Why NOT to Buy a Traditional Japanese House ⛩️ 6 Reasons to Avoid

WHAT DO YOU RECKON? Are you up to the challenge of renovating a traditional Japanese house? I'd always romanticised the idea right up until I set foot in this place. My dreams are crushed. Cheers to Alex from Tokyo Portfolio for joining us! I can't believe it's already been a year since we last caught up. You can check out this video linked in the box above!

I feel like it would be great if even if some of these houses were demolished, that the new ones could be made with a similar visual style, even if they weren't made exactly the same way.

As a carpenter, I'd love to own the older house and do the renovations myself. It's really not in bad shape at all. But the initial cost is way overpriced for what you get.

I know you probably won't see this, but I just stayed in a renovated machiya in Kyoto two weeks ago. The house itself was beautiful, but in the middle of the first night we were awoken by horrific screeching and animals clawing inside the walls. We figured out that it was WEASELS - yes, WEASELS - that had broken into the roof through a hole in the adjoining house. When the property manager came to investigate, he said that the houses on either side were empty, and that quite often you have weasels or other animals that essentially take over the house, and then cause havoc to the adjoining properties. I'll never think of Kyoto without thinking about how we got infested with weasels.

Actually the yellowing on these old kind of plastics does not mainly come from cigarettesmoke but from the bromium used in the plastic to make manufacturing easier. The plastic degrades over time having more and more bromium getting oxidized which makes it yellow and slightly toxic :)

I still love how Chris makes movie quality videos, free for the public.

I had been considering buying an old house in my area, but my wife (who is Japanese) said “absolutely not”. So we ended up building a new house instead. Can’t say I regret it at this point. (Of course it costs more to build a new place, but land is pretty cheap rural Japan. And then there are those zero interest bank loans… 😆)

What's upsetting is the second house looks comfy to me, at first glance. Many small rooms to utilize, authentic and nostalgic feel. It's the awareness of how everything is degraded and about to break that makes it an awful place to move in.

Another youtuber named Anton (Anton in Japan) bought a abandoned house ("Akiya") in Tokyo for virtually free and renovating it. It was abandoned for 10+ years and still had all the belongings of the former owner. His channel is super interesting if anyone wants to see how to renovate an Akiya.

its from the 20s and looks THAT nice?! I'm actually quite impressed. Yeah with the mold, foundation issues, and its cost I can see why people aren't interested in investing in a renovation, but that house was well loved for a very long time before its age began to make itself known.

Tbh, i like the second one more, though the state and price of the building is terrible, i would merge some of the rooms together, and thicken/soundproof the walls to the neighbors, and make sure all the walls are properly insulated for winter to, i think a bigger kitchen would do wonders.

Having grown up in the rural American South, I've seen a plethora of abandoned homes/trailer houses. The state of the unrenovated town house is probably the best case scenario for an abandoned/uninhabited house. Especially for being 100 years old

If I bought a machiya I would be so tempted to renovate it in the same aesthetic - or, at the very least, keep 80-90% of the elements and add just a few modern touches here and there. There's something very alluring about how these old houses look and I personally find the layout to be very interesting. Also, I have to appreciate the small garden with the old AC, there must be some 50-year old artifacts right there!

yeees, finally someone who understands the importance of insulation! I have been staying in Japan as an exchange student and was chocked of how bad the insulation is here in Japan. In Sweden (where I'm from) it is quite common with three layered windows and don't understand why not more countries implement that when building houses. Insulation is not just good to keep the house/building warm, it is also good to keep it cool during the summer months. Better insulation for everyone!

It says a lot about the houses in my country that the unrenovated one looked kinda cozy to me, except for the price 😅

I might be odd but i much like the second unrenovated one! If it was restored to just its prior glory I think it's quite a comfortable and cozy space that I'd love to spend time in!

With a lot of old, yellowed, previously white electronics, it's actually light exposure that yellows it, and not necessarily cigarette smoke.

Not sure about the layout, but the aesthetics of the "running garden" kitchen were really nice. I loved the combo of terracotta tiles with wood framing. And a stainless steel countertop is pretty cool as well. The skylight though seemed like a really unique and beautiful architectural feature.. If only the house weren't falling apart lol

For the intro with Alex wearing the green scarf and gray suit, it's a real estate agent wearing the colors of Slytherin, how fitting 😂. I kid, I've seen enough of Alex's content to know he's a good guy, but the idea is just funny (I'm sure as a fellow American, Alex fully knows real estate agents here can be quite hit or miss).

In Australia, we could buy and renovate 2 or 3 of these machiya for the average cost of a decent home in inner Melbourne or Sydney. Funny how Chris scoffs at the cost, whereas I would love to pay that little for a house in the middle of Kyoto and live there. I'd still be about a million dollars better off than Melbourne!