Kiwi family moves to Japan, buys house for about $120,000

Impression: My family relocated to coastal Japan in late February of 2022, and what an amazing working experience it has been, not only for the lifestyle. 

We have discovered that the charge of dwelling is drastically much less expensive than living in New Zealand.

We still left Aotearoa with only our suitcases and organised Airbnb lodging and car rental for one month in the spot where we preferred to stay. Our objective was to acquire a house and motor vehicle in that time and move into it.

We procured a property for about the equivalent of NZ$120,000.

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The household locale is on a extended stretch of shoreline in Chiba prefecture termed Kujukuri. We’re a 10 moment bike trip to the beach and we forget a huge place of rice paddies.

Rice paddies are flooded in early spring and planted late spring. 

For the duration of this time the frog inhabitants explodes, which also delivers in the Japanese crane to feed on them. It really is a great time of year that definitely will make us come to feel like we are residing in Japan.

The populace of young children in the countryside in Japan on the decline, as everybody is relocating into the cities. However, we have a good principal college 1km down the road that nonetheless has 120 learners. 

Our young ones walk to faculty together with the rice paddies and a little river, spotting turtles and fish as they go.

Above the previous yr I have been renovating our new household, which is 30 yrs old.

I started by building a huge deck, as we desired to emulate what we have in New Zealand – a pure indoor-out of doors stream. It has cost about $4000. 

I then overlaid the authentic flooring with Nordic pine. (That was 70sq/m for a cost of NZ$1300. All currencies mentioned in this tale are in NZD).

Japanese residences are regarded to be chilly and not have extremely superior installation.

The finest I could do was insulate underfloor and increase a wood burner for $1200, along with thick curtains. It undoubtedly permits us to live in heat about the wintertime.

I also changed the downstairs bathroom, for $600, and crafted a rock climbing wall for the young ones to use as an alternative to the stairs to get up to their bedrooms. This value $1000. 

Japan just isn’t for everyone, particularly living rurally, having said that we’ve found a fairly amazing expat community here and on line, who are supportive, handy, and welcoming.

As my wife is Japanese, it really is critical for us to increase our kids to be bilingual and bicultural. 

So considerably we have observed this shift has been wonderful for us. It has not only allowed us to have a serious Japanese encounter, but also, it can be a ton less difficult on the wallet.