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Buying a home in Japan sounds like a fantasy until you meet the people who actually make it happen.
YukiHomes Presents is a show about Japan... its houses, its regions, and what it really takes for a foreigner to own a piece of it. From the snow country of Hokkaido and Nagano to the cities, coasts, and small towns in between, it's a look at the country through the eyes of the people who help others put down a stake in it.
Every episode goes deep on one thing. Sometimes that's property: what an akiya is and why old Japanese houses sell for the price of a used car, how a foreigner actually buys and renovates a home, which regions are worth it and which are hype. Sometimes it's everything around the houses: the food, the seasons, the onsen towns and ski hills, the design and craft, the culture, and the parts of doing this that are harder than anyone admits.
Hosted by Nick and Derek, co-founders of YukiHomes, and Grant (YukiHomes PR & Media Lead). Along the way you'll meet the builders, guides, shop owners, and buyers who know this country better than any guidebook.
No top-10 travel lists. Just honest conversations about Japan, and what it takes to own a piece of it.
New episodes every other week.
www.yukihomes.com
www.nipponhomes.com
ep 2
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[00:00:00] I think there's a misconception that all of the homes we're selling and all the homes, like, foreigners are buying are akiyas. And I would say I don't know if we've ever even sold, like, a true akiya.
Hey, this is everybody's new favorite podcast, Yuki Homes presents Grant's Wildly Addicted to Zyns and Derek's Definitely Hungover, but we're gonna try to teach you a little bit about what it's like buying a house in Japan, living there part time, and hopefully getting a couple more turns every winter.
All right, Derek, tell us like more about akiyas and why there's so many of them and why everybody wants to fucking buy one. I'm guessing 'cause they're so damn cheap, but- Yeah ... break it down for us. For sure. So there's a few reasons why housing in Japan is so cheap.
The first one is obviously depopulation. The second one would be young people moving to big cities and emptying out of these rural towns. And then the third one [00:01:00] would be zoning, which I think plays a much bigger role than people give credit to. Most people just say it's depopulation, where I think the zoning might actually be a bigger factor.
'Cause you look at a country like South Korea, and their population's decreasing, but their housing prices are still going up. And their population's decreasing at, or I think maybe even a faster rate than Japan. I know it's very similar. So the zoning in Japan is very unique, where it's set by the federal government.
There's 12 zones across the whole country. Each municipality does not change those zones, and there's almost no NIMBYism. So like in America, it's very common, right? You know, the, the, the boomers, they bought all this real estate, and then they constantly go to town hall meetings, and they shut down any new developments.
It's a very common trend in my town. Anytime something new is gonna get built, you get a bunch of old people who don't want new people coming into their town. They want their prices... They want the price of their property continually increase, so they make sure that [00:02:00] the, um, amount of properties doesn't increase.
They keep the supply constrained. Greedy boomers. Greedy boomers. Shots fired at the elderly in Oceanside. And in Japan, I mean, it just literally just happened to my town like a month ago. Um, there was like a whole development gonna happen. Yeah, but your brother's going to these meetings now, right? Yeah, my brother goes and fights for- He's making a change
for more development. But in Japan, you can't do that. So if a building meets the federal zoning, there is no power for someone from that town, an old person, to come in and shut that project down. So what happens is you can just continually build and build and build more, and you can increase the supply of homes, and that's what's happened across Japan for a long, long time is that they just continually build at a much, much higher rate than any country in the world.
I think Tokyo builds more new homes every year than the top five biggest cities in America combined. So- Wow ... it's pretty crazy. That's [00:03:00] an interesting fact. That is a crazy stat. Yeah. It's funny too because it's built into their culture from what I've been learning too. Like I don't know what about a used home most Japanese people just don't seem to like, but they would almost always prefer to build a new home.
Yeah. And I think it's just like generationally built into the, the way that they live and the way that they were brought up. So there's no like developers coming in and just like taking, tearing these things down and like trying to build something new and like... What's, what's the deal with that? They do but like in Tokyo, in Fukuoka, in Sapporo, like in these small towns like Otaru- There's surprisingly still some new buildings, like, going up.
Like, we saw- Yeah ... one when we were just there. But- Yeah ... like, generally, I think from a developer standpoint, why are you gonna build a big building in Otaru when the population is, you know, just steadily decreasing every year? But it is happening in Tokyo for sure. Yeah, I mean, even big companies like Icon and a lot of the Chinese investment companies, like, [00:04:00] I wouldn't say they're late to the game, but places like Niseko, Hakuba, Myoko, they were already blowing up.
And, like, just this year, there's, like, a $3 billion project going in at Myoko. Mm-hmm. It is by no means, like, a growing town. Like, it, it has grown, but it's growing even more. But they're not making... I don't think they're making moves early. Like, I would say we kind of are higher believers in Otaru, or Otaru, however you wanna say it, than, like, a typical giant construction company or a, I don't know, whatever you called it, like a- Yeah.
I think, like, we- ... real estate group? ... we have such boots on the ground. Like, we have such a pulse on Otaru. Like, I don't wanna maybe overstate, like, our understanding and, like, influence on Otaru, but I feel like we, you know... N- I don't know anyone who looks at more housing in Otaru or sells more housing or thinks about Otaru more than maybe me.
I think you're probably right. [00:05:00] So, like, these cheap houses, what's the cheapest one you've seen? What's the cheapest one you guys have sold? And, like, why are these, like- I mean- ... just so appealing to people? Free, free houses exist. Yeah. I think the cheapest one that we've actually sold was, like, it converted to USD like 4,800 bucks.
Um, that one, you know, I personally don't think I would've bought, but a client really wanted it. I think the cheapest house that we've sold that I am like, "Damn, I'm jealous," um, was, like, 14 to 16,000 USD, and it was honestly just, like, coated in dust. But we got, like, serious cleaners in there. I think it was two or three days worth of just cleaning, and it's, like, a six bedroom awesome house, central Japan.
One of our clients, and- He might be pumped that he's getting dropped on here. Yeah. I think he will. I think we might even have him on here one day. He's, like, one of the, I think, most just, like, [00:06:00] gung-ho clients we've had.
For sure. He bought the house. He now is living in the house. He's working on residency. Obviously, he's only gonna stay his, like, 90-day tourist visa this first go-around. Um, I think he was living in Thailand before or some other country. He sent us a picture of him at, like, the local bar with a bunch of people, like, "I love this place."
Yeah, he's making friends. He's assimilating. He's being respectful, getting his neighbors gifts. Yeah. Uh, one of his neighbors actually helped him find, I think, like, a plumber or some- somebody, and yeah, it's just really cool to see, like, him just jump right in. I think the best house I saw f- like, I- in my mind, is...
We could call him... We could... His name's Joe. It's a pretty common name, so I won't be giving anyone up, but he got a sick house for 21,000 USD, fully renovated, like, six years ago. Like, turnkey, modern- Garage, two bed ... two bedroom house. Like- Where was that? ... for 20-something grand. In Otaru. Oh, damn. Yeah. It's a sick [00:07:00] one
So when people book calls with you guys and they're like, "We wanna get an abandoned house. We wanna get the cheapest house possible," are you kind of like guiding them towards, you know, these akiyas?
Are you kind of like, "Yeah, people don't really... Like, this is gonna be a lot of work. Like, you got- you don't really know what you're getting into with these houses." Like, how's that go? Yeah, I mean, the akiya is, I think, the buzzword and, like, what gets a lot of people introduced into the idea of buying a house in Japan.
And I think there's a misconception that all of the homes we're selling and all the homes, like, foreigners are buying are akiyas. And I would say I don't know if we've ever even sold, like, a true akiya. Like, our house- I think one. Yeah, maybe one. Our house was lived in till the day we bought it, and so was most of our clients' homes.
Um, the akiyas, it's cool, it gets you in- into it, but, like, at the end of the day, I don't think you would wanna buy a house that's been abandoned for, like, five to [00:08:00] 10 years when you can just get one that's lived in for maybe five grand more, you know? Like we just said, 20 grand for a recently renovated lived-in home.
Yeah, I mean, even, like, the formal definition of akiya sometimes seems to change. I think it totally is just, like, SEO buzzword, whatever you wanna call it. Um, a lot of these houses are just houses for sale by owner. Um, you know, we've done our due diligence and looked on these akiya banks. A lot of the homes that are, like, withheld are owned by the government.
Here's another, like, interesting cultural fact that I think is crazy. Um, a lot of these kids that move to the cities, you know, their parents may die or pass, or pass the house on to them, and instead of trying to sell, actively sell the house, the kids think that that would be disrespectful or, like, dishonorable, so they just don't pay taxes on it until the government takes it, at which point it becomes an akiya.
Um, we're just [00:09:00] not seeing a ton of value in buying a house that hasn't been lived in for five to 10 years, like Derek said, versus, you know, it's cool to see, okay, there's a family living in this house, so there can't be too much wrong with it. Where- Mm-hmm ... some of these free akiyas, like, we've gone in with levels and, like, measured the floor tilt, and I personally would be scared to live in a two-story home with, like, a two-degree tilt in a couple rooms, and sometimes that's what you see.
So even if they are akiyas, like, we're going and checking them out, but for another four to six grand, which kinda like Derek said, is typically, like, the average we're seeing, especially, like, in that northwest Hokkaido area, I just think it's worth being s- being on the safe side. Yeah, for sure. I think, like, 20 grand is a good...
That's what I usually tell people, like, 20 grand will get you a solid home as long as you don't care about the zoning of it, which we won't dive into now, but yeah. And do you think like, like you guys [00:10:00] work with a ton of real estate agents. Are they kind of like, "We don't really like dealing with these Occios 'cause we don't make any money on them," or like they...
It's too much work and like how does that go? Yeah. I mean, that's a fair point. We do also like try to incentivize our realtors, everybody that we're working with Well, they make the same anyway Yeah, they would make the same either way, right? But we also have clients looking for $400,000 properties, and we don't just get a client to pay us and then pass them off to a realtor.
Like, we're doing the majority of the work, at least like the front-loaded work of analyzing location, doing research on properties, sometimes doing like a ROI-type analysis. Um, we're finding the houses. You know, Derek and Michelle, in the morning in the US, Derek's looking at all the houses that came on. In the morning in Japan, Michelle's looking at all the houses that came on.
And typically, like, if you're working with a realtor, it's kind of on them to find the house. Um, so we're, like, alleviating them of a lot of that work. And then, you [00:11:00] know, we have the lead generation that when we do get a bigger client, that realtor's even more pumped to work with us. But the one thing we always make sure to say is, you know, treat every client equally.
And so, you know, a- all of our partners, at least at this point, have been doing that. And, um, I don't know. There's not, like, a whole bunch more to say about that, but there is a floor to what the realtors can make. And what is it? In 2024 they increased it, right? So yeah, any home under 8 million yen, our agents make 330,000 yen, like, no matter what.
So to them, it doesn't matter if it's a 1 million yen house or a 8 million yen house, they're gonna get paid the same. But they definitely don't want to work on these Akiyas from, like, an Akia Bank perspective because the Akia Banks are just a pain to work with. There's no incentive. Like, you know, you have a seller's agent trying to sell a home.
They're making a commission. Akia Banks a lot of times are sold by a government, so, like, they don't care. It's just as a gover- this is a government [00:12:00] employee basically selling this house. They're getting paid salary. They're not getting paid commission. They don't care to, like, push this house and make...
'cause they're not making money on it. So the Akia Bank properties move extra slow. They're really first come, first served. And so, like, if you just send an email like, "Hey, I wanna buy this Akia," and y- a lot of times you just never get a response. We've waited for months. Yeah, you'll just- Yeah ... if you're not, like, the actual person in the front of the line, you just will never get a response, even, like, our agent emailing.
Yeah. And then some Akia Banks- You have no insight either- No insight ... into, like, where you are in the line. You could be the first offer, you could be the 10th offer- Yeah ... and they don't really let you know. What if you wanna go view 'em? They're just like- No. Like, can you just walk in or, like, how's that work?
I mean- It depends ... you need to make sure it's okay. Some of them have lock boxes, like key outside on the premises. Some of them you need to go into that local municipality, pick up the keys. Mm-hmm. Um, but again, like, if you're not willing to make an offer right [00:13:00] away, chances are you're not gonna be first in line, and we may not even ever see a response.
So it's just- We've n- ... like, really tough. Yeah. We've never sold an Akia Bank property, and I don't even know if we've ever received an email back From that g- local government. Maybe one We... Yeah, one in, uh, like the Iyama- Yeah ... Nagano region. That's the only time we've even come close to making an offer. Um, it took a long time to even get far into it.
And another, really another interesting thing, Nick, in Iyama, do you remember? You have to... It's direct, the buyer has to be the one to contact the, the akiya bank- Yeah ... remember? So we had to make a Google, like email with this person's name- Yeah ... and have Yoshi do the co- like emailing so that it sounded Japanese.
'Cause like they won't speak to realtors. Right. They want the person buying the akiya bank to be the one talking to them, at least in Iyama. That's not everywhere. Yeah, yeah. Which even like more [00:14:00] or less, I guess, incentive for a realtor to even look in, into an akiya bank for a client. Yeah. Yeah, that gives no incentive at all really.
It's funny 'cause like our best performing, some of our best performing Substack articles, like SEO-wise, were the, was the one Nick wrote about akiya banks. But like we don't even sell properties there, but it's just the buzzword. I know. It's the buzzword. People like it. Maybe we're changing the conception around that.
I mean, that's the goal So like on your guys' website, Nippon Homes, is there actual like Akia Bank properties or like are you aggregating those listings or it's just, just kind of homes that are listed publicly and not- No ... in the Akia Banks? So there's, there's no Akia Bank properties on Nippon Homes currently.
There are Akias that are just like abandoned homes, but they would have to be publicly listed. So we aren't like creating any of our own listings. It's all like publicly available data. So there's [00:15:00] not like a easily searchable Akia Bank kind of- No ... website Because each municipality has their own Akia Bank.
Sometimes it's a manila folder that you have to walk in and look through photos of. Other times they do have a website. Um, it kind of just depends on the town's budget and like how they're planning to deal with some of these abandoned homes. Yeah. It just, just seems like a burden to these towns. I think it is more- It's a burden
of like a burden to them. Um, but I mean, it, there are some good signs like increasing the floor on what a realtor commission, real, real estate agent's commission is, like is kind of a sign that, okay, we want immigration, or we want people to buy these used houses because we want real estate agents to push, push these used houses, um, or like, you know, cheaper homes.
So it's cool because it's making it more fair for the real estate agent, and it's also like allowing them to help us or help clients make offers on these cheaper [00:16:00] houses, and they're really not like trying to push a more expensive house, um, for themselves, at least the real estate agents that we work with.
Yeah. And then like twenty twenty-four there was another Akia law that I think in twenty twenty-seven is when you're required to like comply with this law Previously, when someone got past an akiya, they didn't have... Like Nick was explaining before, like if your parents died and you got past this akiya, a lot of times you'll just leave it there.
But now they're gonna p- start penalizing people who don't, um, set like the inheritance of the house straight. So basically, a lot of these akiyas, no one knows who owns them actually. Like, there's no like clear paperwork of this person owns this house. So now if you don't make it clear and it's your house, they will fine you, I think, X amount of money every month that you don't get this up to speed.
[00:17:00] 2027 is when that goes into effect and everyone has to be following that law. So hopefully- Mm-hmm ... in 2027 you'll see a bigger increase of these homes getting listed. You know? We'll see. Yeah. That's another thing too why we've just recently, um, been required to put like a tax agent or tax POC when we're selling these houses.
Uh, because they do wanna make sure they have someone to come after if taxes aren't being paid. Where in the past you could just mark none on the purchase of a property and, you know, if you're some person or some entity in Australia or in Europe or in wherever, they would just have no way of reaching you.
And sure, they would take the house or impound the house, but that's really just adding cost to the municipality. It's not really doing anything. So are these municipalities like encouraging people who are putting these in their wills, like to just leave it to the government? I don't know. It's a great question.
I don't think so. Uh, [00:18:00] yeah, that... I don't think that would make any sense. But yeah, honestly, not a ton of insight into Japanese will writing, if I'm being honest. You haven't reviewed these wills, dude? No. You're supposed, you're supposed to look over that will, dude. Um, yeah. I will when I have one that something's going to me.
No, it just seems like these abandoned properties are just kind of becoming just such a big problem for everybody over there. And like, are, are locals kind of just thinking people are crazy for even showing interest in these? I think sometimes they think so. Yeah. But I mean, recently we were talking to a bartender who's been in Otaru for, I think, 40-plus years.
Uh, Japanese, born and raised there, still lives there. And, you know, she was like, "Oh man, I can't... I really hope you guys are making a difference. I want Otaru to be like it was 20 years ago." Uh, we went to a street festival, [00:19:00] and one of the vendors there, we kind of met, hit it off with. He said his dad used to work the same booth that he was working at the fair, and there wasn't a single block on the side where there wasn't a tent, and it was shoulder to shoulder all day long.
And I don't know, Derek, what do you think? There was, like, maybe 20 booths, and you could take 10 steps without even passing another person, so- Maybe 30 people walking- Yeah ... around that fair. It was- It was sad ... I didn't know it was supposed to be like that or that it used to be like that. But that's just, like, another testament to, like, this town can hold a lot more people than it's h- holding right now.
And I don't know. I mean, hopefully they do make some legislative changes to change, like, some of the immigration policies and stuff, but- Seems like it's going the opposite way, though. Yeah. It's... I mean, yeah, it's just... Yeah, we'll see. I feel like when, when I visited it was pretty packed, like, as far... 'Cause it was in the winter.
I'm guessing that's probably, you know, that's what- It was s- it was very [00:20:00] busy when me and Nick were there, too. It was just- In September, yeah ... it's a tourist town to a degree, you know? Yeah. The thing about Otaru is right now it's primarily, like, a day trip from Sapporo. Yeah. And I think back in the day, like, there was a lot more reason to stay overnight.
So, you know, hopefully there's more and more reason to stay overnight and- Mm-hmm ... I think, you know, skiing and snowboarding obviously is one of them. But with some more infrastructure in the town, like, who knows? And, like, that's kinda why we're trying to build this coffee shop, co-working space. Hopefully some locals, people that live there, can get in there and, like, come up with some business ideas and more young people can stay there and not be forced to move into, like, a bigger city, especially if they don't want to.
What's the, uh, condition of the coffee shop that you guys just bought? And, like, what do you g- what do you think it's gonna cost you to get it up and running? I mean, it's definitely... It's not in bad shape by any means, but it's a house, so, like, it is not ready to be a coffee shop at all. It needs a full, you know, full [00:21:00] renovation.
To get it up to a co- like a really nice coffee shop, honestly, we have no idea. We're just, just like when we built this company, we're just flying the plane as we build it, so we really don't know. I think we're trying to spend all in under 100K. The purchase price was 18,000 USD. So that leaves us with what, 62,000 or 72,000?
82,000. 70- 72,000. No. No. 82,000. 82,000. You're out. 82,000. We're not spending that much. $82,000. Yeah, but I mean, ideally- ... we'll see. We really don't know. I mean, we literally closed on the house- Was that a Akio, you think? No, right? ... two days ago. Um- No ... it, it hadn't been lived in in, like, a y- a year, but it's attached to another house that people do still live in.
Um, so we went over and, like, met him, and he's pumped, which is awesome. Just, like, a older ojichan, like older Japanese man, and he was like... Basically the, the [00:22:00] translation was, "Knock your socks off. I can't wait to have coffee next to my house." So that was pretty cool. He gave us a double thumbs up. Yeah. He was pumped.
What time do you guys plan on opening this coffee shop? 'Cause I know it's hard to find coffee early in the morning over there. I like that s- That was a- I like that setup, Grant. I know. Yeah, that was a good- This is a big, a big area of discussion. Yeah, I mean, Derek and I both are pretty big, like, espresso fans, and you can get great coffee in Otaru, but not typically till, like, 10:00 AM.
So we're trying to open at 7:00. Uh, hopefully be able to, like, get coffee and if we can, have some, like, spare backcountry gear because, you know, that's just, like, what we love doing. So if we can go somewhere, set up, like, our plan, check avalanche conditions, stuff like that, and, and have a good coffee while we're doing it, like, that's, that's essentially what we're building this for.
What's that one shop that we like to go to out there with the cream puffs? Birdcage. Birdcage. That's, that's a good- Place is [00:23:00] amazing. That's a killer. I can't believe you let us drop that on this public episode. We can't gatekeep anymore. You guys are- ... are putting so many people onto Otaru, we gotta give up the spots.
But- Nah, we love them there. Yeah We can't give up our secret, secret spot though. You guys are- No. No ... you guys are gonna have to pry that out of us. Chill, chill, chill. Never. You're supposed to change the con- Change the topic. Change the- You're supposed to keep us on the rails, Grant. Well, that's exciting.
Coffee shop opening, what, 2028, 2027? What do you think? Hopefully December. We're hoping to have a soft opening in December, yeah. We'll see. 2026. That's pretty quick. We'll see. That could be, uh- That's crazy, yeah It might not be. Anyway- We have... Yeah, we have anything else that is of value about Akios? What do you think, Nick?
What else can we say? Um Like what's a common, what's a common, I guess, question? I mean, here's something that's pretty co- Yeah, a common question that seems to come up is, well, isn't there some sort of [00:24:00] requirement to like maintain or build or beautify if I'm buying like one of these used houses in Japan?
And I think, I'm not actually sure, but I think a lot of that comes from a couple years ago, like Italy went viral, like completely abandoned towns and houses were for sale for $1. The only issue was like you're required to put X amount into it- Mm-hmm ... and make sure it lives up to like whatever these standards are.
Um, that just isn't the case. Uh, there are a few towns that do give you, um, it's not dividends. What's the word for it? Subsidies. Subsidies if you like replace the roof, that's a big subsidy, uh, in, or make the windows- Or like earthquake retrofitting. Earthquake retrofitting, yeah, that whole sort of thing. I think Kanazawa is a big town doing that.
But it's different from what happened in Italy because in Italy there was like literally h- whole towns that were just like vacant and ghost towns. In Japan, there may be a few, but for the most part it's [00:25:00] just houses inside of like working operational towns that are becoming less and less populated. So there really typically is not any requirement.
I mean, we've walked by like a beautiful mansion and then the next thing over is like an abandoned, covered in vines, like old whatever it was. Um, so no, that, that's typically not a requirement. Um- Yeah ... trying to think of other like frequent asked questions. That is super interesting what you said 'cause like that's something that is really foreign to anyone coming from America.
Like we in America have like nice neighborhoods and people are always like, "Oh, which is the nice neighborhood I should buy my house in?" And it's like everywhere is nice and also everywhere has abandoned homes. Mm-hmm. It's like such a dichotomy. You'll see like a million dollar house like Nick said, and then an abandoned house, which is just a crazy thing coming from America.
Um, and then I guess another point to your point, 'cause today I was on a call and someone asked me like, "Do I need to [00:26:00] retro- earthquake retrofit my house?" And even for Airbnb, they were shocked to know like that you don't. Like our house was built in 1967, we have not upgraded it to the 1981 standards and we're still licensed.
So like you... Each municipality has different rules, so this might not be like a rule across Japan, but in Otaru you do not need to upgrade your house even if you Airbnb it to the new earthquake standards. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and that's definitely like municipality dependent, but- Yeah ... it's, um, yeah. It seems like these people building these like, you know, nice mansions next to these akiyas just don't even seem to care about the property value of their own house, right?
They don't. They're just kind of building to live in it, have it forever and just like- They're built for themselves Yeah, I mean, and like equity is not a play here. Like, people in California especially are like, "Even in 2008 my property value didn't change," and that's just not [00:27:00] really the mindset that you have to have as, as an investor or as a purchaser of property in Japan.
Like, you're literally building this house to live in, um, to rent, obviously offsetting the cost. But I would not really sell or think of this as like an equity play- Yeah ... like you might in the States or- Yeah, like b- post... pre-bubble, so like pre-1980s, late '80s, early '90s, it was like the same thing in Japan as it was in the US where there was- Mm-hmm
a lot of speculation, a lot of property value increasing. But the bubble was like so traumatic in Japan, and I think people don't really have a, like a good grasp of how insane it was. Like, the, the famous stat is the land under the Tokyo Palace, which is like a couple football fields, maybe 10 football fields, was worth more than the entire state of California at the peak of the bubble, which is ridiculous to think about.
So, and then that just crashed. And after post-bubble, no [00:28:00] one looks at any property in Japan as like an equity play. It's just strictly for themselves. Yeah, I mean, that's not to say, like, 10 years Niseko I think's up 200%. Yeah. Hakuba's up 150. Like, there are cases- Yeah ... no doubt. Um- Mm-hmm ... and that's, you know, part of it.
Maybe one day Otaru. That's part of it, right? But again, we're not s- we don't sell that. That's like, if it happens, heck yeah. But- Mm-hmm ... if not, like the reason you're buying is kind of like what we're calling the lifestyle investment. Like, we love going over there multiple months a year. And yeah, in the long run we have all our stuff there, we're saving money on rentals, and, you know, it's, it's kinda cool to like make yourself a little home in the community, which is...
it's been fun. Yeah, it seems like you guys have had a blast, you know, trying to get people in Otaru and like revitalize that town. Yeah, b- and we don't just help with Otaru. I was gonna say, this episode was definitely Otaru heavy, but we [00:29:00] definitely know the most about, like, Aki banks and buying homes there.
But we've helped people buy in Miyazaki. I just don't wanna pigeonhole ourselves. We have a team in Myoko. We have a team in Nagano. Uh, Iyama, like we were talking about earlier. Joetsu. All like super popular areas. And, you know, we're hoping to explore more of the, like, surf coast of Japan in the next cou- couple months to a year, so.
Be cool to get one of these cheap houses on the surf coast and just like turn it into a sweet little bungalow, have it on the beach. That's where you could live, Grant. That's where I could live. That could be your dream, but just no mar- ... no marijuana. All right, guys. Well, thanks for tuning into episode two.
Make sure you drop us a like, follow. Um, follow us on Substack. And, um, we'll see you next week