“In Japan, you can buy and renovate a beautiful, historic, architecturally significant home for a tiny fraction of the cost in many other parts of the world,” says Galbraith.Twenty years ago, Galbraith and his wife, who is originally from Japan, had enough of the traffic and pollution of Los Angeles. They decided to move to Kyoto.his offerings to include a traditional farmhouse, called a.
Galbraith was somehow able to see past the collapsing floors covered in mouse droppings, the broken glass and the ripped rice-paper screens that formed many of the home’s room dividers and windows. Most buyers would have run in the opposite direction, but Galbraith says it was love at first sight. For the price of another BMW, he hired a local company to restore the house — and got a discount because the company’s owners hoped to study the traditional carpentry methods used to build the house.
Before buying the house, Galbraith and his family had attended a sports day at the local school and were enthusiastically welcomed by the villagers. Once the renovations were done, they realized they wanted to make theTheir decision was difficult for their Japanese friends to understand. Many Japanese shun pre-owned homes, viewing“They imagined that we were going to be suffering,” Galbraith says. Visitors are often surprised to find the farmhouse comfortable and cozy.
Hoping to share his passion for traditional homes with other foreigners, Galbraith followed a friend’s suggestion and started a Facebook group,Suddenly in 2021, thousands of people joined in an explosion of interest that culminated in theThe event featured guest speakers, vendors selling traditional crafts andtours. Nearly 400 attendees came from as far away as Poland, a surprise given that Japan was mostly closed to visitors at the time because of COVID.
Most of these homes are in need of significant repair / must be demolished or entirely rebuilt. The ones that have structural integrity are not available for cheap anywhere near major growth areas. These are great if you would like to live somewhere in the countryside,…
Ship the immigrants to Japan then.
If some nice lady wants to teach my Japanese I’ll take a house in exchange for 15 years of property maintenance for a dozen or two surrounding elderly. HMU.
If only we stayed away from mass immigration
I could learn Japanese. Go on . . .
WOW. what a contrast. In Canada we can't find a freakin' home because of ridiculous pricing and builder greed; in japan there is surplus of homes. Go figure
damn, I wonder how accepting they'd be , I don't think they allow much immigration.
Because there was a ban on the number of children, they could have, now those reduced number of children are grown , their parents seniors or died, or in nursing homes, their system is not set up to service people effectively now, depoplulation backfired inadequate planning
You wanted me dead.
that's because everyone lives in or near the city now for obvious reasons.
Young people can buy houses in Japan? Obviously they need more immigration to prevent that like our home on native land
No matter how long you live in Japan you will never be 'Japanese'. You will always be an outsider. This is ingrained from the 500 years Japan's borders were closed to ALL outsiders.
Sounds like the start of a Hallmark Movie.
I dont think Japan wants a bunch of foreigners moving in though. They're rather restrictive. To be expected.
How much radiation do you get with your purchase?
Hv ppl gone mad? So, you buy a house there for a 'song' move there and do what? Sing that song for a living? Do you know haw expensive life in Japan is? Plus, it is JAPAN, not Europe or even Quebec. Try Buffalo first, they pay you to take a house there.
VoteYYJWilliams Any single female Japanese doctors ?