- 8 Aug 2005
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Has anyone else been thinking about Akiya? This topic has been simmering on my mind for some years now.
空き家, Akiya, means vacant home, and describes a growing number of properties throughout Japan that are empty or abandoned for a variety of reasons. Most commonly, the younger people have moved to the cities and when grandma and grandpa pass away, the old family home out in the inaka goes empty and begins to fall into disrepair. No one wants to live there anymore, and it's too expensive and a pain to deal with everything left behind, so it has simply gone untouched for years.
I first learned about Akiya while visiting a friend in Tohoku some years after the big 3-11 earthquake, and discovered that there were properties in Japan that seemed incredibly affordable, although the cost of renovating or rebuilding could offset those seemingly low price tags. A friend of a friend bought a house in Matsuhsima practically on the water for what seemed to be a very low price. Coming from the insane real estate bubble of California, owning land is a bit of a pipe dream, but I loved the idea of having a landing pad in Japan to stage my periodic explorations of the country, and hopefully provide a nice place to spend more of my retirement someday.
And now the market has only grown, showing the shifting demographics of Japan as more and more people are concentrating in cities and abandoning the countryside. Now, 9 million homes--nearly 14% of all homes in Japan--stand vacant.
There are some resources in Japanese for Akiyas throughout the country, like
www.homes.co.jp
nihon-akiya.com
Things have come to the point that the houses that can't or won't sell to domestic buyers are finding interest amongst foreigners with their own dreams of life in Japan. Short videos of foreigners showing off their renovated houses are gaining popularity. Instagram and Facebook accounts like @japanhomequest, @cheaphousesjapan, and @shumatsuopost have racked up hundreds of thousands of followers, showing house listings throughout Japan in a wide range of conditions, providing what I call the newest form of "millennial porn;" real estate listings, except these can sometimes have eye-popping low price tags that make home ownership seem tantalizingly within reach.
Even some entrepreneurs are out there building their own listing platforms to showcase these listings:
akiyahopper.com
cheaphousesjapan.com
www.allakiyas.com
www.akiyajapan.com
www.akiya-mart.com
Unfortunately, the more I think about it and the more I talk to my friends, the less of an actual good idea it seems to take on the responsibility for one of these properties. I don't live in Japan and don't have the time and money to fully renovate an abandoned house, and some of these houses have unique challenges that make them difficult or impossible to work on. Furthermore, a lot of these houses are hard to access because Japanese infrastructure and transportation services don't reach into the countryside where the cheaper houses are (and if anything, infrastructure may shrink away from these areas rather than expand into them).
Since I could only occupy the house myself for a short while each year, I would want it to go to some use while I'm away, both to help pay for the property taxes and upkeep, and not contribute to the problem of unoccupied buildings in these communities. But no one wants to stay in a place that's at least a 40 minute drive from the nearest train station, and is it really helping a community thrive to parade a train of guests through your house on airbnb or whatever?. Ultimately, I would love to get something in a thriving community that gives me convenient access to public transportation and at least some of my friends somewhere Japan, where I can one day live a simple and austere lifestyle and do something to contribute my adoptive community, but Akiyas seem like a risky gamble to grasp at that dream.
But still, a man can dream...
空き家, Akiya, means vacant home, and describes a growing number of properties throughout Japan that are empty or abandoned for a variety of reasons. Most commonly, the younger people have moved to the cities and when grandma and grandpa pass away, the old family home out in the inaka goes empty and begins to fall into disrepair. No one wants to live there anymore, and it's too expensive and a pain to deal with everything left behind, so it has simply gone untouched for years.
I first learned about Akiya while visiting a friend in Tohoku some years after the big 3-11 earthquake, and discovered that there were properties in Japan that seemed incredibly affordable, although the cost of renovating or rebuilding could offset those seemingly low price tags. A friend of a friend bought a house in Matsuhsima practically on the water for what seemed to be a very low price. Coming from the insane real estate bubble of California, owning land is a bit of a pipe dream, but I loved the idea of having a landing pad in Japan to stage my periodic explorations of the country, and hopefully provide a nice place to spend more of my retirement someday.
And now the market has only grown, showing the shifting demographics of Japan as more and more people are concentrating in cities and abandoning the countryside. Now, 9 million homes--nearly 14% of all homes in Japan--stand vacant.
There are some resources in Japanese for Akiyas throughout the country, like
LIFULL HOME'S 空き家バンク
地方移住・田舎暮らし向けの物件情報【LIFULL HOME'S 空き家バンク】日本国内で空き家バンクに登録された物件から、地方への定住・移住[Iターン・Uターン]や田舎暮らしに活用できる空き家をご紹介。購入向けだけでなく、賃貸物件も掲載している為、お試しで移住・田舎暮らしをしてみたい場合にも活用頂けます【LIFULL HOME'S 空き家バンク】
空き家バンク・地方移住・の地方の物件 [nihon-akiya.com]
空き家バンクに登録された田舎暮らし向けの物件情報。地方への移住、購入向けだけでなく、賃貸物件も掲載しています。
nihon-akiya.com
Things have come to the point that the houses that can't or won't sell to domestic buyers are finding interest amongst foreigners with their own dreams of life in Japan. Short videos of foreigners showing off their renovated houses are gaining popularity. Instagram and Facebook accounts like @japanhomequest, @cheaphousesjapan, and @shumatsuopost have racked up hundreds of thousands of followers, showing house listings throughout Japan in a wide range of conditions, providing what I call the newest form of "millennial porn;" real estate listings, except these can sometimes have eye-popping low price tags that make home ownership seem tantalizingly within reach.
Even some entrepreneurs are out there building their own listing platforms to showcase these listings:
Vacant / Abandoned Houses in Japan
Find akiya, vacant or abandoned houses, throughout Japan. Akiyahopper shows the latest properties, updated daily, from various sources, with translations and other features.
akiyahopper.com
Home - Cheap Houses Japan
Yes, even if you're not Japanese. Yes, even if you're not a resident. You can even buy a house on a tourist visa and have full property ownership rights. It's
cheaphousesjapan.com
All Akiyas: Find the perfect cheap house in Japan
A catalog of all cheap and vacant houses, also known as Akiyas, made available in Japan by municipal governments and local real estate agencies.
www.allakiyas.com
English search for Japanese real estate.
Search thousands of listings using English and receive customised email alerts.
www.akiyajapan.com
AkiyaMart - Japan Real Estate and Akiya Listings in English
Browse thousands of Japan Akiya & Real Estate in English!
www.akiya-mart.com
Unfortunately, the more I think about it and the more I talk to my friends, the less of an actual good idea it seems to take on the responsibility for one of these properties. I don't live in Japan and don't have the time and money to fully renovate an abandoned house, and some of these houses have unique challenges that make them difficult or impossible to work on. Furthermore, a lot of these houses are hard to access because Japanese infrastructure and transportation services don't reach into the countryside where the cheaper houses are (and if anything, infrastructure may shrink away from these areas rather than expand into them).
Since I could only occupy the house myself for a short while each year, I would want it to go to some use while I'm away, both to help pay for the property taxes and upkeep, and not contribute to the problem of unoccupied buildings in these communities. But no one wants to stay in a place that's at least a 40 minute drive from the nearest train station, and is it really helping a community thrive to parade a train of guests through your house on airbnb or whatever?. Ultimately, I would love to get something in a thriving community that gives me convenient access to public transportation and at least some of my friends somewhere Japan, where I can one day live a simple and austere lifestyle and do something to contribute my adoptive community, but Akiyas seem like a risky gamble to grasp at that dream.
But still, a man can dream...
