“A cockroach? That’s like a one time thing right?” Sir, I think you might be looking for a house on the wrong continent

This house has no cockroaches. The house centipedes ate them all.

He speaks truth. My wife and I actually bought one of these places and initially fixed it up just enough to live in it. Then, after saving up for about 10 years we decided to do major renovations… and were told by the construction company it wasn’t worth it. So we ended up knocking the whole thing down and building a new one on the same spot. (Luckily it was still the era of 0 interest loans!)

I was expecting "Gokiburi" to be the answer to "What's in the Walls?".

0:54 「それはですね、ネット上の写真はイメージだからです」

When you asked "Like what's in the walls?" I expected the answer to be termites.

Another concluding punchline to this could be, "okay so 200000 dollars in repairs, no amazon, kind of far away from tokyo, no other foreigners or english speakers for miles, completely foreign culture... All things considered still better than california."

Don't forget the 3 hour one-way commute to Tokyo, where they *actually* want to be.

Paints walls black, adds ninja scrolls, puts futon in closet, "Ninja Air BnB!"

The stove is actually three hotplates on a piece of plywood over two stacked cardboard boxes. Oh, no, the wiring isn't set up for a ground....what is a breaker box? There's a fuse box and fuses; the key to it is on the boar's neck.

That earthquake was actually Hikari 645.

appreciating the inclusion of the japanese social thing of looking at each other and acknowledging "ah, an earthquake" without further commentary on the matter

Now that's finally a good callout of all the influencers selling false hopes with 空き家

$200k for a brand new house, that's only 3 hours away from any major city. Throw in another $50k for a car, plus all registration and such. What a bargain! I'm not sure that Dogen realizes just how bad things have gotten here in the USA.

昭和の中途半端な古民家より江戸時代とかクソ昔の住宅を狙ったほうがいい 地震の心配はあるけど、生き残ってる良い理由がある

Gokiburis bite different at Akiyas 🤭

Wait so TWO bathrooms? That's a steal

hell, $200k is still a steal for a house in this day and age

the cockroach buzzing were edited so perfectly with the scenes lmaoooo

The whistle of the chill winds as he's talking about "colder than expected" 😆

Scary point #1 - I want to renovate something, but the planning permits required need to me to address an old unresolved boundary dispute from thirty years ago, which no lawyer will touch, unless I pay twenty times the cost of house and land, #2 need to put up new guttering, which requires me to disconnect the power temporarily, which requires me to install a newer standards approved terminal thingo on the house, which requires me to upgrade the power pole outside, which requires me to get the electricity company to do a,b, and c, (cost, cost) #3 access via a private road is not clear cut and requires another legal battle to establish right of way and to who , #4 the local folks don’t like me.

With everyone talking about moving to Japan and Akiya I’m glad you did this bit

The boar grunts by the end xD

Not using insulation is one thing I really don't understand about houses in Japan. It is highly needed there.

Not long ago you could get houses for about £60,000 in the UK. You wouldn't really want them as they weren't in good condition and usually in a rough area.

Well, at least you own a house in the end! Life is rough in western society (I'm Dutch)

There are nine million vacant houses in Japan now, so you have countless choices.

tfw $200k is actually an affordable price compared to some other places in the world

1:55 was fully expecting gokiburi here 笑

"Wait, wild boars?" LOL

Okay. A little back story first. Back in the early 2000's, I played a game by Sega that featured photo realistic areas of certain cities in Japan. They even included tour maps and contact (website) info of the places you visit (i.e.: restaurants, stores, gifts shops, parks, etc.). I really love that particular area of Japan as a whole. So when I happen to stumble upon a site that advertised homes in that area starting close to $10k USD, I got very interested. As most have heard, Japan is going through a crippling aging population crisis. Because of this, a lot of homes are becoming vacant or abandoned. Real estate agencies just want to get something out of these properties if they can. Keep in mind that some homes still have a LOT of stuff in them (like the previous owner's items) that you clean out, while others have been refurbished and cleaned out in order to make a quicker sale. I've marked about nine different properties ranging from $10k to around $85k USD that I will try to move into by early 2025. And even though it may end up being a financial strain in the beginning, living in peace with people with common sense while also have peace of mind will be worth it.

In the winter japan houses are colder inside than outside. They are good refrigerators

Housing crises in Canada and the US are making Japanese real estate more attention getting.

イノシシはかわいい。🐗

You forgot a case: yes, it would be cheaper to knock it down but, due to changes in law (to allow emergency vehicle access, IIRC), the road is not wide enough to support any changes to this structure. Bonus points for a cultural properties or airport restriction. I now have a house in rural Tohoku, but man was this my life for so long trying to get out of renting to own at least *something*

As a building contractor here in CA, knowing what it takes to renovate something here, permits, sub-contractors, materials, to do that in Japan seems so daunting... I thought about it for about 20mins, then, nah...

My original dream from when I was 14, was to own a farm block in rural Australia. That done i now have to make it liveable. My new dream is to own a tree change house in rural Japan perhaps in another 25 years that dream can come true too. I'll be 65 then so sounds about right for retirement. Better start writing novels and selling rights for manga/ manwha/ manhua so I can make the money to pay for the house.

I live in Australia a house in a bad side of town just as poorly built would still cost at least half a million so it’d take it

古い家に超デカ蜘蛛もいる。益虫だと分かっても、マジで勘弁😅

I've been in a multi-year long process of trying to get the concept of "insulation" over. The word seems to have no obvious meaning or translation in Japanese language or culture. And when it's understood, by some, it's seen as a kind of luxury, like customized paintwork on a car (i.e. not something which is actually needed or particularly useful) As for strengthening the house for earthquakes.. the regulations have been updated and upgraded over the decades, so a house from the seventies *could* be improved on, but.. We've had experts going over our house, and whatever is done can't get us to "3" which is the current good standard for earthquake-safety. We can get to 1.5 or so. Much better than what we have, which is way below 1.. but in the end, it's actually cheaper and better to tear down everything and start over. In any case, as anyone familiar with houses know, if it's 50 years old you are 100% certain to have got drainage issues (water from outside no longer kept away from the base) and you may as well get all the groundwork redone anyway. Another reason for just starting from scratch. Another thing.. while talking to a representative for a construction company (the owner actually), he presented what is actually a common myth: That a house can be too well insulated, that it can be too air-tight. Which is false. A house can never be too well insulated or air-tight, as it's way more efficient and better to get the air refreshed in a controlled way (ventilation, air circulation, even windows). So there's still a way to go, even though modern concepts are starting to make its way into Japanese house construction. One company actually stated that they were still 30 years behind Europe.

I also heard about pesky termites eating the whole floor of Japanese houses….🫣

Daymn this is a $800,000 house in Ontario, 2 toilets?! Make that 1.2 million and you're lucky to be within an hour of a train line by car

Don’t worry about gokiburi, gejigeji will take care of it!

Thank you for dissuading people from buying these. More for me hehe

ngl, still my dream, even with cockroaches 😂 I'm slowly giving up on society so a cheap house at the east coast, that i could renovate enough to live and be left alone in it... I figure that if it's old then it survived 3/11, so it should withstand a few smaller ones too. Not that I can afford anything though, in Japan or otherwise lmao.

This video made me realize half my country is in abject poverty, because this house is still a steal, I'm not kidding

A home is a home. All these things are not issues if you have been homeless lol

Dogen always uploading at the midnight hour😂

Still way cheaper than California housing, even if it was brand new 🙃

By the way, what's was the smazon comment referring to? That he's so far into country that they don't deliver?

Insulation? In the walls? Gokiburi. Obviously.

Wait is it supposed to be clever to point out that a cheap house is going to need work? This is diaper-on-head obvious. Like imagine getting more than a new deck, or kitchen, installed for 60k in the west. The cheap abandoned houses in japan are an excellent beginning point for many types of people willing to put in the work on a starter home- which is what people should do if they only have enough cash for a starter home. Here in the Bay Area i got a large house that needed a ton of work, and i still spent over 800k. Cmon.

I'll take the inaka over Los Angeles any day

Preach Dogen, preach!

You know how much it doesn't matter? A 1/4 acre plot of 'land' in a swamp where it is illegal to build in Canada is currently over $60k. A 4 person house that is condemned and you have to pay to tear it down is probably more like $250~350k. (these are real prices from when i looked 6 months ago in Ontario)

yup. they're cheap cos they feel like geramn rental apartments. bit dusty. bit empty

Funny timing, as I finally just bought a house in Osaka! I saved up enough to be able to buy a 4LDK actually in a major city, 5 minute walk to the metro station, and new enough to not need immediate renovation, all for $100k USD. Not as cheap as all the akiya media coverage, but for sure a fraction of the cost of the same thing in the US.

I feel like you’re low key throwing shade at a particular Swedish ex-model whose been very vocal about buying akiya 😂

Beautiful

Sadly, here in Ireland☘️, our government just announced an ‘Affordable’ Housing Scheme with prices of €400k to €470k ($428k dollars +) 😳. That’s for a small family home. Renting, buying or renovating here is next to impossible for most people due to high demand, low supply & inflationary costs. Japan seems infinitely more affordable, even factoring in purchasing costs, language barrier, taxes, travel, renovation, insects, etc. 😅

The masterful wince as he tries to convince himself to ignore the costs.

Sounds about right. At under $100k, you're not going to be close to public transportation and the home is likely over 40 years old which is pretty old by Japan standards. I'd say you'd lucky if it wasn't an accident property at that point.

Exactly.

Rather than scaring me off, you're talking me into retiring to Japan or working remotely for my US company. The cheapest 1929-built Chicago bungalow in my neighborhood is $325,000, and it doesn't have flood control for the basement, which you need here. Some of the more improved ones still don't have central air conditioning, and 95°F/35°C is getting common here. I couldn't live here in a detached home for $200,000.

200k for a brand new house is still way cheaper than you have to pay for an old townhouse. yeah Ill take it.

Social Media vs. Reality, well done! Plus many are in flood zones, land slide zones or rotted, they are cheap for a reason. We just bought a new house in Kanagawa and it's a process you can't imagine what they involve till you jump in and do it.

Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong~♪

$60,000 is still dirt cheap for a plot of land.

The mental gymnastics of trying to convince yourself that it's somehow worth it lmao

I once woke up on my futon to see something dark on my leg. Freaking out, I turned on the light to find it was a gokuburi. That was actually a slight relief, because at least it wasn't a mukade or a spider. Still made my skin crawl >_

As someone who wants to buy an Akiya, this hits soooo hard 😭

On the plus side, you get regular visits from Inosuke, who will protect you from demons! 🐗

In a land where the buildings are vulnerable to earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanoes and general all-round fire, I prefer to rent, keep my assets liquid and move out of any danger zone that may arise.

You haven't seen a cockeroach till you've seen PNG cockeroaches. No joke it was common to see them bigger than 2". Once we saw one as big as 3". The childhood memories.

You know what? That’s still less than a third the price of anything here in Sydney. I’ve been looking at random places around that aren’t super cheap but much better value than here.

I was gonna say, if the joke payoff is that the big house actually is gonna cost 200k, that maybe isn't so scary to an audience in America

I love the comedic timing of the cockroach flying around.

Tbh I think it's expected that the price is for usually larger land lot, electric, driveway and pre piping. Other than "good bones" it's going to be a rebuild with some "historic charm" :)

Are you alright dogen sensei you looks skinny

From what I remember, the problem isn't really the housing itself, but how many taxes are on top of it. And that's are the expensive parts, if I've understood correctly.

homie looking at $60k houses and I'm over here ready to move into the $200 house in hokkaido

I remember being in an out of season typhoon and also an earthquake while in Japan for only 10 days. The people travelling with me where freaked out i took it all calmly I grew up in tropical Nth QLD were cyclones are common and also in PNG were I was once close to the epicentre to a 7 on the Richter scale earthquake. Earthquakes and aftershocks were common.

オラは日本人で最近同様に安い家を探しているが、安いのには理由があるという家ばっかりだ。和式トイレはスクワットトイレと言うらしいけど、ボットン便所は英語で何て言うんだ？

Most of this would all apply for most countries though.

Basically just buying land with a shed on it.

At that point you’re pretty much just buying on overpriced lot to build your new home on which is what you should’ve done in the first place honestly… Do the Dogen solution and build custom if you can BUT don’t underestimate how livable and more importantly affordable the preset type of homes can be. Sure it’s not unique but if you don’t have any different needs or wants then they can make a wonderful home still.

The two sides in the comments are so interesting 😂 they don't realise how little maintenance is done on houses in Japan. I know cause I live in a badly maintained place 😂

I love that you didn't translate ゴキブリ at first. 🤣 You get what you pay for.

Don't forget about mukade. AND suzumebachi.

You missed your opportunity to include "Where do I set the temperature?".

How can you hear Gokiburi in the attic lol😂

1:09 with 3d audio, this noise is unbelievably annoying….really sells it

What's in the walls? ME

that flying sound ☠☠

cold as fuck in the winter and hot in the summer even though you're constantly running the aircon, why the hell is there no insulation here

I'm sure you can make it work, but it takes a lot more money than you'd think at first and a lot of work if you're keen on doing it yourself. And just because you own a house, it won't grant you any sort of permanent citizenship even if you're looking to live in Japan for the rest of your life, right? Most people don't have that kind of money in cash, but I think it's unlikely that a Japanese bank will just loan you the money.

I think Dogen's "not good Japanese" is getting too good.

So, since I am used to camping, and having to go out of my way to get provisions, that might work… And I could enjoy a kotatsu, because in my American home it’s too warm for that.

Well look on the bright side…you have a house in Japan and…uh and…

i guess if you want to pay 110,000 dollars for a house with no insulation, no electricity, cockroaches, and half a wall missing you can always look in texas. skip having to move across an ocean.