We Bought an Abandoned House in Japan, Interior, Everything Left Inside

This video is a tour of the inside of the empty house (akiya) we bought. It's a traditional Japanese house, with tatami rooms, and beautiful fusuma sliding doors. It used to be a farmhouse but was abandoned by the previous owner after he passed away.

In Japan, when you buy an abandoned house the previous owner often leaves all of their belongings behind.

0:00 Start
8:54 Explanation

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In between videos I'm posting

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Our case was no different.

Rubbish aside, the interior was in better condition than expected, with the main concern some water damage and leaking from the roof. The floors were stable and very few signs of earthquake damage.

Some of the posts and beams in this house are very impressive. Although the house would have cost around 50 million yen (USD 450,000) to build back in 1987, it is now worth nothing that only the land has value.

At the end of the video I talk in a little more detail about the house.

The purpose of this (and forthcoming) video(s) is to document the process of buying and renovating an abandoned house, identifying the risks and hidden costs, and see how easy or difficult it really is to buy abandoned property in Japan.

It is going to take time and money to make this house liveable, but we are looking forward to the challenge!

#akiya #abandonedhouse #traditionaljapanesehouse

Background music is made by me on Garageband and under copyright (not that you'd want to copy it!)

[EarlysArtProjects]

I held my breath when you opened the fridge!!! I have been loving the way you document the process. Keep up the great work and i am eager to see what you transform the place into.

[Emilytea]

Regardless of the mess, that house is ridiculously gorgeous

[aznboycols]

The fact that those sliding doors were still smooth when opened, shows the great workmanship of the house. A treasure!!

[DisgruntledPigumon]

I seriously can’t believe this was only built in 1987. The craftsmanship and the adhering to traditional styles is just incredible. It’s worth any amount you have to put in to restore it. I wish you and yours all the best in this renovation.

[shelby]

As a little girl, I loved reading the Anne of Green Gables series. I don't remember hardly any of it now, but one quote from it that has stuck with me all these years later is when Anne and Diana are driving down a road, and they happen to come across an old abandoned house. Diana thinks it's super creepy, she says the broken window placements make her think of "something dead with its eyes picked out" and she just wants to get away from it as fast as she can. But Anne says that old, deserted houses make her sad, because she believes they remember something of their own lives, and miss the joys of the families that once were in them. "Marilla says that a large family was raised in that old house long ago, and that it was a real pretty place, with a lovely garden and roses climbing all over it. It was full of little children and laughter and songs; and now it is empty, and nothing ever wanders through it but the wind."

I'm only just now finding this little series you have, so I have much to catch up on. It sounds incredibly cheesy, but I can somehow feel some of that loneliness even through the video, both of the house and of the former owner. I'm so glad such a beautiful property is getting a new lease on life, with hopefully many more happy memories ahead of it.

[shaysuketchi]

For an abandoned house it's really nice, to bad his kids didn't want to inherit it. Wish I had a house like that.

[BrianSmith-gpxr]

I bought a house in rural Japan .Compared to housing in Kona, it seemed a great price. Could have paid less but as it turned out to be the education of my 62 years..
My neighbors alone were worth the price. The experience, The new friends I made, Learning from masters of life. The honesty . Great food and generosity and kindness.farming and building techniques. Priceless. Instead of this tight knit village turning their back on a stranger. They raised me like a baby bird until I stood on my own. Changed my life to where I learned real opportunity comes through giving and true wealth is obtained through kindness. .

[camiwhite]

Everyone: the grudge’s house!
Me: Totoro’s movie house!!

[Sam-trcy]

The stopped clock at 1:29 felt poetic, exploring a place frozen in time

[gregoutcalt]

After years of working on rentals and abandon homes I’ve learned to tape the fridge shut and get it outside before ever opening.

[zorodsm]

Abandoned japanese house looks better than my house

[ashura_]

For my 2nd year as a foreign student in Japan year 2001, I chose to rent this type of house, next to the owner. Six tatami for my own room & living room, each. Everyday I woke up & open the sliding door, it felt so refreshing! Especially when Springs & Autumn. I could smell the fragrance of the earth directly. I think that the period when I scored the highest grade throughout my entire overboard studies there. Love Japan so much!!! ♥

[XeiAudiMusic]

Its very refreshing to find a youtube channel that is so chilled, laid back and contains so much silence, natural sounds and minimal to no music and it works so well! You let the footage speak for itself and narrate where needed.

I feel like im watching the of videos recorded to show family to update them on your life. Its great!

[omkr]

I wonder if Totoro is around the area!


Wow! Over 1000 likes! Arigato de geso!

[oOBloodyAllyOo]

It makes me sad to see how the previous owner lived. It looks like he was pretty lonely and unable to cope with his household anymore. I bet he would love to see this house as a happy family home again!

[kaylynxup]

It's always a little sad to see a house that's been abandoned, especially a house as beautiful and traditional as yours. Good to see that you're willing to put in work to restore it. I hope it's everything you want and more, friend.

[timothynewkirk]

I find your house videos extremely interesting! After WWll my Father spent a year in Japan helping restore the war ravaged machine tool industry! He was a young industrial engineer and fought in WWll in Europe. I was a very young boy and this was in the early 1950s. My Father came home quite impressed with Japan. He learned to play Golf during that year and was overwhelmed that the architecture was built with hand made carpentry joints instead of nails and screws for fasteners like in the USA. He spoke of this his whole life. As a boy I met many Japanese men that Dad made life long friends with and came to visit our family in America. Dad's been gone 12 years now but he left me all his pictures (slides) that he took on his journey to Japan. I'm in my retirement years now, but I plan on visiting Japan before I get much older. Thanks again! PS what is your name? Sincerely, Newk from Kentucky USA

[genebelleizacruz]

I can sense the loneliness of the former owner of that house.

[TheJiamy]

Man, with all the possessions of theirs in there... I don’t know how to put it other than it feels like this house, in this state, is as close to ghosts as we might ever feel. You can walk through this farmer’s house. You can feel some of the rhythms of his life. It’s like you could touch the earthen walls or one of the load bearing posts and hear some sort of echo in the past.

It’s sad. It feels weary somehow. Like a place built for children and a family and land and summer memories and winter dreams, but like it’s owner it got old. The lives that it cradled left it. Its still beautiful, but the house feels sad to me like this. Even if it were clean it would feel sad.

Not to be super spiritualist or anything but somewhere deep in my soul it feels like this house wont be happy until someone who lives there laughs in it, you know?

[benmasi]

I was morbidly excited to see this after the bits I've seen in your other videos, but as soon as I saw the worn shoes just sitting in the genkan.... man it broke my heart. The whole rest of the video I could only think of the old fella that must've lived the rest of his days there.