Couple transforms abandoned Japanese house into guesthouse

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After years of backpacking around the world, Japanese traveler Daisuke Kajiyama is finally ready to return home to pursue his long-held dream Dream of opening a hotel.

In 2011, Kajiyama returned to Japan with his Israeli partner Hila, whom he met in Nepal, and the two began searching for the perfect location for their future venture.

However, there are several major obstacles in their path. First, Kajiyama spent many years traveling around South Korea, Taiwan, India, Nepal, Guatemala, Cuba and Canada, and was penniless.

He also happened to be in love with traditional Japanese houses, often called “kominka”, Often passed down from generation to generation.

“I wanted to have a traditional house in the countryside,” Kajiyama told CNN Travel, explaining that he was determined to find two houses next to each other so that he and Hella could live in one and the other. One building serves as a hotel and they will run together. “I have a vision.”

When he couldn't find anything that matched his requirements, Kajiyama decided to turn his search to the growing number of abandoned houses in the country.

Japan's countryside is becoming filled with “haunted” houses, or “autumn houses,” as young people leave the countryside to find work in the cities.

According to the Japan Policy Forum, Japan had 61 million houses and 52 million households in 2013. The country's population is expected to decrease from 127 million to about 88 million by 2065, and this number is likely to increase.

Kajiyama was driving around the village of Tamatori, located in Shizuoka Prefecture between Kyoto and Tokyo and surrounded by green tea gardens and rice fields, when he came across an old woman farming and decided to approach her.

“I said ‘Do you know if there’s any vacant houses around here?’ and she just pointed,” he recalled.

He looked over the area where she'd signaled and saw two abandoned houses side by side – a former green tea factory and an old farmer's home – on the river's edge.

Both properties had been unoccupied for at least seven years and needed extensive work. Kajiyama asked the woman to contact the store owners to see if they were interested in selling.

“The owner said no one could live there because it was abandoned,” he said. “But he didn't say 'no.' Everybody always says 'no.' But he didn't. So I think the chances are slim. ”

Kajiyama returned to the houses about five times before visiting the owner himself to negotiate a deal that would let him use the old Green Tree factory as a home and transform the farmer's house into the guesthouse he had always dreamed of.

While he would have loved to purchase both properties, he explained that Japan's home ownership traditions meant he was unable to do so until the house was passed down to the son of the current owner.

“They said 'If you take all the responsibility yourself, you can take it.'” So we made an agreement on paper. ” he said.

Both he and Hila know they still have a lot of work to do, but the couple, who married in 2013, are happy to be one step closer to owning their own guesthouse in their ideal location.

“It’s a really good location,” Kajiyama said. “It's close to the city, but it's actually rural. People still live here and go to work (in the city).

“The house also faces the river, so you can hear the sound of the water when you sleep.”

According to Kajiyama, the process of cleaning out the 90-year-old house before starting the renovation project was one of the most difficult parts of the process because there was so much to sort out. However, he was able to repurpose some items.

In the first year, he spent a lot of time communicating with locals, understanding the situation at home, and helping local farmers farm.

Although he didn't have much experience with renovation work, he spent some time farming and completing construction while backpacking, and also did odd jobs repairing people's houses.

He did most of the work on the hotel himself, replacing the floors and adding a toilet, which he said was a wedding gift from his parents and cost about $10,000.

“I'm not really a professional,” he said. I loved woodworking and creating things, but my background was inexperienced.

“In my few years of backpacking, I saw a lot of interesting architecture, a lot of houses with interesting shapes, and I kept collecting them in my mind.”

Kajiyama was determined to keep the house as authentic as possible by using traditional materials.

He saves money by collecting traditional wood from construction companies that are demolishing traditional houses.

“They need to pay to get rid of it,” he explained. “But to me, some things are like treasures. So I go and get the materials I want.

“The style of the house is very, very old,” he said. “So if I brought in more modern materials, it wouldn't look as good. This is completely authentic.”

He explained that the house had had little previous work, which was unusual for a home built so many years ago.

“It's completely true,” he said. “Typically, traditional houses have some renovations to the walls because the insulation isn't as strong. So you lose style.”

He said he received some financial support from the government, which meant he was able to hire a carpenter, and also benefited from Japan's working holiday scheme, which allows travelers to work in exchange for food and meals if he needed extra help.

After doing some research on Japanese hotel licenses, he discovered that one of the easiest ways to obtain a hotel license is to register the property as an agricultural hotel.

Since the area was filled with bamboo forests, it seemed like a no-brainer that Kajiyama decided to learn everything he could about bamboo cultivation in order to combine the two businesses.

“That’s how I started farming,” he said.

In 2014, two years after they started working on the house, the couple finally welcomed their first guests.

“It's a good feeling,” Kajiyama said. “Of course, it was my dream. But people are really grateful that it was abandoned and I brought it back to life.”

He says hosting guests from all over the world helps him stay connected to his former life as a backpacker.

“I stay in one place but people come to me and I feel like I'm traveling,” he said. “Today it's Australia, tomorrow it's England, next week it's South Africa and India.

“People come from different places and they invite me to have dinner with them, so sometimes I join other people's family lives.”

Sadly, Hila passed away from cancer in 2022. Kajiyama emphasized that his beloved wife played a huge role in helping him realize his dream of owning a hotel, saying he would not have been able to achieve this goal without her.

“We're really in this together,” he added. “She and I created this place together. Without her, it wouldn't be what it is.”

Although the three-bedroom guesthouse, which measures about 80 square meters, has been open for about eight years, Kajiyama is still working on it and said he doesn't know when it will be completed.

“It never ends,” he admits. “I feel like I'm halfway there. It's already beautiful. But it was abandoned at the beginning, so more details are needed. And I'm getting better at creating, so I need time to do it.”

He explained that he was unable to complete work on the house while guests were home. Although the house was closed in the winter, he would spend two months working as a bamboo farmer and usually a month traveling, which didn't leave him much time to decorate.

“Sometimes I do nothing,” he admits.

Yui Valley offers activities such as bamboo weaving workshops, which have attracted many visitors to Tamatori Village over the years.

“Most guests come after Tokyo, which is a stark contrast,” he said. “They really enjoyed sharing our family’s nature and heritage.

“Most people have dreamed of coming to Japan for a long time, but their time spent here is short.

“So they have such a beautiful energy. I'm so happy to host and join their holiday time in this way. It's very special (to me).”

Kajiyama estimates he's spent about $40,000 on the renovations so far, and if feedback from guests and locals is any indication, it seems like money well spent.

“People appreciate what I do,” he added. “So that makes me feel special.”

As for Hiroko, who showed him the house more than a decade ago, Kajiyama said she was shocked by the transformation and surprised that so many international tourists came to Tamatori to stay in Yutani.

“She couldn't believe how beautiful it was (now),” he said. “She didn't expect it to turn out this way. So she's really grateful. She says 'thank you' a lot.”

Yui Valley1170 Okabecho Tamatori, Fujieda, Shizuoka 421-1101, Japan