couple
More trips this about 45 minutes from the house so no big deal and I again this cost let’s see 10 11 11,000 11,000 Yen something like that I got to confirm so it’s around $85 not bad for this uh what at least good three truck loads all
Right let’s go ahead and drive back then to go ahead and put it back on we’re going to go on a different route and then uh hopefully enjoy all right so that was fun and then on top of that they gave me a splitter is a hydraulic splitter not a
Electric uh or motorized one but uh they were giving it away so I got it so I got good two to three truck loads of wood but I can’t use it this year yet still ooh that’s a ditch right here it’s still wet but next year for sure head Northwest toward
30 100 M turn left onto 30 all right folks so like I said I’m heading back and I’m going to go a different route [Applause] W Pap
Come along for a drive in the countryside of Japan. I am chopping. wood for the traditional Japanese house we renovated. This house was an Akiya or vacant house. Now I am living in Japan as a foreigner. Thanks for watching.
I am an American (of Mexican descent) living and working in Japan. My wife of 32 (plus) years is from Japan. We bought a vacant or empty house “Akiya” in the countryside of Japan near Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture for $35,000 (5 million Yen as of August 2022). The property consists of a 2-story house built in 1975, small guest house, large 2 car garage, storage building, and 3/4 acres of land with many fruit trees.
As very common when purchasing an Akiya in Japan, the personal belongings of the previous owner were still in the house. It took multiple trips to the local recycle center to dispose of all the property.
The grounds were overgrown with many weeds and vines. This will take a while to get under control, but it is looking much better around the property, and I think the neighbors are happy to see us cleaning up.
This traditional Japanese house also features a gorgeous Japanese Garden in much need of cleaning up and bringing it back to its glory. I am still working on the garden, but it already looks stunning under a beautiful maple tree and huge decorative stones.
We performed an extensive renovation in the entire house. We focused on keeping traditional Japanese features such as the engawa, shoji doors, ranma, shikkui, tatami room, but incorporated modern features making a very comfortable house for years to come. Walls, ceilings, floors were insulated. New modern kitchen, toilets and bathroom units were installed. We installed a wood burning cast iron stove (Quadra-Fire, Explorer II). New electrical throughout the entire house and guest house. Double pane windows and doors installed and much more.
#japan #japancountryside #japanesevacanthouse #akiya #traditionaljapanesehouse #ruraljapan #japanesegarden
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Akiya Bank for my area near Iwakuni City and Hiroshima City: Miwa Town in Yamaguchi
https://iwakuni-iju.jp/akiyajoho
Miwa Town Information:
https://iwakuni-iju.jp/miwa.html
Dave Olson’s website:
Dave provides many links and information Akiya and Komika purchase.
“Akiya” abandoned, cheap/free* houses in Japan / annotations, resources, riffs, musings, stories
At Akiya Sumai you can search for vacant houses around Japan.
https://akiya.sumai.biz
At Ie Ichiba there is a Bulletin board to search vacant houses / Akiya Houses and old buildings in Japan
https://www.ieichiba.com
Other Useful Links:
https://www.athome.co.jp/
https://www.kurasapo.net/
https://www.koryoya.com/
https://www.homes.co.jp/akiyabank/
http://www.inakanet.jp/index.html
https://www.akiya-athome.jp
2 Comments
Wow man a wood video with Mariachi music it doesn't get better than that. 😎If you place a tire on top of the big splitting stump and then put all the little logs inside when you split it is a thousand times quicker because the wood doesn't go flying everywhere and you don't need to bend over and keep putting it back on the stump. You cannot miss also as at least something will get hit and split and your axe will never hit the ground as the handle will safely bounce off the tire. Put the tire on the stump and fill it with small logs and you could split a Chingona load in about 30 minutes. It was a bit painful to watch splits of wood flying everywhere. Definitely wear a face shield using an axe that is why a lot of hillbillies have no teeth.
Gambate. Looks like a lot of hard work to chop up your wood. No need for a gym with all the physical labor trying to keep up with your country home.