Hi there,
I see a lot of people live in inaka, looking for advice.
Working in Tokyo and have a bit of saving. I’m considering to buy/build our own little ranch (ie owning a house with 100~ sqm of land for gardening /harvesting). A place we can go spend weekends at, but also a place we can live if one day things don’t continue the way they are professionally. Ideally something that will be quite cost effective, like those 200man houses I heard so much about.
Edit : not necessarily looking at akiya btw, just cited this as an example
Was curious to know what criteria are important in narrowing down areas to look at. Especially we want somewhere nice and peaceful but not living like hermits either. Thinking also the local community vibe should be important but unsure how to assess without going there.
Curious if you have any pointers on how to start thinking of a nice area!
E
17 comments
Go on weekend trips to different areas? Consider how far you want to be from Tokyo if it does end up being a weekend/vacation home.
Probably looking at north Kanto in that case. Keep in mind that the 200man houses you keep hearing about need to be fixed up, and generally have a clause saying you can’t just tear it down and build a new house there. So you’re looking at a lot of work or spending a lot of money on a crew to do said work.
200man house = garbage
I have a buddy from California that bought a steal of a place like this on the north side, and the winter was so brutal that they left with half of their stuff still in there
Cautionary tale!
I really like living in Yamanashi. The biggest city Kofu has an express train to Shinjuku that takes around 90mins. So definitely close enough.
Kyushu in general is really nice. Maybe check out Itoshima outside Fukuoka for lots of farmland etc. 30 min to the city, 2h boat ride to Korea.
/r/akiya
Keep in mind, the 200man houses are 200man for a reason. And that reason is they’re falling down and have termites and other problems. They’ll cost way WAY more than 200man to make liveable even if you do most of the work yourself.
But living in Tokyo you have Gunma, Ibaraki, Nagano, Niigata and so forth to choose from. The further you get from Tokyo the less expensive it gets. I’ve seen some places with 3-4 hectares for <500man over the years.
Also:
https://www.ieichiba.com – the only FSBO board I’ve found
https://www.inakabukken.com/
http://www.furusato-net.co.jp/
https://www.inakalife.jp/
https://www.inakakurashi.jp/
https://www.kaiteki-seikatsu.org/live/bank.html
http://www.inakanet.jp
http://www.inaka-style.net
http://myplanst.co.jp
I’m curious about this too. You always see those articles pop up about houses in the inaka next to nothing, but then there are so many variables that can make the costs skyrocket.
If living there is a possibility in the future, aside from necessities like supermarkets etc. you might want to look into distance to the nearest hospitals. I don’t live in the inaka but I work at a campground in the Boso peninsula and ended up having to drive a customer to the hospital nearly an hour away because taxis and ambulances would take 2 hours or more. Really made me think about one of the downsides of living in very rural areas.
As a Canadian, my highest priority would be something above 1000m, to get something closer to my native climate, in all seasons. Second to that would be a place with any insulation, and a wood stove as supplementary heat.
As I’m also in Tokyo, it’d have to be Chubu or the Southern end of Tohoku. I’ve started looking at properties around Shiga-Kogen…
Since my wife’s not into it, and actually likes this subtropical climate, I’m most likely to get a new Delica camper and be a ski bum, and hyakumeizan hiker, in the first half of my retirement.
in the very rural areas, you can visit the local municipality website for abandoned properties. some of them are in livable condition with no need for repair for 600,000 to 1,000,000. There are full pictures, price details and will list if there is arable soil with the property.
Southern Boso can be great, beaches, seafood, etc. (Wife is from there.) And if near Awa-kamogawa, there is a great hospital (by Japan standards) there, too. Easy express train to Tokyo station.
Stupid automod wont allow me to link the website, but search for cheaphousesjapan and you’ll find an intersting guy to follow on Insta and some helpful info on his site.
Have a look at east Izu if you like to be close to the ocean and you mind the constant winds of Chiba beaches.
> but unsure how to assess without going there.
You can’t. You have to go there.
Finding a good local community should be priority number one. Visit. Make friends. Get involved.
If you get to know the local community *they’ll find you a house*.
Kyushu is great, Oita in particular. There’s an international university so people tend to accept foreigners better in the inakas since they are in contact with them through various exchange programs. Even in the inaka, there is easy access to towns and cities if you miss civilization and even in Oita city there is barely much crowd, I always got seats on trains etc.
Imo if you want to get a 200man house, look to spend another 60-100man having someone fix it up for you. You can go as is, but you will prolly need a lot of maintenance and deal with old, dirty rooms.