Living in Japanese countryside as a foreigner | I bought a vacant house in Japan
Hey good morning everyone uh I have absolutely nothing productive to say this morning other than good morning and uh I’m on my way to work right now so I figured I’d go ahead and share a quick little uh time lapse of my drive and but also to show check out this
Beautiful um Plum we bought this weeping uh Plum Tree not too long ago it’s still in the planter but I’m going going to be planting it right there Mr Mrs Tanuki there next to my little Bonsai plum tree and uh yeah all this work I still need
To do in the Japanese garden and the let’s see the uh plums over there in the back you see that white one uh throughout the property they’re starting to bloom last year our planted the three uh cherry trees right there along this uh uh this little Hill right here but um
Plums Bloom first and then after that the cherry blossom so stay tuned for the cherry blossoms here in Japan they’re absolutely gorgeous and uh here in miwa is really really beautiful so uh yeah all these all these different exciting things happening and this is what I absolutely love thus far about living in
The countryside just you know waking up and seeing this scenery the fog and you know just just I don’t know just really relaxing you know my drive to work is about a 40-minute drive not a bad drive at all uh but yeah it gives me time to just
Kind of relax and reflect on life I check out all the clouds over there in the background we have a crew doing a lot of work on our backyard here as you can see there’s a video of this coming up they’ve been working a lot on the upper backyard the lower backyard quite
Muddy right now because it’s been raining for the past couple of days and then over there you can see the uh a little path going up to the chestnut trees and let’s see let’s make it down to the car I’ve also been working on a saw
Horse uh so uh you know this this everything was fast and furious when we moved in here just uh just too many things going on at once and so I did have the opportunity to cut some wood here and there as you can see uh but I did not have a proper
Software so this weekend I decided you know what let’s just do it right and build one and this is what I got thus far pretty excited about it there’s another video of this coming up soon uh there’s some little modifications if you have seen any saw horses online this is my
Own unique and I quite frankly I think I like a better version uh I’ll explain what these blocks are later on and why it’s flat but basically I’m making it like a multi-functional saw horse to include a uh table like a removable tabletop so I can work outside side when
I need to yeah just heading into work so let me go ahead and plug in the GoPro here and put on a time lapse and let you all enjoy again thanks for tuning in to our journey here living in the countryside of Japan and uh if you like
What you see please hit subscribe uh like and share and enjoy as we enjoy living here in the countryside all right folks have a great day bye he now he he
Good morning from rural Japan. Cherry blossoms are coming soon. Why I enjoy living in the countryside of Japan.
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
Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKyYYQp1L5t4GTOTfs780SA/join
Other videos of our Akiya traditional Japanese house renovation:
https://youtube.com/@cocolenchojapan
Contact:
cocolenchojapan@gmail.com
Social Media:
Instagram: @cocolenchojapan
https://www.instagram.com/cocolenchojapan/?fbclid=IwAR1vdzJZbQd5I1V7kv2ho0Imz2sb6BL_vc5mZq5wd4DJQPVL4SSVBWvDw3A
Facebook:
Coco Lencho Japan
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088736035119
****Recommend using “Chrome” as a browser for Japanese to English translation.****
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
7 Comments
Cool looking sawhorse.
Still working on it a little more this weekend
I remember being younger on my first trip to Japan. My uncle picked us up and I recall being terrified in his car as the roads seem so tiny coming from the states. Got used to it but will never forget the first time riding in a car.
The property is looking great – quite a transformation! Spectacular little plum, wow! And that has to be the meatiest sawhorse ive see in a bit! And your drive to work is through some spectacular countryside and villages, looks like a rather pleasant way to spend a 40 min drive (the winding mountainous portion was my favorite). As contrasted with some of my commutes – 5 lanes wide each direction and packed with stressed Americans in 3/4 ton SUVs going 80 mph! I can see the influence on you by the RealRuralJapan school of film – lets see how many disparate topics can be fit into the shortest video! But I love it all, so keep up the good work! 😎
LOL, nothing productive to say………..another nice video. Curious how hard it was to get the local DL. Also hows the ride when the snow comes?
Looking forward to seeing how the yard is coming along! The trees also! Did you get any of the snow, not sure if your filming in real time or not. LOL. I have a few others vloggers that I watch in Japan an the snow was beautiful!
Hi Lencho beautiful scenery!! I would love to see how your trees are going to look this summer!! Saludos