A Japanese traveler, Daisuke Kageyama, was able to achieve his dream of owning a guest house with his wife, after he returned from traveling to Japan in 2011 with his partner Hila, whom he met in Nepal, and the duo embarked on the search process to find the ideal place for their future project..

Daisuke faced two obstacles in achieving his dream. First, he has little money, due to years of traveling around destinations such as Korea, Taiwan, India, Nepal, Guatemala, Cuba, and Canada. Second, his dream home is the traditional Japanese house, commonly known as “kominka”which is inherited through generations, according to the website CNN Arabic.

The traveler was determined to find two adjacent houses

“I wanted to own a traditional house in the countryside,” Kageyama said, explaining that he was determined to find two houses next to each other, so that he and Hila could live in one, while the other would be the guest house they ran together, when he couldn’t find any. A home that meets his requirements, Kageyama decides to expand his search to include a growing number of abandoned homes in the country..

Kageyama was driving around Tamatori, a small village located in Shizuoka Prefecture, between Kyoto and Tokyo, surrounded by green tea plantations and rice fields, when he came across an elderly woman farming, and decided to approach her. Empty houses in the area.” The woman pointed to two neglected houses, one of which was a former green tea factory, and the other was an old farmer’s house – located near a river..

No one has lived in the two properties for at least 7 years, which required a huge amount of work to be done to renovate them, and Kageyama asked the woman to contact the owner, to see if he was interested in the sale, and the owner assured him, after their communication, that no one could live at his old house, because it’s deserted, but he never said no to it, so Kageyama felt he had little chance.

The house before restoration

Kageyama revisited the two houses about five times, before going to visit the owner himself to negotiate an agreement that would have him use the old green tea factory as a home, and turn the farmer’s house into the guesthouse he had always imagined..

While he was keen to buy the two homes, he explained that the traditions around homeownership in Japan meant that he had no power to do so, until the property passed to the son of the current owner..

Kageyama pointed out the beautiful location of the two houses, saying that it is close to the city, but it is in the countryside, where people live and go to work in the city, and the two houses are located in front of the river, which provides gurgling music at night.

Kageyama pointed out that the process of emptying the house, which is about 90 years old, before starting the renovation work was one of the most difficult parts of the process, as there were a lot of items that had to be sorted..

During his first year, Kageyama spent a lot of time communicating with the locals, gaining knowledge about the home, and helping local farmers with their farming..

House details

Although he had little experience with renovations, Kageyama completed much of the work on the guest house himself, replacing the floors and adding a toilet, which was a wedding gift from his parents, at a cost of about $10,000..

Kageyama made sure to keep the house as authentic as possible by using traditional materials. He saved money by collecting traditional timber from builders who were in the process of demolishing traditional houses.

Kageyama received some financial support from the Japanese government, which meant he was able to bring in a carpenter, and also benefited from Japan’s Work Holiday Program, which allows travelers to work in exchange for food and accommodation, when he needed extra help..

After doing some research into Japanese guest house permits, he discovered that one of the simplest ways to obtain them was by registering the property as an agricultural guest house, and in 2014, two years after starting work on the house, the couple were finally able to welcome their first guests..

“Of course it was a nice feeling, this was my dream,” Kageyama said, pointing out that the guests really appreciated that it was an abandoned house, and he brought it back to life, although the guest house, which consists of three bedrooms, has an area of ​​​​about 80 square meters. It has been open for about eight years, yet Kageyama is still working on its renovation.

He admits that the work is never finished, saying: “I feel like I’m halfway there. It (the house) turned out really nice but it was deserted, so it needs more details.”

Kageyama estimates that he has spent about $40,000 on renovations so far, and according to comments from his guests and locals, it seems like the money has been well spent. “People appreciate what I’ve done. It makes me feel special.”