準備中 · One moment

Polishing the door handles…

準備中 · One moment

One moment, the house is unlocking…

Episode 1 · May 11, 2026 · 2 min

Old Houses Japan Podcast — Trailer

Read in 1 min · Listen in 2 min

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

Ep 1

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Show notes

Show notes coming soon.

Homes featured in this episode

Fukuno, Iinan-chō, Matsusaka, Mie¥2.6M
The 2.6 Million Yen Farmhouse in Iinan-chō
A sprawling 10DK farmhouse from 1935 in the Iinan-chō hills above Matsusaka — 150 m² of living space on 615 m² of land, a three-minute walk from the Shiraiyama trailhead bus stop.

9 Million Empty Homes: The Opportunity Hidden in Plain Sight

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.

May 11, 2026

1h 10m

Listen

Old Houses Japan Podcast — Trailer

Show notes

Homes featured in this episode

The 2.6 Million Yen Farmhouse in Iinan-chō

9 Million Empty Homes: The Opportunity Hidden in Plain Sight

Old Houses Japan Podcast — Trailer

Show notes

Homes featured in this episode

The 2.6 Million Yen Farmhouse in Iinan-chō

9 Million Empty Homes: The Opportunity Hidden in Plain Sight