I am on a Akita binge at the moment and I am loving watching people restoring these. I work in property development myself and it is nice to watch others doing the work for a change haha. My main concern is not purchasing the property or even the renovation its the visa issue. It would be good if the Japanese government, could make some kind of retirement plan or make it easier for foreigners to stay. From memory you need a Japanese spouse, or has investments in businesses in Japan etc.
I love watching others do the work as well in my spare time 🤣 The visa issue is a tricky one. Longer term visas are possible (3 years) , but to my knowledge, not like a retirement visa which I have seen in Indonesia or elsewhere.
I know my grandfather used a rope method to clean his roof of snow in Switzerland. He saw the snow by roping it over the roof in back and forward motion. Must be a RU-vid video out there. Plus side of snow, workout, and warmth 😉
Great idea. I've seen something like that as well! I'll give it a try as I like the idea of using a rope system much better than climbing on that roof myself. It would be a big fall!
@@jmcneil4891 my house does have a system like that actually, it's kerosene heated, but apparently to be functional needs to be turned on all season. If you miss a storm, then it just creates a cavern on the roof as there's only like 3-4 lines.
Those roof on some of the older houses were not designed well.. should be A frame type of roof structure and some type of snow removing capability setup on the roof.
The old roof has no issue, snow slides right off. The issue is the 1979 install where they have a kerosene snow melt system, but the snow doesn't slide off.
Aboslutely loving the stuff you're putting out about this Akiya! Just curious what the plan is going forward re migrating there and getting a green card or will it be more like a holiday home?
I plan to move there half time very soon, and then hope to make that full time in the coming years as my kids hit school age. With an extended family around the globe, we will be back and forth, but this will be home base.
you mentioned community service helping other farmers ... and using your home as permanent residence. in order to get permanent residence in japan it takes more then just buying a house and moving in right? if you get an abandoned farm in a village does that then count as owning a business? and do the older generations like helping teach younger foreigners how to run a farm? i've lived in Colorado and in Germany. I love the mountains, and hot springs. Snow is awesome. But truly I'm not fond of the cold. I enjoy hot and humid for much of the year, and a good growing season. You lived how far south before this? do you know the kagoshima/miyazaki area?
I've travelled through kagoshima, visited the hot springs there, but that's about it. To become a farmer in Japan you have to be certified and pass exams... In Japanese of course. So any farm is therefore a professional farm, which makes it even more of a challenge.
It's hard to find a single website because they are all independently managed, per municipality, by government workers... So there's no central system it seems, that I've been able to find. So it's really finding where you want to live first then in which house is there. Cheaphousesjapan is a person on Instagram who accumulates data on some akiya houses!
Sorry I missed this comment. I definitely do see myself there... But all in time. Planned to move already but now it seems a few years out. For now it will be part time back and forth between Indonesia and Japan.
I have been to Nozawaonsen and skied there once, at the time I was living in Ueda, Nagano. My dream would be living in Japan permanently and love to have a house in Nagano but to get a permanent visa is hard. Btw, do you have a permanent visa or do you plane to get one in the future?
Owning a house doesn't lead to a visa. most of the usual visas which I've seen are work visas where the employer sponsors you... a student visa where you study Japanese or other subject 20+ hours a week and the school sponsors you, or start your own business, move there, and find a way to create something that works coming in as either a manager or director (this isn't easy or cheap, but is an option if you have a good business idea and want to do something in japan... but it has to be a real business, not a paper business like some countries, with employees , etc).
@@nipponmichael2936 I used to be in defence contract management, but i left that about a decade ago to build a scuba diving resort in Indonesia. There's not much scuba diving in snow country here, but we will see what the next adventure brings!
A full day at the big hill is roughly $50 US, half day is about $30 (and so long as you don't take the gondola in the afternoon you can ride the upper chairlifts as long as you want.... sorry, that's the cheap Scottish side of me getting the best deal). Gear is about $25 for the day, and clothing (if needed) would be about $25 as well. Other local hills are a bit cheaper and also worth checking out because they are also tonnes of fun. The food on the mountain is insanely good too. There are no real lines for lifts either (gondola in the morning a few minutes for first runs... like maybe 10)... and then a couple minutes here and there for chairlifts. Nothing like in Canada where i waited 1.5 hours for a gondola once.