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While all these things are true, I've squatted in one of these houses, slept on the floor, tilled and made rows in the adjacent plot, got to know the neighbors, a mix of locals and hippies. It was my only experience in Japan, and it was one of the happiest times in my life. Now I'm not sure those hippies want me back, but damn if it wasn't a fucking dream.

How did this come about?? Seems super random but awesome.

Could you share more about this experience? How did this happen!?

Were you fluent in Japanese when you moved there?

Also, were these hippies young Japanese people, or young people from all over the world, or were they older Japanese/gaijin hippies?

That sounds amazing (though the mukade alone make it a big nope for me), did you write about it anywhere else?

If the goal was really to repopulate the countryside some quick changes might make this much more appealing.

Manor house model.

If you want an old time feel, allow for full fudel style living. This would mean.

* Allow frontpage / living space be expanded keeping same style - so main home could add some outbuildings.

* Allow owner to hire out labor for the farming using outbuildings.

* Allow owner to use this as a summar house as long as at least 4 other people lived on property full time (farming / caretakers etc)

* Explicitly allow (screened) sat dishes / 4G LTE extenders for internet access if needed or get fiber to property.

Modern digital nomad modal.

* Go big on connectivity. Allow easy renovations behind existing look (ie, upgrade to modern comfort).

* Make it VERY easy to live in these including quick visas etc for folks with means and only a 1 year residence requirement etc.

* Allow digital nomads to easily bring partners / kids etc.

Commercial development model.

* Remove building / zoning restrictions. Ie, ugly modern houses OK. Tear down and replace OK. Etc. Let creativity flourish (including some horrible / weird / crazy houses or tiny shacks etc).

There is a reason folks are moving out of these areas - the tradeoffs are not worth it (currently). Maybe tweak those tradeoffs?

Japan is an INCREDIBLY safe country.

They will never do this because yes, they want to repopulate the countryside, but they don't want to have any change in terms of culture and tradition.

200 grand USD or Yen? If USD then you shd really consider Tokyo suburbs.

200,000 USD.

¥200,000 is ~$2000. If it was that low, I will drop that money in without missing a beat.

I see repopulation of the rural areas in japan has precisely the same problems as "repopulation" of US rural areas has.

What they need is immigration. Badly. Those are the most willing people to come and economically rural areas are cheaper and thus more affordable for immigrants.

But the population that remains in rural areas is inflexible and strongly tied to ethnic identities.

Is there really huge influx of immigrants wanting to be farmers or living in rural villages with little connection to their own culture? What I have understood is that even refugees prefer bigger cities, with more modern work and communities from their own culture...

Out driving in North Carolina in what are seemingly "traditional rural" settings in the middle of nowhere I'll often come across signs reading "llanteria" (tire shop) or "Iglesia Evangélica" (Evangelical Church) in Spanish. At this point immigrants have reached most parts of the southeast U.S., rural and urban. BTW if you're ever in Hickory, NC there's a great Hmong restaurant with the hilarious name Duck 'n' Good Food.

EDIT: spelling

Man immigrants risk their lives on rafts and die by the thousands every year, just to have hope. Not a good life, just hope. They would be willing to work their ass of for a house and a farm.

> Residents have to contribute to local development funds which take care of Matsuris etc. You like it or not, local government will knock on your door with a bill.

I own a home in a large Japanese city and we have to pay that to our neighborhood association. It’s not that much and the festival is good fun

Most of these sound reasonable to me. The appeal of the Japanese countryside is tied up in all of these requirements.

I would not be keen to drop half of my life savings into living somewhere I don't remotely have control over. I am owning something to benefit my life & comfort, not contribute towards public charity.

Having a charming weekend getaway is nice in rural Japan. Relocation & living full time with such restrictions in place? No thank you.

Especially considering you're not free to sell your property if you get tired of it.

If Japan had a more western investment and speculative mindset when it came to property/housing, maybe anything decent would cost much more and you'd be priced out anyway.

It’s not just a difference in mindset that prevents the homes from being valuable. The demographic pyramid and immigration rates mean these homes won’t be in-demand in the future. So investors speculate that the value will stay low.

"If Japan had more Western investment [...] "

That's a big 'if' buddy. I am sure if free market capitalism worked its way, I would also have much more flexibility, which I may be possibly willing to put my dime in.

The restrictions you've mentioned are pretty significant. How many people are taking advantage of this program?

Not many. The biggest bummer is having to permanently reside. There is no way out or fudging it. Since all residents (including citizens) have to register their resident card (which ties your insurance, taxes, legal residence etc), there isn't much of a way out. (You can't be in two places of course! And you can forfeit your acquisition or penalized if discovered, although I haven't heard any such case yet.).

Think of zairyu (resident permit) as SSN with all personal details locked in.

Honestly, all of this can be summed up as:

"trying to have your cake and eat it too".

Nothing more than stubborn/incompetent administration of a dying village refusing to let go of the ways of thinking and lifestyle that existed 50 years ago.

That's not to say the lifestyle is bad or obsolete. It may exist again 50, or 100, or 1000 years in the future. But it doesn't exist now, and if you want to actually attract people there and not do pointless virtue signaling, you have to change these conditions. Most of them are terrible disincentives.

Having outsiders settle in with their ways seems a threat to their heritage. Believe it or not, locals are dead serious about it.

The Japanese society functions with a purpose of blending in, not standing out. If you play strictly by their rules, perhaps life is easy. Else you are always the outsider gaikokujin, who is looked at suspiciously very instinctively.

Time will only continue to reveal how unreasonable that mindset is.

The population will continue to age and shrink, so cultural norms will have to make way for that to ever change.

That's fine and I understand that these rules are aimed mostly at insiders, who are more willing to comply and have skin in the game of cultural heritage.

And perhaps life really is easy. But as someone mentioned in the thread, spending $100-200k USD to renovate a property AND to basically change your career to a farmer is completely out of the question for 99.9% of the population.

At beast you would get some incredibly wealthy hobbyists who adore Japanese cultural heritage, but judging their success realistically, it doesn't look like there's many takers, so my point still stands.

Maybe the downvoters should put their money where their mouth is and go spend a few million on restoration of these properties.

I have a friend of mixed Taiwanese/Japanese descent, fluent in Japanese. Living in Japan for over 10 years, striving to fit in, still an outsider.

Maybe it's harder for them because they look Japanese and don't get the leeway given to foreigners.

I agree... I'm shocked at how onerous the rules are.

I wonder what the true market price of these places would be, without all these restrictions.