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He spent years of backpacking around the world, and Japanese traveler Desuke Kaziyama was finally ready to return home for a long time. Dream of opening a guesthouse.
In 2011, Kaziyama returned to Japan with his Israeli partner Hila, who met him in Nepal, and the pair set about finding the right place for their future venture.
However, there were some major stumbling on his way. To start, Kaziyama had very little money to speak after years of globotrotting around the destinations like Korea, Taiwan, India, Nepal, Guatemala, Cuba and Canada.
He also happened to set his heart at a traditional Japanese house, which is usually known as Kominka, Which are usually passed from generations.
“I wanted to keep a traditional house in rural areas,” Kaziyama explains the CNN trip, stating that he was firm to find two houses next to each other, so that he and shakes could live in one, while the other would be a guesthouse that they would walk together. “I had a vision.”
When he was unable to find anything that fulfills his needs, Kaziyama decided to move his discovery to include the increasing number of abandoned houses in the country.
As small people dig the rural areas in search of jobs in the city, the rural area of Japan is being filled with “ghost” houses, or “Akia.”
According to the Japan Policy Forum, Japan had 61 million houses and 52 million houses in 2013, and the country’s population was expected to decrease from 127 million. 88 million by 2065This number is likely to increase.
Between Kaziyama, Kyoto and Tokyo, a small village located in Shizuoka province was driving around Tamtori, which was surrounded by green tea gardens and rice fields, when he came in cultivation of an elderly woman, and decided to contact her.
“I said” do you know if there are any empty houses here? ” And she just gestured, “she remembers.
She saw the area that she was signing and two neglected houses were seen together – a former green tea factory and the house of an old farmer – located close to a river.
Both properties were desolate for at least seven years and required a large amount of work. Kaziyama asked the woman to contact the owner if she was interested in selling.
“The owner said that no one could live there, because it was left,” they say. “But he did not say”. ” Everyone was always saying ‘no.’ But he was not.
Kaziyama returned to visit homes about five times before he interacts on an agreement to meet the owner, which would use him as a house as a house, and would convert the farmer’s house into a guesthouse that he always imagined.
While he was willing to buy both houses, he explains that the traditions around the house ownership in Japan mean that he is unable to do so until it goes to the son of the current owner.
“He said” If you take all responsibility yourself, then you can take it. ” So we signed a compromise on paper, “he says.
Both he and Hila knew that there was a lot of work ahead of them, but the couple married in 2013 were thrilled to be a step close to their guesthouse at an ideal place.
“This is a very good place,” says Kaziyama. “It is close to the city, but it is actually in rural areas. People still live here and go to work. [in the city],
“The house is also in front of the river, so when you go to sleep, you can hear the sound of water.”
According to Kaziyama, the process of cleaning the house, which is about 90 years old, was one of the most difficult parts of the process before starting the renewal work, just because it was so much so much to sort through it. However, he was able to reproduce some objects.
During the first year, he spent a lot of time to join the locals, gained knowledge about the house, and helped local farmers with farming first year or after.
Although he was not greatly experienced with renewal work, he spent some time in farming and completing the building, while he was backpacking, and also took odd jobs in fixing people’s homes.
He completed a lot of work at the guesthouse himself, adding the place of the floor and a toilet, which he says that his parents had a wedding, at a cost of about $ 10,000.
“I am not really a professional,” they say. “I like to carry out cargo and I enjoy making things, but I have no experience in my background.
“With my backpacking of many years, I saw a lot of interesting buildings, the house of so many interesting figures and I am gathering them in my brain.”
Kaziyama was determined to keep the house as authentic as possible using traditional materials.
He saved money by collecting traditional wood in the process of breaking traditional houses.
“They need to spend money to throw it,” they explain. “But for me, some stuff is like a treasure. So I will go and take the material I wanted.
“The house is a very, very old style,” they say. “So it won’t look good if I brought it into more modern materials. It is completely authentic.”
He explains that very little work was done at home earlier, which is quite unusual for the house built so years ago.
“It is completely authentic,” they say. “Typically, with traditional houses, some renewal are made for walls, because insulation is not so strong. So you lose style.”
He says that he got some financial assistance from the government, which meant that he was able to bring it into a carpenter and also benefited from it. Japan’s work holiday programWhich allows passengers to work in exchange for food and board when they require additional assistance.
After doing some research in the Japanese guesthouse permit, he found that one of the simplest ways to achieve someone would have to register the property as an agricultural guesthouse.
Since the region is full of bamboo forests, it looked like a brain, and Kaziyama decided to learn everything about bamboo cultivation so that it could add two businesses.
“This is how I started farming,” they say.
In 2014, two years after working at home, the couple were finally able to welcome their first guests.
“It was a beautiful feeling,” says Kaziyama. “Of course, it was my dream. But people really appreciate that it was abandoned and I brought it back to life.”
He says that hosting guests from all over the world has helped him to stay connected with his former life as a backpacker.
“I live in one place, but people come to me and I think I am traveling,” they say. “Today, it is Australia, tomorrow it is the UK and the next week South Africa and India.
“People come from different places and they invite me to join them for dinner, so sometimes I join someone’s family life.”
Sadly, Hila died of cancer in 2022. Kaziyama insisted that his beloved wife played a big role in helping her dream of having a guesthouse and said that she could not do so without her.
“We were really together,” he says. “He made this place with me. It doesn’t happen without him.”
While the three-bedroom guesthouse, which measures about 80 square meters, has been open for about eight years, Kaziyama is still working on it, and says he does not know when he will end.
“It’s never ending,” he believes. “I’m half, I think. It is already beautiful. But it has been left, so it requires more details. And I am getting better in making, so I need time to do it.”
He explains that he is unable to complete the work at home, while the guests are there. And when the property stops during winter, he spends two months as a bamboo farmer and usually travels for a month, which does not give him much time for renewal.
“Sometimes I do nothing,” he believes.
Yui Valley, which offers activities such as bamboo weaving workshops, has helped many travelers to bring to Tamtori village for years.
“Most guests come after Tokyo, and this is a contrast,” they say. “They are really happy to share nature and tradition in our home.
“Most people have dreamed of coming to Japan for a long time and they have very little time here.
“So they have such beautiful energy. I am happy to host this way and join their holiday time. This is very special [for me],
Kaziyama estimates that he has spent around $ 40,000 on the renewal work so far, and if there is anything to react to guests and local people, it seems that it has been spent well.
“People appreciate what I have done,” he says. “So it makes me feel special.”
As Hirocha, the woman who pointed her towards the house a decade ago, says Kaziyama says that she is shocked to change, and is amazed at how many international passengers are coming to Tamori to live in the UE Valley.
“She can’t believe how beautiful it is 1751623726″He says.” He did not think that it was going to happen like this. So she actually appreciates it. She says ‘Thank you very much’. ,
Yui Valley1170 Okabecho Tamtori, Fujida, Shizuoka 421-1101, Japan
