準備中 · One moment
One moment, the house is unlocking…
準備中 · One moment
One moment, the house is unlocking…
準備中 · One moment
Polishing the door handles…
The archive
15 episodes and counting. Catch up on the full back catalogue or pick the one that scratches the itch.
Looking for real scary stories from Japan? This is our Halloween special, and it’s the last episode of our October spooky season. David and Victoria from Old Houses Japan are joined by a special guest, Victoria’s niece, to read scary stories in the dark. In this episode: Reddit horror stories from Japan. We read first-hand accounts from people who had strange, unexplained nights in Japanese homes, apartments and hotels. Our worst night in Japan. Victoria tells the story of our Airbnb in Kyoto: flash photos in the garden, a dream about a leek, knocking in the bathroom, footsteps on the stairs, and the night we left for a hotel and never stayed in an Airbnb in Japan again. A haunting in our Nagasaki house. David shares his most recent haunted experience in the old Japanese house we’re renovating, the one where we found a removed kamidana (household Shinto altar) and 30,000 yen left behind. Rapid fire. “Would you stay the night in…” Everyone has to answer. A closing story from our special guest. If you’ve followed our October series on jiko bukken (stigmatized property), Shinto shrines in Japanese homes, abandoned objects, and the graveyard next door, this one brings it all together. If you’re new here, Old Houses Japan helps people find, buy and renovate traditional Japanese homes, including akiya and kominka, and sometimes those homes come with stories. Got a strange night in a Japanese home? Send it to hello@oldhousesjapan.com with the subject line “My Japan Story.” We read every one. 🎙️ oldhousesjapanpodcast.com 🌐 oldhousesjapan.com 📸 instagram.com/oldhousesjapan
In most Western countries, a house next to a cemetery sells at a discount. In Japan the logic is different, and it’s creating bargains most foreign buyers walk right past. David and Victoria cover how Japan thinks about its dead (Obon, ancestor worship, and why the grave is where the relationship continues). They also cover the four kinds of death geography that affect property: temple graveyards, family grave plots on the land, rural temple districts, and historical sites. You’ll hear: Why a temple graveyard next door is often a non-issue in rural Japan How kaso, Japanese geomancy, can drop a price when a cemetery sits due north of the house What to do if your akiya comes with a family grave on the land Ohakamairi, the grave-visiting tradition, and why the selling family may expect to come back after you buy A real client story where an unwritten access expectation caused friction after closing Know what you’re buying into before you sign. Got a strange night in a Japanese home? Send it to hello@oldhousesjapan.com with the subject line “My Japan Story.” 🎙️ oldhousesjapanpodcast.com 🌐 oldhousesjapan.com 📋 oldhousesjapan.com/grants 📸 instagram.com/oldhousesjapan
When we were clearing out our property in Nagasaki, we found 30,000 yen near the household shrine. Not dropped. Not forgotten. Placed there deliberately — arranged in a way that told us immediately this wasn’t ordinary money. The shrine has since been removed. The house has been blessed. And that money has stayed exactly where we found it. Because in Japan, money left near a household shrine isn’t yours to touch. And this episode explains why. Every traditional Japanese home had a kamidana — a Shinto shrine mounted on the wall that served as the spiritual protection system of the household. Not decoration. Not cultural furniture. An active relationship between the family and the divine presence watching over them, maintained through daily offerings every single morning. Water, rice, salt. The household gives. The kami protects. When the family leaves and the offerings stop, the house loses that protection. And when a new buyer walks in without understanding what they’ve inherited — they’re stepping into something they’re not prepared for. In this episode David and Victoria cover what the kamidana actually is and why its presence or absence changes everything about a property. A real client story about buying a house with a shrine still in place and going through the full removal and blessing process before renovation could begin. What saisen is — the specific type of offering found near a household shrine — and why 30,000 yen placed with intention is not money you spend. And the answer to the question they’ve been sitting with since they found it: what are you actually supposed to do with it? If you’re buying a traditional Japanese property, this is the episode you need before you walk through the door. 📧 Had a strange experience in a Japanese home? Send it: hello@oldhousesjapan.com — subject: My Japan Story 🌐 oldhousesjapan.com 📸 @oldhousesjapan 🎙️ oldhousesjapanpodcast.com
Most countries let that stay private. Japan doesn't. If someone died in a property under certain circumstances — a suicide, a homicide, an accident — the seller is legally required to tell you before you sign anything. It goes in the documents. It affects the price. And there's a public website that maps every reported case across the country. That's what jiko bukken is. And if you're buying property in Japan and you've never heard of it, this is the episode you need before anything else. David and Victoria break down the full picture. What the law actually says. What shows up in the paperwork buyers receive and what doesn't. Why these properties can sell for thirty to fifty percent below comparable buildings — and why that discount is sometimes exactly the opportunity it looks like and sometimes a complication you didn't see coming. A real client story about going through the process properly. And the honest answer to the question everyone eventually asks — should I actually buy one of these? Including Oshimaland. The Japanese website that publicly maps stigmatised properties across the country. Yes, it's real. Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. This is episode one of the Old Houses Japan October series. Everything else this month builds on it. 📧 Creepy experience in a Japanese property? Send it: hello@oldhousesjapan.com — subject: My Japan Story 🌐 oldhousesjapan.com 📸 @oldhousesjapan 🎙️ oldhousesjapanpodcast.com
October at Old Houses Japan is different. This month every episode lives in the part of Japan's property world that doesn't make it into the listings — the cultural weight of old buildings, the things buyers find when they clear out a house that's been empty for decades, and the experiences that sit between what's explainable and what isn't. In this short kickoff episode David and Victoria lay out everything coming this month. Jiko bukken — Japan's stigmatised property law and why every foreign buyer needs to understand it before they make any decision. The personal ghost stories — including Victoria's night in Kyoto that she still can't explain. The household shrine episode and the thirty thousand yen found in the Old Houses Japan Nagasaki property that nobody has touched. What gets left behind inside abandoned Japanese houses and what each object reveals about how the vacancy happened. Japan's death geography — why a property near a temple graveyard in Japan is not what a Western buyer assumes it to be. Plus a real story from the Reddit Japan property community to set the mood for everything coming. And the ask — if you have had a creepy, unexplained, or historically significant experience in a traditional Japanese property as a buyer, renter, or visitor, we want to hear about it. The best submissions will be read on the podcast this month. 📧 Submit your story: hello@oldhousesjapan.com — subject line: My Japan Story 🌐 oldhousesjapan.com 📸 @oldhousesjapan 🎙️ oldhousesjapanpodcast.com
A lot has been happening. Time to catch up. David and Victoria are back with a real update from the ground. The Nagasaki renovation is underway — and this episode is the honest version of what that looks like. Subfloors pulled up, tatami removed, decades of furniture and cabinetry cleared out. The unglamorous reality of early-stage renovation on a traditional Japanese property before anyone points a camera at it. And then the neighbors. One turned out to be a former professional boxer. The other runs a termite inspection and pest control business. Within the first few weeks of working on the property OHJ now has two of the most useful people in Nagasaki living right next door. They didn't find them through a directory. They found them by showing up and doing the work. Then the announcement. Virtual Open Houses are launching this month. OHJ taking the audience inside properties they find genuinely interesting — showing exactly how David and the team walk and assess a traditional Japanese building in real time. Not a produced video. A real open house, virtually. The gap between what a listing photograph tells you and what you actually need to know to make a good decision is significant. This is built to close that gap. Follow @oldhousesjapan on Instagram. The first one is coming soon and you don't want to miss it. Links: 🎙️ Podcast: www.oldhousesjapanpodcast.com 🌐 Property platform: www.oldhousesjapan.com 📸 Instagram: www.instagram.com/oldhousesjapan 📧 Get in touch: hello@oldhousesjapan.com
This one is different. Jonah Lane — OHJ's newest akiya liaison — visited a working horse ranch in Hakodate, Hokkaido. He didn't just look at it. He rode the horses, fed the animals, and spent real time inside the daily life of this operation. A massive piece of land with room to grow in almost any direction. An experience that people come to and remember. And it's looking for a new owner. In this episode Jonah tells the story honestly — what the ranch looks and feels like when you arrive, what working the land taught him, what the owner has built there and why they're ready to hand it on. What he saw when he looked at that property not just as a visitor but as a licensed real estate agent with an eye for what something is actually worth and what it could become. Old Houses Japan is in active conversation about finding the right person to carry this place forward. Not just any buyer. The right one. Someone who understands that what makes this ranch worth saving isn't just the land or the facilities. It's everything that's already alive on it. If something moves in you while you're listening to this — reach out. This is exactly the kind of conversation we're here to have. Links: 🎙️ Podcast: oldhousesjapanpodcast.com 🌐 Property platform: oldhousesjapan.com 📋 Grants database: oldhousesjapan.com/grants 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/oldhousesjapan 📧 Interested in the ranch: hello@oldhousesjapan.com
Old Houses Japan is growing. And today you get to meet the newest member of the team. Jonah Lane is a licensed real estate agent covering DC, Maryland, and Virginia. He studied at Temple University Japan. He speaks conversational Japanese. He's been traveling back to Japan annually for years — keeping a network alive, staying connected to a place that planted its roots in him early. How early? Watching Kurosawa films with his dad as a kid. In this episode host David sits down with Jonah for a genuine introduction — no credentials list, no polished bio. The real story. How Japanese films and media built something in him long before he ever set foot in the country. Why Temple University Japan was the only college that felt right — and what he was actually looking for that staying in DC couldn't give him. The sacrifice of leaving Japan when he wanted to stay, paying for college himself, choosing Washington DC over a Niseko internship at twenty-one. What came next: three years in the luxury fitness industry coaching executives, politicians, and a certain Japanese professional basketball player's family. Then real estate at Compass — where his luxury client network, his experience closing deals across time zones with diplomat buyers, and his ability to work through transactions in Spanish and network in Japanese with commercial real estate professionals in Virginia gave him something most agents in his market didn't have. And now — why OHJ, why Japan, and why this specific moment felt like the right one. Jonah is going to be spending the majority of his time in Japan doing liaison work and business development. This is the episode where you get to know who he is before you meet him on the ground. Links: 🎙️ Podcast: oldhousesjapanpodcast.com 🌐 Property platform: oldhousesjapan.com 📋 Grants database: oldhousesjapan.com/grants 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/oldhousesjapan 📧 Get in touch: hello@oldhousesjapan.com
Not historically. Not theoretically. Right now — where in Japan are the properties worth paying attention to, and why? In this episode David and Victoria each pitch two regions they're actively excited about today. Then they challenge each other. No backing down. Victoria makes the case for Niigata — specifically Joetsu and Itoigawa in the southwest, where the Hokuriku Shinkansen access most people don't know about meets snow country property prices that make no sense until you see them. And Nagasaki — where centuries of Dutch, Chinese, and Western trading history are written into the architecture, the climate is mild, and the international buyer community hasn't arrived yet. David makes the case for Hokkaido — specifically Asahikawa and Ashibetsu, a former coal mining town in central Hokkaido where David and the OHJ team just completed a client tour and found something worth paying serious attention to. And Tochigi — two hours from Tokyo, Edo-period minka and prominent kura storehouses, and almost no competition from international buyers. Closing with a rapid fire round: one sentence on who each region is actually for. The window on all four of these is moving. This is the episode that explains why. Links: 🎙️ Podcast: oldhousesjapanpodcast.com 🌐 Property platform: oldhousesjapan.com 📋 Grants database: oldhousesjapan.com/grants 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/oldhousesjapan 📧 Get in touch: hello@oldhousesjapan.com
The purchase price is not the number. In episode four, host David and co-founder Victoria make that very clear — and they do it with a game. True or False to start. Guess the Number throughout. Victoria keeps score and has opinions about David's answers. The information is serious. The delivery is not. They cover the full cost picture of owning a traditional property in Japan — from acquisition through renovation through the annual costs most buyers never think about until they're already in it. Including Reagan's kitchen and bathroom renovation in Chiba, currently underway near the beach. The Nagasaki property David and Victoria just visited — what they found when they opened the wall panels, what was underneath, and what happens next month when the tear-down renovation begins. And why the konbini utility bill payment system is either completely brilliant or completely insane depending on who you ask. Plus: why some municipalities will cover up to fifty percent of your renovation costs — and why most buyers never find out that money exists. And Monohaus Japan — the property management company built specifically for foreign owners of traditional rural properties, for when you own the building but can't always be there. David scores eight and three quarter out of eleven. Victoria has thoughts about that. Links: 🎙️ Podcast: oldhousesjapanpodcast.com🌐 Property platform: oldhousesjapan.com🏠 Property management: monohausjapan.com📋 Grants database: oldhousesjapan.com/grants📸 Instagram: instagram.com/oldhousesjapan📧 Get in touch: hello@oldhousesjapan.com
David was offered the chance to become a real estate agent in Japan twice. He said no both times. Then he spent two months back in the States, stepped away from the day-to-day, and came back with a different answer. In this episode Victoria turns the tables — she's asking the questions. David explains why he finally said yes, why he chose eXp Realty, and how real estate licensing in Japan actually works for agents (spoiler: no exam required). More importantly, what this changes for every client who comes to Old Houses Japan looking for property. Including the thing he'll say plainly: some agents in Japan will tell you to pick one area and only look there — not because it's the right strategy for you, but because they don't want to travel. And why that is completely unacceptable. Plus a phase-by-phase walk through the buying process as David now runs it — property tour, offer, the acceptance period, and what the key handover actually feels like after everything it took to get there. This is the episode about what OHJ is really built to do. And why the license makes it faster. Links: 🎙️ Podcast: oldhousesjapanpodcast.com🌐 Property platform: oldhousesjapan.com📋 Grants database: oldhousesjapan.com/grants📸 Instagram: instagram.com/oldhousesjapan📧 Work with David: david@oldhousesjapan.com
Everyone talks about Japan's nine million empty homes. Nobody explains how you actually find them. In episode two of Old Houses Japan, host David and co-founder Victoria go behind the scenes of akiya banks — the government-run property registries that are the entry point to this world for most foreign buyers. What they are, who runs them, why they only capture an estimated five to fifteen percent of Japan's truly vacant homes, and what actually happens between finding a listing and buying a property. Including the story of a client who found a hundred and fifty year old farmhouse on the Iizuna Akiya Bank in Nagano — hit every wall a foreign buyer can hit — and still got there. The visa barrier. The declined offer. The family who needed to know more than just the price before they'd sell. Plus: why David and Victoria's favourite akiya bank in northern Kyoto has listings you won't find anywhere else. The information that doesn't exist in any listing but that David brings home from every property tour. If you've ever opened a Japanese property listing, run it through Google Translate, and wondered what comes next — this episode is the answer. Mentioned in this episode:National Akiya Bank portal: akiya.mlit.go.jpIizuna Akiya Bank: 飯綱町空き家バンクFukuchiyama Akiya Bank: 福知山市空き家バンク 🎙️ Podcast: oldhousesjapanpodcast.com🌐 Property platform: oldhousesjapan.com📋 Grants database: oldhousesjapan.com/grants📸 Instagram: instagram.com/oldhousesjapan📧 Get in touch: hello@oldhousesjapan.com
Japan has nine million vacant homes. One in every seven properties in the country is sitting empty — and most of the people who should know about this have never heard of it. In the first proper episode of Old Houses Japan, host David and co-founder Victoria break down the akiya situation from the ground up. Not just the number — but what's behind it, what's inside it, and what it actually looks and feels like to stand on a street in rural Mie or Wakayama where half the houses have gone dark. They cover the three forces that created nine million empty homes — post-war urbanisation, Japan's new-build ideology, and an inheritance law backlog that left properties registered to people who died thirty years ago. The 2024 law change that's already moving the market. The difference between an akiya and a kominka. A prefecture-by-prefecture look at where the real opportunity is right now — including the house David and Victoria drive past every time they go to their own renovation in the Fukano Rice Terraces, that just appeared on an akiya bank for the first time. Plus the first two recurring segments of the season: The Numbers Don't Lie — where Victoria reframes the 13.8% vacancy rate as something no other country has. This is the episode that explains why the window is real. And why it's moving.
Before the properties, the grants, and the renovation budgets, who actually built Old Houses Japan, and why? Host David sits down with his co-founder and wife Victoria to tell the whole story. A teenager told no by her mom who spent six years making Japan happen anyway. A guy who went from Yu-Gi-Oh cards to the banking world before finding what he was actually meant to be doing. A proposal at the Fushimi Inari gates when the crowd cleared and the camera was already in her hand. Two years finding the right business idea, eight months of visa applications, and a celebration with In-N-Out burger in a dark Los Angeles bedroom. Three years to close their first property in Kyoto. And a moment in the quiet Japanese countryside that made all of it make sense. This is the episode before the episodes. Personal, honest, and the clearest explanation of why OHJ exists and why it's built the way it is.
Japan has nine million empty homes. Most of them are hidden in plain sight — on rural hillsides, at the edge of rice fields, in villages that emptied out a generation ago. Some of them are extraordinary. Century-old farmhouses with hand-cut timber frames, clay tile roofs, and engawa verandas that wrap the whole south side. And a lot of them cost less than a secondhand car. Old Houses Japan is the show that tells you what's actually possible — the buying process, the renovation realities, the government grants most foreigners have never heard of, and the people already doing it. Hosted by David and Victoria, who built the platform because the information didn't exist in English and they were tired of hitting that wall. New episodes every Tuesday. Follow now so you don't miss episode one. 🎙️ Podcast site: oldhousesjapanpodcast.com 🌐 Explore properties: oldhousesjapan.com 📋 Grants database: oldhousesjapan.com/grants 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/oldhousesjapan 📧 Get in touch: contact@oldhousesjapan.com