Hi, I'm ken elwood. As a foreigner, I recently bought 2.2 acres of mountain land in Japan, whereon stands a 160 year old kominka. AMA.

How easy was it to integrate into Japanese culture? Did having a Japanese wife help significantly? Have you found it harder or easier since being in a more isolated community?

To the first question, I can only say that I persevere. My wife being Japanese is an enormous help. She also helps me and I am grateful for it. To the last question, I'm not living at the property right now, but maybe one day. For now it’s like a dacha, a Russian word for a place in the country that supplements a main residence in the city.

Like a summer house?

No, just a house and land I go to on occasion for sowing and reaping things.

You're living my dream. I live in Kyushu, and I ALMOST bought this house last year for about 10k:

http://imgur.com/a/H54RP

I opted against it because of how poor of condition it was in (and because I didn't have the cojones to sign off on it). Congratulations on taking the plunge.

How's the roof condition on your place? It's originally thatch, yeah? I was quoted an ASTRONOMICAL price for having the thatch redone by a company (like 80k!!) ; do you have any plans on restoring the building? If so, I'd make sure that it's protected as well as it can be from water damage for now!

I'm REALLY jealous and hope that you're a future version of me. Would love to see higher-def pictures of the inside!

Well hello there in Kyushu. I also wouldn't have paid 10k for that building alone (the one you shared pics of). Throw in an acre with a good view, maybe.

• How's the roof condition on your place?

The roof condition is OK. I didn't find any holes up top nor water damage inside the house.

• It's originally thatch, yeah?

Yeah. Here's a look up under an eave that reveals the thatch, preserved:

http://kenelwood.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/bearsden4.jpg {pic}

• do you have any plans on restoring the building?

Yes, but not to its original state.

I won't be putting a lot of expensive drywall and exterior insulation back into the place, in fact I'll be knocking down walls to open the place up. Kominkas can be very dark inside.

I think I'll just do one central space (12 tatami) for heating in the winter, with a strong framing for tatami as floor insulation. New tatami start from ¥10 thousand (US$100) per mat. For everywhere else, local timber for floor slats, and exposed beam and rafter overhead.

As mentioned somewhere else in this AMA, one of the reasons I have purchased this property is because of "Investment in Location". Welcome to the village: Upland Nagano {vid}

1. How much did the land cost?
2. Was there any difficulty for a foreigner buying land in Japan?
3. Are there any risks down the road of losing the land due to squatters or other possibilities outside your control?

1. I haggled the original price of US$23,000 down to US$10,000, excluding tax, realtor and scrivener fees.
2. Zero.
3. If I stop paying annual land taxes, then yes to all possibilities.

Holy fucking shit that is cheap by any standard!!! How can it be so cheap?

Many unattractive things about this property (That I took full advantage of):

• 1. It's non-contiguous

Old rural Japanese properties are usually non-contiguous, as per that's how agriculture in Japan evolved post WWII. However, these days when a rural property is for sale, the bits registered as agricultural are usually shaved off and sold to local farmers or co-ops before selling to a home buyer, as a rural home buyer in Japan usually has zero interest in working the land, or at least working anything more than a few hundred square feet. This property was being sold on the market as non-contiguous with all its bits -- Mountain, field and paddock.

• 2. Abandoned lands and no neighbors

Most lands on either sides of my property are either no longer tilled or just abandoned all together with nobody paying property tax on them. Also, most of the other old kominkas in the hamlet are vacant.

• 3. It came as it was

The kominka came with a mix of junk and antiques that I had to clean out. On my contract it stated: 「2.建物内外の荷物は現況引き渡しとする。」 "The property is sold as is, which includes all the "stuff" both inside and outside the house."

What are the land taxes per year for a property of this size and value?

For annual property taxes, I pay 20,000 yen (US$200) for 2.2 acres.

So it seems as if you plan to homestead or annex the yellow area making 10 acres, will you be claiming this to authorities and begin paying taxes on all of it to secure your claim to it? I also have a far more general question, and it's not just to you because there is a concept you speak of that I can't seem to comprehend from context alone and have heard the phrase many times before without fully grasping what it means: what is a bug-out place? If the electricity and water fail where you live, is there a great chance they won't fail at this rural location? As you don't appear to have foodstores or a water well or other means of making this land more self-sufficient than staying where you live now and riding it out until the authorities restore services, what benefit does this land afford you? In a 3-hour drive, assuming roads won't be clogged with others escaping some sort of disaster, wouldn't you need to buy fuel at least once to get there? Would that be possible with power losses? Just questions I have about bug-out places that don't apply directly to you alone, but since you're here, I thought I would ask.

• So it seems as if you plan to homestead or annex the yellow area making 10 acres, will you be claiming this to authorities and begin paying taxes on all of it to secure your claim to it?

Half of the 10 acres (mostly forest) are the commons, so no need to claim them. On the 3 or so acres of abandoned land the plan is to passively regenerate them. By this I mean working smart on the field and fruit orchards that are already there - apple, kiwi, pear and persimmon. When the time comes to properly claim them I will do so in earnest.

• What is a bug-out place?

I think it depends on who you ask. For some it might be a place to escape the apocalypse, for me it's just a place to get away to on occasion and perchance move to ultimately. Given that, I'll be working with what's there in the interim, hopefully letting the land do most of the work for me. While the social structures are fading, the hamlet has small commercial centers, water systems, and is surrounded by forest reserves. It is walkable, bikeable, quiet and human scaled.

Was there really no difficulty buying land in Japan? I have heard from multiple foreign business owners in Japan that they have to have a Japanese business partner or you flat out cannot own a business as a foreigner. I figured it would be similar for land?

No difficulty for the kind of land I bought, no. If I was to buy different kind of land in a different place, for example "industrial" in the city, perchance it would be more difficult.

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Japan because I already live here, since 2004, and the largish plot for apple and pear orchards, among other place-making and food production possibilities.

2 acres is not really that big. Its only a little bigger than a normal yard.

Depends what and where you are comparing it to.

Its too small to be any sort of farm beyond providing some food at some times of the year.

Different standards of farm. While it could be a bit bigger, the OP isn't planning on producing food for Japan as a whole or even to turn a large profit.

The idea of those tracts of land is to produce enough for a small community or at least supplement neighboring and equally small communities.

2 acres is huge is an area like Japan.

Exactly. In fact, the average farm in Japan is just 1.6 hectares in size, or just under 5 acres. And that's mainly for farms in the lowlands. Up in the hills, on terrace, everything is smaller.

The point of passively cultivating 2+ acres on a Japanese mountainside is supplemental.

I had read it was nearly impossible to buy land or property as a Gaijin in Japan. Especially at a reasonable price - do you know how much of a premium you paid?

What is your long term goal with the land? I mean - why do you want to own it rather than just roaming / hiking in the wilderness.

It's nearly impossible to get a land or home-loan as a foreigner, but if you've got the cash and a descent command of Japanese, you are good to go.

• Premiums ?

1. 60,000 yen (US$600) to the agent
2. 140,000 yen (US$1,400) to the judicial scrivener
3. Tax(es)
4. Gasoline to go see the property x 2

Commercially, Alex Kerr (an American) has been buying land here for years, and more recently (last 10 years or so) Jacob Reiner {vid}. I believe both of their efforts helped spark a resurgence in salvaging old homes to sell back at a premium, especially in the greater Kyoto area.

• Long term goal(s) with the land

There are many --

1. Kominka restoration
2. Bug-out location
3. Investment in Location.
4. Slightly devious plan to taking over an entire mountain valley.
5. Small farm
   

I would love to see some pics of the old house if you have any

Here you go: 9 pictures and Big picture

Do you have basic services? water? electricity? internet?

What's the downside to all this? sounds too good

The kominka is hooked up to the grid (although not activated right now). That's electricity, water and internet.

The downside to the property is that 1. It lies in the midst of a dying village (see rural depopulation in Japan) and 2. The kominka is 160 years old, and nobody has lived in it since the late 70's. That means bats in the interior and Asiatic black bears hibernating in the store houses, or kura in Japanese.

We just got back from Hakuba - beautiful place and good snow. Any photos of your land?

I can't believe how cheap that is!

Hakuba is the next village over. Photos are here: October, November 2013

It was a throwaway property, I lucked out on the price.

Wait you have bears hibernating on your land? Isn't that dangerous? What will you do about it?

• Wait you have bears hibernating on your land?

Yes.

• Isn't that dangerous?

Apparently - depending on many things - it could be, yes

• What will you do about it?

For now, nothing. Because I'm not there 100% of the time to do anything about it.

I know this is an AMA, but based on your description of the area, I'd highly recommend looking into growing shiitake mushrooms. After you understand the process, it's simple.

Fresh shiitake are awesome. Basically all you need to do is buy shiitake dowel "plugs" and hammer them into a log, then wait.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJHkSL15nMI

Thank you for this. Yes, traditionally in Japan the forests surrounding a mountain hamlet are a commons space for mushrooming, foraging and etcetera. I plan to carry that tradition forward.

you should watch a film called Ame and Yuki, the Wolfchildren- it's a good film, but a large part of it is about a woman who buys a cheap acreage in the country, complete with a neglected farm and a kominka that looks exactly like yours seems to. She cleans it up and transforms it into a home, and the rest of the film is them trying to live a small-town life. I think it'd be relevant to your experience.

Thanks for this, I found it at YouTube.

How far of a drive is it from where you currently reside? How much is gas over there?

3 hour drive. $5.60 per gallon right now.

Yikes! I thought $3.65 was bad. Thanks for the answer.

You'll find that in most other countries we pay higher prices for petrol.

Japan falls under the so-called "Asian Premium" category.

Do you watch anime?

Unintentionally, yes.

Amazing, you're living the dream.How does one go about finding a place like that? I'd love an acre or 3 up in Nagano or Yamanashi, but have very little luck finding inexpensive properties on suumo, chintai and the like. Any ideas greatfully received, and if you ever fancy parcelling off a piece of that paradise, do get in touch!

Again, as mentioned somewhere else in this thread, here's a good place to get started: http://www.inakanet.jp/

How dangerous is your land right now considering black bears are hibernating in your store houses?

I don't know, but apparently there are basically zero bear attacks.

Who is this Zero Bear? He sounds vicious.

A long time ago, during the twilight of WWII, a Imperial Japanese Army pilot landed his crippled Mitsubishi Zero in a small clearing near OP's home. The pilot safely made it back to civilization, but the plane stayed.

A local bear found the plane and nursed it back to health.

They fell in love.

Had a child.

And that child today roams the countryside, as Zero Bear.

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's ZERO BEAR!

Ha ha !

Great score! The old homes do take a lot of maintenance, and tend to be pretty drafty (that's an understatement) in winter. Best of luck with your project.

Thanks.

I think traditionally, Japanese houses have not protected their occupants from outside temperatures, and so in the spirit of this design I won't be putting a lot of expensive drywall and exterior insulation back into the place.

I think I'll just do one central space (12 tatami) for heating in the winter, with a strong framing for tatami as floor insulation. New tatami start from ¥10 thousand (US$100) per mat. For everywhere else, local timber for floor slats, and exposed beam and rafter overhead.

Also, the near meter-thick thatch on the roof was done 40 years ago and immediately covered with tin, which apparently extends the life of thatch by many years. I'm actually thinking about taking the tin off, enjoying the thatch for however long it holds up and dropping ¥1 million (US$ 10,000) down the line on a re-thatch.

Cool. I remember staying in a friend's traditional home a couple hours north of Kyoto, in winter. In the main room they had two kerosene stoves, a heated carpet and a kotatsu, and still it was cold.

When they re-thatched it (at the district's expense), it took maybe a month. Some of the old thatching was re-used because the particular reed is growing scarce. A million yen to rethatch seems pretty reasonable, as the guys who do it are skilled, and in short supply. If you want it to last, without the tin, they say you should have a cooking fire to keep it dry and insect free. If it's 160 years old, you can certainly see smoke on the timbers.

I'm not sure about removing the tin. Definitely the house will look much nicer with the original thatching exposed.

@Smoke on the timbers:

Check this out: Traditional bath room {pic}

And the boiling-alive style bathtub (goemonburo)! Having a section of dirt floor inside is convenient for when you need to do some farm or craft work during inclement weather. I'm sure the local carpenters will be happy to see an older house being preserved.

Yes, the "bathing space" is a part of the doma, a room for farming-related tasks.

What are the locals like?

Have you considered starting a commune on your land ? If so, what sort of plans would you have for the land?

The locals are old, usually with smiles on their faces.

• Have you considered starting a commune on your land ?

Who hasn’t thought about retrofitting a mountain hamlet with a group of like-minded individuals? There are a lot of people that are tired of living in these massive, hyper-urban environments that meet our basic needs of food, shelter, and water, but do a terrible job meeting our need for self realization, community, peace and quiet, and debt-free living. Japan is full of small dying hamlets that are loaded with perfectly good infrastructure and cheap homes on old agriculture lots. While the social structures are fading, they have small commercial centers, water systems, and are surrounded by forest reserves. They are walkable, bikeable, quiet and usually human scaled.

• If so, what sort of plans would you have for the land?

To build a community that produces most of its own food, tools, and energy, and is large enough to meet the social needs of the members, is a massive project far beyond my resources and acreage. Having said that, my land is located in the midst of a wider hamlet with more than enough resources – in both natural abundance and man-made infrastructure – to sustain a community. The current trend says that in 10-15 years time I’ll be the only one up there, so theoretically there will be room up there for more than 100 people (30 households).

I think, rather than a singular commune growing on your property, it would be interesting if like minded foreigners slowly bought more and more property in the area (as it becomes available, perhaps) and becomes a small village of foreigners in the mountains of Japan...kind of like all those rumored nazi villages in South America. Just less escaping judgement for brutal crimes.

▲Wellowbone Tribes▲

In the Central Highlands of the Hida Mountain Range, in the misty border regions of Nagano and Toyama prefectures, live many a Wellowbone. Local traditions vary as to the origin of these people. According to one, they are descendants of early Caucasian settlers who intermarried with the Japanese; another relates more specifically that in the early 21st century, parties of anglo-saxons from the West who immigrated to teach the English language here in Japan, eventually migrated to the High-lands and settled among communal Japanese.

The Wellowbones are tall and slender, have a white-yellowish complexion, light-brown/greenish eyes, high cheek bones, and wavy brown hair. The strange semitransparent appearance of their skin is responsible for their odd sobriquet. They are a biannually nomadic people who, in the cooler months live in lower elevation wooded cedar groves, and in the warmer months live on ridges edge. They live off, or rather with, the land through a mix of hunting, forest gardening, trapping and foraging, and sleep under trees in portable felt dwellings that look similar to yurts, but with teepee-like ceilings. Satoyama folk frequently trade and in some instances form friendships with the very peaceful and friendly wellowbones, but as a whole the group maintains a stoical reserve which cannot be completely broken.

What's your day job?

I teach English.

What's your immigration status? Did you speak Japanese before moving to Japan?

I love Japan!

Spouse of a Japanese National. I could speak a little Japanese before moving here, yes.

Did having a Japanese National as a spouse help or play any role in buying the land?

Yes, that and also having three children here.

Jealousss. Is it as beautiful as I'm imagining? Also, is Ken a common name in Japan? Do locals find it odd that you have a 'Japanese' name?

Ken is a common name in Japan, yes.

Hi, I live in Japan and am looking to buy one of these properties in the future. What is the best way to find a place like this?

Stick 田舎 土地 山 山林 畑 田 売り地 農地 into google.jp and see what comes up.

Alternatively, Inaka net is a good place to get started, and that link goes to it.

How difficult was it to settle in Japan, and how difficult was it to purchase property?

1. When I settled here I was young, so I didn't realize the level of difficulty.
2. I would compare it to the level of energy it takes to renew your visa status, except a whole lot more expensive. It's really not that difficult.
   

Is renting or leasing portions of your property a possibility?

A possibility, yes. The plan, no.

Do you have a job, and if so, what do you do? Are you going to move to this property permanently at some point, and if so, would you keep your job, or would you be planning on something like self-sufficiency off the land?

I answered your first question above and as for your second question: Maybe for good at some point, but I'm not banking on it. If it came to it, I'd want to already have a semi-working farm in place - that means perennial crops established. How to get there from here will probably be difficult, but it gives me something to go on.

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Click on "next" for interactive fun:

Gassho-style Houses

The kominka I bought is a sasu (truss-like) structure, and I think what I want to do is open up the inside to expose the rafters, which means hard harts and sledge hammers to take out some interior walls and the false low ceilings.

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It took me eight years to find what I was looking for at a low price. Here's a good place to get started in your search for rural property here:

Inaka net.jp

Cabin w/irori and 15 acres

18,902 tsubo, or 62,488 ㎡, or 15 acres. House, paddy, field and forest (US $58,000):

http://www.janis.or.jp/users/ssupport/html2/68htm.htm

"こんなに広い田や畑に山まで付いてこのお値段！熱があるのかなと思ったけど冷静に桁数を再確認して壮年はある決意を固めた！ 所在地 上水内郡信濃町野尻 ≪媒介≫

◎総面積18902坪の内訳＝宅地75坪・田1376坪・畑3772坪・山林13678坪 ◎三ヶ所に分かれているが全て徒歩圏内 ◎山の中の一軒家 ◎敷地の近くを小川が流れる ◎総合病院・ｽｰﾊﾟｰ・〒・銀行・役場へ10分圏内 ◎上信越道信濃町ＩＣ～5分 ◎農地は耕作放棄状態 ◎約20坪の小屋が付く"

Source: 68 壮年は農家を目指す就農

http://www.janis.or.jp/users/ssupport/sub3.htm

Do you have any guns on your property?

Not that I'm aware of, no.

Why would you have an AMA about a house you own but have never actually stayed in and only been to twice?

I've been more than twice. In part the AMA is for "foreigners" who've thought about buying rural property in Japan but haven't.