Akiya Renovation » Pruning the Side Yard; What Will We Find? » Omishima, Imabari, Ehime, Japan

Today we're looking at one of Evan's favorite hobbies: pruning! We spent two work days cleaning up the side yard, finding countless treasures buried in the soil, and even discovering some beautiful plants we didn't know were hiding in the mess. Of course this is just a preliminary clean up, as this has been completely unattended for over ten years; it needs a lot of love.

Japan has an estimated 8.5 million akiya (abandoned homes), and we're in the process of buying this one, prior to receiving our residency status. The purchase price is ¥1 Million ($7500 USD). We have our work cut out for us! The house is in a great location for attracting tourists as they ride their bicycles along the Shimanami Kaido, so we currently intend to renovate it into a guesthouse rental. We will renovate a second nearby akiya for our own homestead, and restore nearby farmland that's been sitting unused for over a decade. We're in the process of applying for a Startup Visa, which will then allow us to apply for Business Manager Visa, and essentially sponsor our own residency in Japan.

I’m documenting literally everything, with photography, as well as our rough attempts at learning to incorporate video. Please stick with me through this learning process! In the meantime, if you’re curious about looking behind-the-scenes, I’m sharing pretty much daily updates on our Benton Homestead “stories” on social media.

Full Blog "Our First Six Weeks Living in Japan":
https://bentonhomestead.com/archives/1408

Full Blog: "What We're Looking For in Mexico or Japan":
https://bentonhomestead.com/archives/564

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