I left the US to move to a rural seaside town in Japan

• Bethany “Bitsii” Nakamura will move from the US to Japan in October 2021 for a job as an English teacher.
• She acquired a house for free on Shikoku in 2022, the smallest island of Japan.
• She does not think that it is wise for foreigners in the Japanese countryside to purchase property.

This is an essay based on a discussion with Bethany Nakamura, 35 years old, talks about her experience of moving to Japan, and living in an abandoned house. Nakamura and her husband have since moved to another Shikoku location. The following was edited to increase length and clarity.

I left the US in 2019 at a time when I felt like I needed some soul-searching.

To reconnect with yourself, I’d read that one should recall what they liked as children. I was thinking about Bethany who is 10 years old, and thought that she would find it amazing to teach English in Japan. So I did that And I’m so glad I did.

Prior to my move, I had been an interior designer working in America. I was burned out by corporate priorities as well as the focus on financial gain. I did not think I could return to corporate America.

It’s very competitive and the long hours are not enjoyable. I feel like it pushes everyone to compete with each other. I would rather work in an environment where people are working together, instead of fighting for the corporate ladder.

When I lived in New York, I began applying for jobs in Japan. It took me about two years to get the English teaching job that I wanted — I didn’t get the original position I applied for, so I reapplied the next year and landed it.

I was told teaching English is a good way to move to Japan — the government makes it easy for English teachers to move here.

I was able to completely ignore the visa application process because everything was organized by my employer.

They helped me get a hanko stamp (which is a Japanese name stamp), and set up my bank account. My employer subsidized my first apartment and took care of its maintenance. I paid about $60 per month. It was very affordable. It was an apartment of around 500 square foot with a bedroom.

The company also provided me with a car to use for my work and daily living, such as going shopping.

Word of mouth led me to my abandoned house

In Japan, there are many vacant houses, particularly in the countryside. Akia BanksWhat is it like? realtor.comThe local government is responsible for the vacant houses. It’s not worth the time of real estate agents, who work on commission, to try and sell these properties.

The listings include both properties for sale and rent, but my house was found by word-of-mouth.

The grandmother who owned the home was over 100 years old when she died. Her son, who lives in another island and is in his eighties, was left the house. He doesn’t require a home.

I was given the house free of charge, but I had to pay $136 per month for utilities. It depends on the municipality, but taxes could be anywhere from $2,000 up to $50,000 — I don’t think this house would’ve been that high because it’s so remote.

I’ve read stories about people who renovated abandoned houses. I thought “Okay, now I’m an Interior Designer.” “I’m also going to do that.”

It’s beautiful. It’s a beautiful house. Showa eraIt’s got tatami mat flooring in most of the house, a beautiful traditional Japanese flooring made from multiple layers of grasses that are densely woven together. The majority of the house has tatami floor mats, which are beautiful traditional Japanese floors made from densely woven layers of grasses. You can lay down comfortably on them, or you may prefer to sit on the floor.

There are two levels, and there is also a pressed glass with a retro design on many of the windows.

It’s a very special feeling in the house because it blends this seventies retro moment with traditional Japanese Kominka Folk — Kominka is the Japanese word for old folk house — in a really nice way.

The first level has 1,000 square feet and the second is 250.

Westerners might call it a single-bedroom house. The upper level is a large bedroom with two closets. The way it was used, you could pull out futons from the closets and sleep up to nine people.

In traditional Japanese homes, each person doesn’t have a separate room. The number of futons is more important.

It’s almost like camping to live in a house. You have to be outside to feel connected to the outdoors.

The windows in the front of the house face the town. The material is an interesting mushroom-colored material with glitter. It is very strange.

After spending some quality time with this house, I realized how wise and intelligent it is.

Patterned glass is one of those things that was unique to the Showa Era. Here, pressed glass windows are common. This is a new approach to privacy.

You might imagine the countryside in America as being a lot of land with horses. But here, the houses can still be very close. The design solution was to use pressed glass.

The Japanese view of homeownership has changed my perspective

People in Japan are aware of the depopulation problem and are concerned. The house is in good condition. I was going to renovate it as a gesture of thanks, but I soon realized that there wasn’t anything wrong with it.

After watching HGTV videos on YouTube about abandoned Japanese houses, I made some assumptions. But they weren’t necessarily true.

This was an interesting moment of learning. I also wanted to have fun in the house, but I was also trying to be a good neighbour and use my skills to maintain the property.

You don’t have to change the house if you know the culture, and how the people of the country live. It was beautiful and clean, but I didn’t get it.

I didn’t buy the house after living there. I was registered in the home as an official resident, but there wasn’t a standard lease agreement. No registration, no deposits, nothing to pay the government. Only utilities.

It’s not a good idea to buy a house in the Japanese countryside immediately. It’s a completely different culture to move from America. It’s an entirely different market. Some people may not be able to tell right away whether it is the best option for them. Once you’ve bought a house, it can be very hard to sell. In the US houses increase in value and in Japan, they decrease in value.

The $0 price tag is a big deal, but I don’t think it will lead to financial freedom. This is not the solution. It’s not the answer.

To me, who has only lived in the big cities of America, going to Japan’s countryside was a huge cultural change. You may not be able to grasp it immediately. It could take up to two years for someone really to understand the way they interact within the community. They may also need time in order to fully grasp what the community expects and how it will react if we do things we don’t know how.

Self-promotion, financial gain, and individualizing anything that has to do with money or personal benefit are disgraceful in my community. It’s difficult to discuss money with someone who runs their own business.

My husband and I are moving from our main house in Shikoku to his property. The house on his property was vacant, too, but it had only been vacant for a couple of years.