A monk on Koyasan, a small town of 3000 people on top of a mountain pretty isolated from most other places. Though it does get a lot of visitors. I lived there for 4 years and it's a nice place.
Years ago at Koyasan I did meet a white guy who lived there as a monk, and he was one of the most normal well-adjusted foreigners I've ever met in Japan.
>and he was one of the most normal well-adjusted foreigners I've ever met in Japan.
I didn't expect that. Nice. Japan needs more of these foreigners, at least the usually white ones from western countries.
Yeah, not gonna lie, running up a mountain to shave one's head and perpetually pray to Hotoke-sama isn't necessary maladjusted but I definitely wouldn't say "well adjusted"!
I was an ALT there for four years. Koyasan is a small community of mostly older people, a beautiful albeit small town (I can walk from one end to the other in approx. 45 minutes). The town is located at the top of Koyasan; and is mostly filled with Buddhist temples and some gift shops for travelers. The people are quite nice and the scenery is quite beautiful. Despite the small size of the town there are places to get groceries, a haircut, etc. as well as a small hospital etc. It was personally too quiet a place for me, but since that seems like what this person was looking for I thought I'd mention it.
Did they have any need for schools for children? Or did you help teach older people? Seems like an interesting place for an ALT. That's def my jam and if I was still down to teach English that's the kind of place I'd like.
They do have an elementary school and a junior high, though the classes are so small they're actually building a new school to combine the two into a single building because there aren't enough children to justify running two separate buildings.
I used to be in one of those towns. There was another ALT who literally had a "school" that was teaching a combined class of a 8, 12, and 15 year old- two siblings and a neighbor, who lived on top of an isolated mountain that was technically within the BOE. Shit was nuts.
Wow! My situation wasn't \*quite\* that extreme, but I did have a school where every grade was combined (1st and 2nd grade, 3rd and 4th, 5th and 6th) as well as a Jr. high with exactly two students which, upon their graduation, was subsequently closed.
I didn't have it quite as bad, the place I was will probably be in that situation in 10 to 20 years, though. I had an elementary school that was all of 45 students with the smallest class being only 6. About half the building went completely unused as well. It was three stories but the top floor and half of the second were just used for community storage. There was only one Jr High and High school each in town, all the others had long since been closed down.
But yeah, I hated that place. There was nothing there. After living there for over a year, literally the *only* people I knew in town who were between the ages of 20 and 40 were the other ALTs, and they had the same story. There were no young Japanese people that any of us ever saw aside from the children we taught.
There's a lot of cool places like this in Japan focused on rural community building and organic/regenerative agriculture. There's typically a few other volunteers seeking similar experiences and a way out of their boring jobs. Might be up your alley if agriculture seems appealing.
Or fix up an old Akiya and build a Youtube channel around it.
Its not easy to get into them. If it were there would not be so many great ones just falling apart. And that's not even getting in to the people from "gaikoku".
Ive got a business that takes clients through the entire akiya acquisition process, can speak from vast experience and say that the akiya market is an exceedingly fractured one such that its not really realistic to expect an “average” person to put up with all the bullshit involved in it.
Objectively, its also endlessly fascinating navigating through all of the fail points, though years ago I opted to just not deal with ones that are over a certain threshold of administrative difficulty because usually there’s something similar with less red tape.
Subjectively, its a monolithic facepalm.
How hard have you tried? With all the online Akiya banks and auction websites, I'd be surprised if you can't get a potential gem (after renovation) within a matter of weeks. Knowing your way around in a community and talking to people also goes a long way. Sure, in many cases the owners are missing and there's little to be done, but as I'm sure you know there's a LOT of Akiya's out there (literally millions). The fact that there are great ones falling apart is probably more of a testimony to the lack of demand than anything else.
Well, before such things were online I went around one summer using addresses to identify owners at the city hall, then using telephone books to track down the owners. I probably tracked down 12 owners. None were interested despite all houses being long empty and being nothing but a tax drain for them. Some were small and some were big, some had yards were turning to forest, and some were barely shacks.
And my Japanese is pretty good and so are my manners. Twice I had a Japanese speak in my stead.
Japanese tend to much prefer to go through a real estate agent despite the incredible waste of money.
Anyway, the outcome of searching led me to a small detatched house that was for rent by a proper landlord. He happened to be working on a nearby farm when I went to ask who the owner was (there was no "for rent" sign. He told me he was supposed to go through the agent for all deals but decided to just let me rent directly since the agent did nothing.
Anyway, if things have changed that's great. They really needed to.
Anyway, I busted my butt to get a place. What I got was worth it I guess, but it was not the fixer upper with nature around I was looking for. I got low rent, a medium apartment sized house (for Japan), a bit of asphalt space around it and a place to park my car.....also cockroaches and mold.
Wow, thanks for sharing your experience and many props for your persistence! I hope you turned that place into something livable and nice even if it wasn't a 100% match initially :)
Nice idea, but probably good to have a realistic understanding of costs to bring them up to a livable standard (don't get me wrong, I would much prefer people to revovate and keep these old buildings alive than knock them down and build new ones). From someone in the process of doing this, you probably need to have around 20-30M to fully renovate a 200 square metre property well (maybe less if you stick to only low cost materials?) And where these properties are, it's unlikely they would ever be worth the cost you put into them.
TL;DR is you got to be really into this to want to do it. You could easily just rent something for next to nothing in a remote area for basically next to nothing.
Very fair point! Though if you're a true DIY master (or want to become one) and have LOTS of time on your hands, you should be able to get the material costs for renovation down to low single digit million yennies, depending on how fancy you want to make things. Source: one of my former colleagues is such a master and he bought and renovated a place for 1.7M total.
Very true. I wish I had the DIY skills to do this myself, I would take on some smaller jobs, but structural enhancement, plumbing and electrics are out of my comfort zone.
Envious of your colleague, he could make a fortune flipping these houses!
Countryside places are often tight-knit communities where it's very difficult to "disappear".
I lived, as the first foreigner, on an island of less than 80 people for 3 years. It was 9 1/2 hours from the mainland and had no grocery stores, conbinis, or restaurants.
People would show up randomly to my house with food and everyone was expected to come together and help cut grass and upkeep the infrastructure. We also had regular events where everyone was expected to help out with.
It would be much easier to "disappear" in a large city where you aren't living around the same handful of people the entire time.
Was going to say this haha. People think a remote village is a good place to escape society but a place where there's few people and everyone knows each other is actually not a way to disappear. In the city you can get away with never interacting with your neighbors for years. But OP sounds like they are tired of city life so maybe they need something else.
Thanks for the insight.
I guess what would be more ideal is perhaps a quiet Ojisan on his own in the woods that I could help around his cottage and upkeep with, in exchange for silence away from the noise and people. (As opposed to what you described. As heartwarming as it sounds it isn't what I'm seeking.)
Have a look into working for holiday homes in the mountains of Yamanashi. I stayed up there recently, and one guy owned 4 of the houses and kept them clean with two staff members and that was it. Totally isolated and far up a mountain, nothing up there so you have to travel down to shop etc. It was a very isolating experience (in a good way). Might work for you.
If you can work online then there are a huge number of places you could live in, where property or rent is cheap.
What is your skill set and work experience, in general terms? What kind of other jobs are you willing or totally unwilling to do?
It should be pointed out that you ought to consider getting professional help, as well. There are a ton of things messed up about modern society, as you well know, but trying to run away from all of it may or may not be an ideal solution.
Well, many of us have lots of experience and still struggle to find jobs, so idk man you're in a hard situation.
Have you tried to speak with a therapist or something? You said you're bilingual, so if you can't afford a therapist you can speak with a 牧師 for free and next to free. Even if you're not religious (I'm not either) they usually are really good people to speak with.
Just make it temporarily, enough to let you think of your true calling as well as earn the money
Besides, IT has many types - Cybersecurity, DevOps etc
You don't need experience. If anything you can just say you have it. As long as you make things work, nobody cares. Source: working in the IT for the last 12 years.
I think it’s changed. I’m not getting any interviews due to lack of experience in IT. Been told my resume is fine.
I think the market is just saturated and companies can have their pick candidates unfortunately.
Yeah exactly. The whole, "you dont need experience to work in IT" isn't a thing anymore.
Even with experience it's very very difficult to find a job right now.
HTML/CSS (and some JS) for the frontend, Python for the backend. You can start with your own servers, or get a rental server for development somewhere, or use a cloud provider such as Amazon Web Services.
If you don't have experience with those and need help, just let me know.
You could offer localization services, translating content between English and Japanese. A well-written, bilingual website would let you freelance for Japanese organizations looking to reach the English speaking world, or let international organizations reach Japanese people. Good translations still earn good money.
That's something you will have to think about, if you decide you want to try this route.
Think about something that would benefit others if that service existed online. If you come up with something then feel free to reach out.
I didn't say that those skills will be enough. Basic programming skills won't take you very far.
Those same basic skills, plus some basic experience with databases, plus some basic experience in systems administration or cloud infrastructure, will be enough to bootstrap a barebones business or service that will generate a small amount of income.
Note that I offered my help to the original poster, because I do have those skills.
Perhaps you could benefit from working with a career councillor. I see you saying a lot of things you would not be willing to do, but not much you are willing to do - it sounds like you need to find the things you want to do, or you will just end up being stuck in something you hate anyway.
There's a bunch of farmers in rural communities in Hokkaido who are too old to run their farms. They are desperate to sell their farms to young people who will take care of the land. There's also a bunch of abandoned areas. I'm sure there's a small town somewhere would let you work for some farms and stay there dirt cheap.
I don't think it is surprising at all. A lot of Japanese are born and raised to follow the same path as those that came before them. They are hammered into the peg their family/society wants, and deviation from that path is shunned and denied, often so much so that they people don't even realize it. Foreigners love to read about "quirky" Japan, and so we write articles about some weird festival, some interesting farmer growing something bizarre, some town that still follows some ancient tradition, whatever, but the average Japanese person may have never heard of it.
I agree with you here. Lots of foreigners would sooner search for opportunities than a Japanese person who is settled into their jobs and chosen career path. Lots of my co-workers aren't aware of lots of things. It just simply doesn't interest them.
If you can solve problems in code or perform tasks required. then you should be fine. let's say client wants to open a csv file, extract content and perform some conversion on data then store in database. that's a task. if you can perform such task, you could find work online. of course things could get more complicated. the more knowledge the better. but it's a start. look at freelance job sites.
What do you not stand about society? Learn this and you can find your peace.
As someone who also isn't really a person who loves mainstream society, I get you. I cannot stand "office work." But, the more you remove yourself from society, the more you have to end up relying on yourself. Can you purchase/build a home? If not, you have to rely on a land and building owner. Can you grow/hunt your own food? If not, you rely on the markets. I think you get the idea. To interact with society for services, you'll also need money which usually means giving something of value to society.
Is it just a kind of social anxiety? You mention sekkyaku? Maybe consider programing (hit and miss) or translation (if bilingual). People have also mentioned monk or working on a farm (WWOF). Most likely you will have to live in society while not really being a part of it, unless you start training to become a survivalist who literally can live off the land in some remote place in Japan.
There's a video on YouTube of a man that lives in an old school in the mountains somewhere. He operates a coffee shop and plays music, maybe he needs some help, or knows someone who does? Being a gaijin has it's perks, being on the outside looking in, I'm guessing you're biracial or Japanese.
stop thinking so oldschool. there's tons of jobs you can do from home nowadays, for some you never even have to interact with another person. you also don't need to live in the woods anymore to avoid people, just find a house in some remote village/small town and get all your food delivered to your doorstep. hell, just get a place in some typical commuter suburb and you still won't need to interact with anyone but are still close to a city if you ever need anything there. unless you specifically want to live the oldschool recluse life, but don't think that living in social isolation is somehow rare or difficult nowadays.
source: living that life right now. literally the only people I interacted with the past few months are conbini staff and my family back home via WhatsApp. all while still having a decent job and earning well.
No man is an island, no way you can make a living without a single direct exposure to at least another human being. Unless you were born in the jungle and know how to survive with whatever available in nature, which is unlikely seeing from your question.
You can train yourself to do that, although there’s a good chance you will end up being miserable and go running to the city for fulfilling your basic needs, legally or not. You’ll have to deal with society, on whatever scale.
Sounds like you were burnt out from life. Rather than finding woods to live, I suggest you take sometime off from any kinds of work even with little money that you have. Invest them in meet different kind people from other backgrounds and culture, travel, make peace with yourself and whatever it is in your mind that burdens you from the past, and figure things out before deciding that you want to isolate for good. There are more things for you out there, more than you think.
Try looking for jobs at a campsite? Your going to have to do a lot of digging and searching.
You can find a remote job, get a loan, buy a mountain/ half a mountain, live on said mountain.
Idk if it’s still a thing but I saw on TV a few years ago in some rural areas the mountains were around the same as buying land in some urban areas.
Also saw some website for free broken down homes. You can take it fix it up and it’s yours.
Good luck on your hermiting quest. I wish you all the best. 😊
I know this isn't what you're looking for, but the time I felt most isolated and like a ghost is when I visited Tokyo. There are so many people that I felt like a drop in the ocean, a completely unnecessary human being. Maybe living there is a kind of isolation?
Some temples will welcome you if you accept to proactively participate to their daily chores. I used to know a Japanese guy about 15 years back who did that.
Buy an old house in the middle of nowhere and move there. Make sure that you have a little bit of land to farm your own food and perhaps keep a few hens for eggs and meat. If it's near the sea then you can also fish.
If you're willing to do the work (farming and home maintenance) then your expenses will be minimal: taxes, utilities, some health care from time to time as long as you stay healthy... You may be able to have enough to live with a part time job somewhere.
There's a guy who lists cheap houses all over Japan, and some of these are pretty cheap and very remote. Let me know if you want the link.
Move to Iwate, the forests and mountains here are fantastic! The hiking is amazing.
I'm not certain but it must be very close to the lowest population density prefecture in Japan.
No idea what the best work would be but there are plenty of farms, orchards, etc.
There are also a variety of onsen, hotels, ski fields as well.
Mate, I see lots of people suggesting jobs. Recently, on the news I watched I saw two guys just wandering the streets. One selling different kinds of yaki imo, one selling coffee. You can do whatever you like as long as you think people will buy whatever you're selling. Find out what you like to do and sell it.
Watched this:
https://www.nhk.jp/p/ts/P7Y318V769/episode/te/968J429G23/
On NHK it’s about an 92 year old dude working in the kelp industry off the coast of Hokkaido.
Maybe you can help him cause he’s all by himself
I needed to take a break from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo years ago and came across ランプの宿青荷温泉 in Aomori.
My requirements were healthy food, beautiful onsen, and somewhere in the middle of nature with weak mobile reception so I could really disconnect. As an added bonus, the ryokan actually does not use electricity, just gas lamps when it gets dark hence, its name.
Give it a shot. The experience was really life changing for me.
Not even electricity. Though they use some in their small office for fax but they only make it available to guests in emergency cases.
I didn’t. Sorry, can’t really help you with that part but this is a great place for a retreat.
You said Hakuba so you’ve been to Nagano before. Go south. Way south. Ina. Iida area. Oshika. I lived in Oshika for awhile. More deer there than people. Closest conbini is 45 minutes away minimum by car.
Always looking for farmhands. Blueberries in the summer. Strawberries too. Before I left they were looking for young people to move to live there.
I fell like OP might do well to check out Vanguard Backpackers in Sagamihara:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/PyXpJqN34KaHA9GGA?g_st=ic
But yes, I also specialize in abandoned rural property and the lifestyles that can go with them.
First I would see if that kind of lifestyle suits you. Maybe you can try vipassana.org and sign up for one of the courses. 10 days meditation course. It’s free too.
I accidentally found rural airbnbs where people were staying long term and helping the owners. One was a rice farm in Tohoku and another in rural Nagano where a German guy was helping the elderly owners in the garden.
Have you tried truck driving or deliveries like for Amazon?
If truck driving, you are totally alone for long hours and can sightsee too.
Sometimes, you can make your truck cosy like a small room too.
I know a guest house in Nagano (not main nagano, pretty remote) where the owner mentioned they are happy to let people stay by just doing jobs for them.
They are currently out of the country till March though. If you’re still interested by then let me know, I will follow-up and confirm with them.
Just last night on ナニコレ珍百景 they had a segment featuring the people who clean the buildup in onsen pipes year round to keep the onsen hotels in town of Nihonmatsu in Fukushima-ken in operation.
It looked like a pretty isolated job, go up to the mountain and pass a cleaning brush through the pipes to scrub out the built-up onsen minerals. Seemed to be respected by the community, and the guys who are doing it are all old and looking for people to pass the baton to.
I live in Tokushima Ken. We have an artist in residence program. The give you a house up in the mountains to get your mojo and do some art. They ask for you to do a show when the year is up.
I mean, are you interested in farming? Heard there are lots of places that are in dire need of a young succesor so perhaps that's a lifestyle you can pursue.
Or I forgot what is what called (maybe 地方移住) but I heard there's a program that places you into a mostly remote, inaka village (or town) to start a life as a farmer or succesors of traditional crafts. Maybe you can look into that, too.
May I ask. What did you experience so that you came to your current conclusion? I'm doubt that isolating yourselves is good from a mental health standpoint. Society can be very diverse and you can find certain people and your niche where you feel comfortable. At the time - there are also lots of different countries mich different than Japan - which nicht be something for you.
Would you like to explain what you are trying to avoid?
Sado or Ruban island. You could join “The 12 tribes of Israel” they have a Mountain village all to them selfs and thier deli (The Yellow Deli) is in Kyoto.
Look into farming. It's possible to grow your own rice and veggies and live on a very low income if you head to a farming region rather than some mountain, where you wouldn't be able to grow much. Unfortunately farming does require that you interact with other farmers at least for the first few years to learn the ropes and borrow equipment.
I know a non-trivial number of young Japanese people who do this.
You could also begin a meditation practice (not necessarily anything to do with religion or being a monk). I've been doing it for a couple years and it has helped me through some difficult adjustments.
I could go on and on about meditation but suffice it to say that there could be a deeper reason that you don't like society that isn't able to surface for one reason or another. Meditation can help those things rise to the surface so they can be better dealt with.
https://jp.sake-times.com/think/study/sake_g_sakagura-works
Sake brewery? It's a pretty intense craft that requires you live near or on premises and babysit the process for months. I've seen some that have lodgings in the brewery itself.
I recommend you to read the book "The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan". It talks about people who did what you are looking for (living on the countryside with as self sustaining as possible)
I would say something like becoming a computer programmer or other remote online job could really be good for you. It would take a lot of thinking about what you could do and how you could do it, but that could let you live anywhere you can have internet.
You don't need to disappear.
Get a comfy corporate job (possibly remote IT or whatever) and just coast.
Never gave in to peer pressure or do any overtime.
Japanese companies cannot fire you.
You could try foraging; you'd be surprised at how many plants you see on the regular are actually edible. There's also dumpster diving which while illegal in Japan, would still find you quite a bit of perfectly edible food.
Past that, maybe try squatting in an abandoned house?
You sound like you have had a relatively privileged life so far. Many dont.
*I cannot stand society.*
Or, the pressures of modern life/capitalism/expectations of elders etc. The internet can accelerate the pressure. First off, Id recommend a break from online activity, except in emergency.
*I am not of the world.*
Sure you are. We are all individuals and we all think were special/unique/different to the herd but were not. Embrace the goodness of humanity and dont become too detached from it. Thats how angry people regress into hating the rest of the world.
I get it. I really do.
Youre young and things can get on top of a young persons life often. It can feel relentless at times. Weve all been there, wondering where to go next, what path to take. Isolating yourself may feel like the answer, but at your age, i feel its not necessarily the path to take. Maybe as you get older, you could do a Leonard Cohen and take time out? But now? At this age you can be out there, making friends and making a decent future for your generation.
Just because vocal older people can be jaded/cynical/lethargic doesnt mean you have to be. If, indeed, you are.
*I've done the combini jobs and the Hostel jobs. I cannot go back to that.*
Mind if I ask why? Lots of us do/have done these jobs. Do you think you are above it? Because such jobs are as valid as the next and imho, can be quite humbling and a great way to knock any pretensions/vanities out of the mind.
Isolation is a much, much harder gig than working in a store or hostel.
Whatever you choose, I wish you well & tempting as it is - dont give up on your fellow humans just yet.
>You sound like you have had a relatively privileged life so far. Many dont.
That I'm aware. But I quit giving in to that game long ago.
>Do you think you are above it?
Not at all.
>Whatever you choose, I wish you well
Thanks, you as well.
Visit Amsterdam, take mushrooms or smoke weed and spend some time in the vondelpark in the sun , lie down in the sunny park, relax. Then come back see how you feel.
Won’t happen if you take once or twice buddy. If you abuse any drug it will. Good luck, look up wim hof method, made me feel more alive when I needed it the natural way.
Yes, but the natural wim hof method and his breathing + cold method helped me more than anything. I recommend these books “what doesn’t kill us” by Scott Carney and the “wim hof method” by wim hof.
I found some parts of Gunma prefecture to be very isolated. A lot of companies outsource their factories to to my area, maybe you could get a factory job, where you wouldn't need to interact with anyone.
Well, if you want somewhere with approximately fuck all around you, go to Okayama or one of the backwoods of Shikoku. Speaking from experience there. Oh the delightfully desolate places being an ALT will take you...
Go live in the forest then. There are indigenous groups that are self sustaining and completely detached from the rest of society. It feels like you belong there.
In Japan? I don't know of any places where you can just disappear into the woods and people would let you.
Eventually the police would be called on you for camping in an unauthorised area or some shit.
Or if you find a place up in Hokkaido or whatever where people won't bother you, you'd probably end up bear food without proper shelter/protection or a community of people to help you survive the winter.
Maybe become a monk?
A monk on Koyasan, a small town of 3000 people on top of a mountain pretty isolated from most other places. Though it does get a lot of visitors. I lived there for 4 years and it's a nice place.
Years ago at Koyasan I did meet a white guy who lived there as a monk, and he was one of the most normal well-adjusted foreigners I've ever met in Japan.
>and he was one of the most normal well-adjusted foreigners I've ever met in Japan. I didn't expect that. Nice. Japan needs more of these foreigners, at least the usually white ones from western countries.
You mean all white foreigners that come to Japan don't aspire to be the next Logan Paul? I'm shocked. Shocked!
Well adjusted? That’s interesting. How so?
Yeah, not gonna lie, running up a mountain to shave one's head and perpetually pray to Hotoke-sama isn't necessary maladjusted but I definitely wouldn't say "well adjusted"!
Talk about burying the lede. Would you be willing to expand on living there for four years?
I was an ALT there for four years. Koyasan is a small community of mostly older people, a beautiful albeit small town (I can walk from one end to the other in approx. 45 minutes). The town is located at the top of Koyasan; and is mostly filled with Buddhist temples and some gift shops for travelers. The people are quite nice and the scenery is quite beautiful. Despite the small size of the town there are places to get groceries, a haircut, etc. as well as a small hospital etc. It was personally too quiet a place for me, but since that seems like what this person was looking for I thought I'd mention it.
Did they have any need for schools for children? Or did you help teach older people? Seems like an interesting place for an ALT. That's def my jam and if I was still down to teach English that's the kind of place I'd like.
They do have an elementary school and a junior high, though the classes are so small they're actually building a new school to combine the two into a single building because there aren't enough children to justify running two separate buildings.
I used to be in one of those towns. There was another ALT who literally had a "school" that was teaching a combined class of a 8, 12, and 15 year old- two siblings and a neighbor, who lived on top of an isolated mountain that was technically within the BOE. Shit was nuts.
Wow! My situation wasn't \*quite\* that extreme, but I did have a school where every grade was combined (1st and 2nd grade, 3rd and 4th, 5th and 6th) as well as a Jr. high with exactly two students which, upon their graduation, was subsequently closed.
I didn't have it quite as bad, the place I was will probably be in that situation in 10 to 20 years, though. I had an elementary school that was all of 45 students with the smallest class being only 6. About half the building went completely unused as well. It was three stories but the top floor and half of the second were just used for community storage. There was only one Jr High and High school each in town, all the others had long since been closed down. But yeah, I hated that place. There was nothing there. After living there for over a year, literally the *only* people I knew in town who were between the ages of 20 and 40 were the other ALTs, and they had the same story. There were no young Japanese people that any of us ever saw aside from the children we taught.
Yeah, kinda of the same situation for me except I was the only ALT on the mountain... DX Very lonely. orz
Well it's a destination for tourists and worshipers, so maybe not the best choice for OP.
Fair, but it is modestly quiet at least.
At least this is on the right track.
A friend of mine from Canada did that on his recent visit here and he absolutely *loved* it.
Work at a farm through WWOOF. https://www.wwoofjapan.com/home/index.php?lang=jp
There's a lot of cool places like this in Japan focused on rural community building and organic/regenerative agriculture. There's typically a few other volunteers seeking similar experiences and a way out of their boring jobs. Might be up your alley if agriculture seems appealing. Or fix up an old Akiya and build a Youtube channel around it.
Its not easy to get into them. If it were there would not be so many great ones just falling apart. And that's not even getting in to the people from "gaikoku".
Ive got a business that takes clients through the entire akiya acquisition process, can speak from vast experience and say that the akiya market is an exceedingly fractured one such that its not really realistic to expect an “average” person to put up with all the bullshit involved in it. Objectively, its also endlessly fascinating navigating through all of the fail points, though years ago I opted to just not deal with ones that are over a certain threshold of administrative difficulty because usually there’s something similar with less red tape. Subjectively, its a monolithic facepalm.
How would one get in touch with you about your akiya business?
Dm is usually a good start
How hard have you tried? With all the online Akiya banks and auction websites, I'd be surprised if you can't get a potential gem (after renovation) within a matter of weeks. Knowing your way around in a community and talking to people also goes a long way. Sure, in many cases the owners are missing and there's little to be done, but as I'm sure you know there's a LOT of Akiya's out there (literally millions). The fact that there are great ones falling apart is probably more of a testimony to the lack of demand than anything else.
Well, before such things were online I went around one summer using addresses to identify owners at the city hall, then using telephone books to track down the owners. I probably tracked down 12 owners. None were interested despite all houses being long empty and being nothing but a tax drain for them. Some were small and some were big, some had yards were turning to forest, and some were barely shacks. And my Japanese is pretty good and so are my manners. Twice I had a Japanese speak in my stead. Japanese tend to much prefer to go through a real estate agent despite the incredible waste of money. Anyway, the outcome of searching led me to a small detatched house that was for rent by a proper landlord. He happened to be working on a nearby farm when I went to ask who the owner was (there was no "for rent" sign. He told me he was supposed to go through the agent for all deals but decided to just let me rent directly since the agent did nothing. Anyway, if things have changed that's great. They really needed to. Anyway, I busted my butt to get a place. What I got was worth it I guess, but it was not the fixer upper with nature around I was looking for. I got low rent, a medium apartment sized house (for Japan), a bit of asphalt space around it and a place to park my car.....also cockroaches and mold.
Wow, thanks for sharing your experience and many props for your persistence! I hope you turned that place into something livable and nice even if it wasn't a 100% match initially :)
Yeah, I enjoyed my time there, despite the roaches. Good memories.
Nice idea, but probably good to have a realistic understanding of costs to bring them up to a livable standard (don't get me wrong, I would much prefer people to revovate and keep these old buildings alive than knock them down and build new ones). From someone in the process of doing this, you probably need to have around 20-30M to fully renovate a 200 square metre property well (maybe less if you stick to only low cost materials?) And where these properties are, it's unlikely they would ever be worth the cost you put into them. TL;DR is you got to be really into this to want to do it. You could easily just rent something for next to nothing in a remote area for basically next to nothing.
Very fair point! Though if you're a true DIY master (or want to become one) and have LOTS of time on your hands, you should be able to get the material costs for renovation down to low single digit million yennies, depending on how fancy you want to make things. Source: one of my former colleagues is such a master and he bought and renovated a place for 1.7M total.
Very true. I wish I had the DIY skills to do this myself, I would take on some smaller jobs, but structural enhancement, plumbing and electrics are out of my comfort zone. Envious of your colleague, he could make a fortune flipping these houses!
There’s also workaway as well
Countryside places are often tight-knit communities where it's very difficult to "disappear". I lived, as the first foreigner, on an island of less than 80 people for 3 years. It was 9 1/2 hours from the mainland and had no grocery stores, conbinis, or restaurants. People would show up randomly to my house with food and everyone was expected to come together and help cut grass and upkeep the infrastructure. We also had regular events where everyone was expected to help out with. It would be much easier to "disappear" in a large city where you aren't living around the same handful of people the entire time.
Was going to say this haha. People think a remote village is a good place to escape society but a place where there's few people and everyone knows each other is actually not a way to disappear. In the city you can get away with never interacting with your neighbors for years. But OP sounds like they are tired of city life so maybe they need something else.
That's very interesting, could you tell some more about that? How come you moved there, what island etc
Thanks for the insight. I guess what would be more ideal is perhaps a quiet Ojisan on his own in the woods that I could help around his cottage and upkeep with, in exchange for silence away from the noise and people. (As opposed to what you described. As heartwarming as it sounds it isn't what I'm seeking.)
Have a look into working for holiday homes in the mountains of Yamanashi. I stayed up there recently, and one guy owned 4 of the houses and kept them clean with two staff members and that was it. Totally isolated and far up a mountain, nothing up there so you have to travel down to shop etc. It was a very isolating experience (in a good way). Might work for you.
Yes this is true.
If you can work online then there are a huge number of places you could live in, where property or rent is cheap. What is your skill set and work experience, in general terms? What kind of other jobs are you willing or totally unwilling to do? It should be pointed out that you ought to consider getting professional help, as well. There are a ton of things messed up about modern society, as you well know, but trying to run away from all of it may or may not be an ideal solution.
Work experience: \- レジ, Housekeeping, Ski lift attendant, Construction, Hostel reception, Pizza delivery Skills: \- Bilingual (proficient in both) \- Python, JS, HTML, CSS
>Python, JS, HTML, CSS A remote IT job maybe ? There's a lot of postings for there in the job thread here
I have no experience, no internships either. But bigger than that, I have no desire to make programming a job.
Well, many of us have lots of experience and still struggle to find jobs, so idk man you're in a hard situation. Have you tried to speak with a therapist or something? You said you're bilingual, so if you can't afford a therapist you can speak with a 牧師 for free and next to free. Even if you're not religious (I'm not either) they usually are really good people to speak with.
Just make it temporarily, enough to let you think of your true calling as well as earn the money Besides, IT has many types - Cybersecurity, DevOps etc
But you also listed that as your skill as if that's an option hmmmmm
You don't need experience. If anything you can just say you have it. As long as you make things work, nobody cares. Source: working in the IT for the last 12 years.
I think it’s changed. I’m not getting any interviews due to lack of experience in IT. Been told my resume is fine. I think the market is just saturated and companies can have their pick candidates unfortunately.
Actually they do. I have 3 years experience in IT industry and still struggle finding a job
Yeah exactly. The whole, "you dont need experience to work in IT" isn't a thing anymore. Even with experience it's very very difficult to find a job right now.
Yup. They’re giving false hope to these people
Interview? :D Just go freelancing, nobody wants to even see a piece of paper. Just start your own thing and requests will keep coming
That is really hard to start as well...
There's a job thread here?? Man, I need to sign up!
Sort of, if you go to the Japan life page There's a, "monthly job thread" post or something like that.
Can you point to the job thread?
Sort of, if you go to the Japan life page There's a, "monthly job thread" post or something like that.
>\- Python, JS, HTML, CSS That's enough to start a web-based business or service that will generate some income.
>web-based business/service Like front-end web development?
HTML/CSS (and some JS) for the frontend, Python for the backend. You can start with your own servers, or get a rental server for development somewhere, or use a cloud provider such as Amazon Web Services. If you don't have experience with those and need help, just let me know.
Thank you. I just don't know what my business would be about. I have no ideas.
You could offer localization services, translating content between English and Japanese. A well-written, bilingual website would let you freelance for Japanese organizations looking to reach the English speaking world, or let international organizations reach Japanese people. Good translations still earn good money.
That's something you will have to think about, if you decide you want to try this route. Think about something that would benefit others if that service existed online. If you come up with something then feel free to reach out.
if it was that easy to start a business with just some basic programming skills, more people would do it.
I didn't say that those skills will be enough. Basic programming skills won't take you very far. Those same basic skills, plus some basic experience with databases, plus some basic experience in systems administration or cloud infrastructure, will be enough to bootstrap a barebones business or service that will generate a small amount of income. Note that I offered my help to the original poster, because I do have those skills.
Thank you, will do.
Can you guide him more, please? Like how can OP go step by step to achieve whatever you have said... Mr JaviLM
If you are fully bilingual in Japanese and English could you search for remote translation work?
Do you know where can I find these? I tried to find one but failed...
Translation work you mean? The usual job boards on Indeed and LinkedIn is where I'd go.
Alright time to work! thank you.
I could. But I won't. The desire to not do it, outweighs the desire to do.
Perhaps you could benefit from working with a career councillor. I see you saying a lot of things you would not be willing to do, but not much you are willing to do - it sounds like you need to find the things you want to do, or you will just end up being stuck in something you hate anyway.
You maybe could find translation work online. I would think that would be a good opportunity.
There's a bunch of farmers in rural communities in Hokkaido who are too old to run their farms. They are desperate to sell their farms to young people who will take care of the land. There's also a bunch of abandoned areas. I'm sure there's a small town somewhere would let you work for some farms and stay there dirt cheap.
If you were born and raised in Japan, wouldn't you know of anything like this better than any of us?
You would think so. But I met plenty of foreigners here who knew much more about some things here than I did, things I had no clue about.
Hmm! That's surprising! I hope you find what you're looking for!
I don't think it is surprising at all. A lot of Japanese are born and raised to follow the same path as those that came before them. They are hammered into the peg their family/society wants, and deviation from that path is shunned and denied, often so much so that they people don't even realize it. Foreigners love to read about "quirky" Japan, and so we write articles about some weird festival, some interesting farmer growing something bizarre, some town that still follows some ancient tradition, whatever, but the average Japanese person may have never heard of it.
I agree with you here. Lots of foreigners would sooner search for opportunities than a Japanese person who is settled into their jobs and chosen career path. Lots of my co-workers aren't aware of lots of things. It just simply doesn't interest them.
Work as programmer online and you can isolate anywhere except when you take out the trash. But consider therapy ,there could be better ways to adapt.
How much do you actually need to know to get paid? I’m about a third of a way leading the basics of one language…
If you can solve problems in code or perform tasks required. then you should be fine. let's say client wants to open a csv file, extract content and perform some conversion on data then store in database. that's a task. if you can perform such task, you could find work online. of course things could get more complicated. the more knowledge the better. but it's a start. look at freelance job sites.
That sounds like something I could Google, lol. How much should I expect for such a junior remote position expect to pay?
Yes, therapy is the answer, not becoming a farmer or something.
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What do you not stand about society? Learn this and you can find your peace. As someone who also isn't really a person who loves mainstream society, I get you. I cannot stand "office work." But, the more you remove yourself from society, the more you have to end up relying on yourself. Can you purchase/build a home? If not, you have to rely on a land and building owner. Can you grow/hunt your own food? If not, you rely on the markets. I think you get the idea. To interact with society for services, you'll also need money which usually means giving something of value to society. Is it just a kind of social anxiety? You mention sekkyaku? Maybe consider programing (hit and miss) or translation (if bilingual). People have also mentioned monk or working on a farm (WWOF). Most likely you will have to live in society while not really being a part of it, unless you start training to become a survivalist who literally can live off the land in some remote place in Japan.
There's a video on YouTube of a man that lives in an old school in the mountains somewhere. He operates a coffee shop and plays music, maybe he needs some help, or knows someone who does? Being a gaijin has it's perks, being on the outside looking in, I'm guessing you're biracial or Japanese.
Got a link or name to search for? That sounds interesting. DM me if it would be removed here.
stop thinking so oldschool. there's tons of jobs you can do from home nowadays, for some you never even have to interact with another person. you also don't need to live in the woods anymore to avoid people, just find a house in some remote village/small town and get all your food delivered to your doorstep. hell, just get a place in some typical commuter suburb and you still won't need to interact with anyone but are still close to a city if you ever need anything there. unless you specifically want to live the oldschool recluse life, but don't think that living in social isolation is somehow rare or difficult nowadays. source: living that life right now. literally the only people I interacted with the past few months are conbini staff and my family back home via WhatsApp. all while still having a decent job and earning well.
No man is an island, no way you can make a living without a single direct exposure to at least another human being. Unless you were born in the jungle and know how to survive with whatever available in nature, which is unlikely seeing from your question. You can train yourself to do that, although there’s a good chance you will end up being miserable and go running to the city for fulfilling your basic needs, legally or not. You’ll have to deal with society, on whatever scale. Sounds like you were burnt out from life. Rather than finding woods to live, I suggest you take sometime off from any kinds of work even with little money that you have. Invest them in meet different kind people from other backgrounds and culture, travel, make peace with yourself and whatever it is in your mind that burdens you from the past, and figure things out before deciding that you want to isolate for good. There are more things for you out there, more than you think.
Try looking for jobs at a campsite? Your going to have to do a lot of digging and searching. You can find a remote job, get a loan, buy a mountain/ half a mountain, live on said mountain. Idk if it’s still a thing but I saw on TV a few years ago in some rural areas the mountains were around the same as buying land in some urban areas. Also saw some website for free broken down homes. You can take it fix it up and it’s yours. Good luck on your hermiting quest. I wish you all the best. 😊
I know this isn't what you're looking for, but the time I felt most isolated and like a ghost is when I visited Tokyo. There are so many people that I felt like a drop in the ocean, a completely unnecessary human being. Maybe living there is a kind of isolation?
I’m curious, did you also feel that you could not stand society when you were abroad, or do you only feel that way in Japan?
Both
Some temples will welcome you if you accept to proactively participate to their daily chores. I used to know a Japanese guy about 15 years back who did that.
Buy an old house in the middle of nowhere and move there. Make sure that you have a little bit of land to farm your own food and perhaps keep a few hens for eggs and meat. If it's near the sea then you can also fish. If you're willing to do the work (farming and home maintenance) then your expenses will be minimal: taxes, utilities, some health care from time to time as long as you stay healthy... You may be able to have enough to live with a part time job somewhere. There's a guy who lists cheap houses all over Japan, and some of these are pretty cheap and very remote. Let me know if you want the link.
I would like the link
Sent via DM.
Hi @JaviLM! I would like the link if possible! Thanks
Sent it via DM.
One word.. Shikoku.
Move to Iwate, the forests and mountains here are fantastic! The hiking is amazing. I'm not certain but it must be very close to the lowest population density prefecture in Japan. No idea what the best work would be but there are plenty of farms, orchards, etc. There are also a variety of onsen, hotels, ski fields as well.
Could you give me some recommendations for hikes in Iwate? Apart from Iwate san and Hachimantai. Thanks!
Mate, I see lots of people suggesting jobs. Recently, on the news I watched I saw two guys just wandering the streets. One selling different kinds of yaki imo, one selling coffee. You can do whatever you like as long as you think people will buy whatever you're selling. Find out what you like to do and sell it.
You doing okay?
Farming, remote jobs, or maybe becoming a monk? Though I'm not sure of foreigners becoming monks in Japan. I don't know anything about that.
Islands are proper remote and losing people. On the other hand, islands are not safe in many regards you cannot really do anything about.
Sadly OP sounds possibly depressed or extremely introverted. Island communities are often very close-knit which would be suffocating for OP
Watched this: https://www.nhk.jp/p/ts/P7Y318V769/episode/te/968J429G23/ On NHK it’s about an 92 year old dude working in the kelp industry off the coast of Hokkaido. Maybe you can help him cause he’s all by himself
I needed to take a break from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo years ago and came across ランプの宿青荷温泉 in Aomori. My requirements were healthy food, beautiful onsen, and somewhere in the middle of nature with weak mobile reception so I could really disconnect. As an added bonus, the ryokan actually does not use electricity, just gas lamps when it gets dark hence, its name. Give it a shot. The experience was really life changing for me.
Just looked the place up, this sounds like an idea. No wifi/internet either right? Also did you work there?
Not even electricity. Though they use some in their small office for fax but they only make it available to guests in emergency cases. I didn’t. Sorry, can’t really help you with that part but this is a great place for a retreat.
There is at least one group of NEETs living communally in the mountainous region of Wakayama. Search “山奥ニート” on YouTube.
Farms.
I went to Yonaguni island and I wish I could have lived there for like a year or so
You said Hakuba so you’ve been to Nagano before. Go south. Way south. Ina. Iida area. Oshika. I lived in Oshika for awhile. More deer there than people. Closest conbini is 45 minutes away minimum by car. Always looking for farmhands. Blueberries in the summer. Strawberries too. Before I left they were looking for young people to move to live there.
ishigaki
Literally just go home - if you have roommates go to your bedroom
Talk to u/TokyoMetal I hear he can help you find some sanctuary in the Inaka.
I fell like OP might do well to check out Vanguard Backpackers in Sagamihara: https://maps.app.goo.gl/PyXpJqN34KaHA9GGA?g_st=ic But yes, I also specialize in abandoned rural property and the lifestyles that can go with them.
First I would see if that kind of lifestyle suits you. Maybe you can try vipassana.org and sign up for one of the courses. 10 days meditation course. It’s free too.
I accidentally found rural airbnbs where people were staying long term and helping the owners. One was a rice farm in Tohoku and another in rural Nagano where a German guy was helping the elderly owners in the garden.
Have you tried truck driving or deliveries like for Amazon? If truck driving, you are totally alone for long hours and can sightsee too. Sometimes, you can make your truck cosy like a small room too.
I know a guest house in Nagano (not main nagano, pretty remote) where the owner mentioned they are happy to let people stay by just doing jobs for them. They are currently out of the country till March though. If you’re still interested by then let me know, I will follow-up and confirm with them.
Just last night on ナニコレ珍百景 they had a segment featuring the people who clean the buildup in onsen pipes year round to keep the onsen hotels in town of Nihonmatsu in Fukushima-ken in operation. It looked like a pretty isolated job, go up to the mountain and pass a cleaning brush through the pipes to scrub out the built-up onsen minerals. Seemed to be respected by the community, and the guys who are doing it are all old and looking for people to pass the baton to.
A campsite manager is also a good option
Gifu-ken?
Yeah, come on out to Ryuujin. I'm often offering place to stay in exchange for some light labour
I live in Tokushima Ken. We have an artist in residence program. The give you a house up in the mountains to get your mojo and do some art. They ask for you to do a show when the year is up.
I heard of off-grid farms in Shizuoka that always need help. Fresh air, nature, a hard day’s work, and little society to deal with.
A few gaijins have fled to Yakushima to work as guides and/or selling trinkets.
I mean, are you interested in farming? Heard there are lots of places that are in dire need of a young succesor so perhaps that's a lifestyle you can pursue. Or I forgot what is what called (maybe 地方移住) but I heard there's a program that places you into a mostly remote, inaka village (or town) to start a life as a farmer or succesors of traditional crafts. Maybe you can look into that, too.
May I ask. What did you experience so that you came to your current conclusion? I'm doubt that isolating yourselves is good from a mental health standpoint. Society can be very diverse and you can find certain people and your niche where you feel comfortable. At the time - there are also lots of different countries mich different than Japan - which nicht be something for you. Would you like to explain what you are trying to avoid?
Sado or Ruban island. You could join “The 12 tribes of Israel” they have a Mountain village all to them selfs and thier deli (The Yellow Deli) is in Kyoto.
I lived in the middle of no where Fukushima. There were few places more remote than where I lived. Perhaps go live in some super inaka place.
Look into farming. It's possible to grow your own rice and veggies and live on a very low income if you head to a farming region rather than some mountain, where you wouldn't be able to grow much. Unfortunately farming does require that you interact with other farmers at least for the first few years to learn the ropes and borrow equipment. I know a non-trivial number of young Japanese people who do this.
North Hokkaido is pretty empty, farm hands are in short supply.
Antaiji is your place to go. https://antaiji.org/
You could also begin a meditation practice (not necessarily anything to do with religion or being a monk). I've been doing it for a couple years and it has helped me through some difficult adjustments. I could go on and on about meditation but suffice it to say that there could be a deeper reason that you don't like society that isn't able to surface for one reason or another. Meditation can help those things rise to the surface so they can be better dealt with.
https://jp.sake-times.com/think/study/sake_g_sakagura-works Sake brewery? It's a pretty intense craft that requires you live near or on premises and babysit the process for months. I've seen some that have lodgings in the brewery itself.
I recommend you to read the book "The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan". It talks about people who did what you are looking for (living on the countryside with as self sustaining as possible)
You can do Wwoof in japan. Basically working in nature or inaka doing nature or hard labor work in exchange for meals and accommodation
Knew a guy who did this in the countryside picking vegetables in Hokkaido
I would say something like becoming a computer programmer or other remote online job could really be good for you. It would take a lot of thinking about what you could do and how you could do it, but that could let you live anywhere you can have internet.
You don't need to disappear. Get a comfy corporate job (possibly remote IT or whatever) and just coast. Never gave in to peer pressure or do any overtime. Japanese companies cannot fire you.
Maybe this might interest you. [https://local.lifull.jp/localmatch/](https://local.lifull.jp/localmatch/)
Ski resorts in Niigata or Sado island.
Step 1.) Get a work from home job Step 2.) Live in the Inaka Step 3.) ???? Step 4.) Profit
\>13 days S U S
You could try foraging; you'd be surprised at how many plants you see on the regular are actually edible. There's also dumpster diving which while illegal in Japan, would still find you quite a bit of perfectly edible food. Past that, maybe try squatting in an abandoned house?
Fuck that. Go to Spain and learn how to live….
You sound like you have had a relatively privileged life so far. Many dont. *I cannot stand society.* Or, the pressures of modern life/capitalism/expectations of elders etc. The internet can accelerate the pressure. First off, Id recommend a break from online activity, except in emergency. *I am not of the world.* Sure you are. We are all individuals and we all think were special/unique/different to the herd but were not. Embrace the goodness of humanity and dont become too detached from it. Thats how angry people regress into hating the rest of the world. I get it. I really do. Youre young and things can get on top of a young persons life often. It can feel relentless at times. Weve all been there, wondering where to go next, what path to take. Isolating yourself may feel like the answer, but at your age, i feel its not necessarily the path to take. Maybe as you get older, you could do a Leonard Cohen and take time out? But now? At this age you can be out there, making friends and making a decent future for your generation. Just because vocal older people can be jaded/cynical/lethargic doesnt mean you have to be. If, indeed, you are. *I've done the combini jobs and the Hostel jobs. I cannot go back to that.* Mind if I ask why? Lots of us do/have done these jobs. Do you think you are above it? Because such jobs are as valid as the next and imho, can be quite humbling and a great way to knock any pretensions/vanities out of the mind. Isolation is a much, much harder gig than working in a store or hostel. Whatever you choose, I wish you well & tempting as it is - dont give up on your fellow humans just yet.
>You sound like you have had a relatively privileged life so far. Many dont. That I'm aware. But I quit giving in to that game long ago. >Do you think you are above it? Not at all. >Whatever you choose, I wish you well Thanks, you as well.
I heard there’s a forest somewhere
Visit Amsterdam, take mushrooms or smoke weed and spend some time in the vondelpark in the sun , lie down in the sunny park, relax. Then come back see how you feel.
I fear psychedelics because of the potential for irreversible effects. And psychosis.
Won’t happen if you take once or twice buddy. If you abuse any drug it will. Good luck, look up wim hof method, made me feel more alive when I needed it the natural way.
Did you experience some profound realizations?
Yes, but the natural wim hof method and his breathing + cold method helped me more than anything. I recommend these books “what doesn’t kill us” by Scott Carney and the “wim hof method” by wim hof.
Ramen shop that has a single stall with dividers and curtains
Look into Iya Valley in Shikoku.
there are towns all over the place that will give you an old house to live in if you just promise to stay for 10 years
Take over a farm in the mountains of some old folks that have no one succeed
I found some parts of Gunma prefecture to be very isolated. A lot of companies outsource their factories to to my area, maybe you could get a factory job, where you wouldn't need to interact with anyone.
Don't become a hikikomori, it's not worth it.
Consider Shikoku, plenty of farms, forestry, mountain trails and temples (88 temple route).
Matabi
Mountain hiking trails on weekdays?
that forest place
I think you could achieve what you want anywhere through a good hobby, as opposed to some outreaching geographic location.
" I've been in Hakuba and I did the resort thing. I lived in a dorm cramped with three other guys. " did your company's name start with "S"?
Well, if you want somewhere with approximately fuck all around you, go to Okayama or one of the backwoods of Shikoku. Speaking from experience there. Oh the delightfully desolate places being an ALT will take you...
[好きなの選べ](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AE%E7%84%A1%E4%BA%BA%E5%B3%B6)
Go live in the forest then. There are indigenous groups that are self sustaining and completely detached from the rest of society. It feels like you belong there.
In Japan? I don't know of any places where you can just disappear into the woods and people would let you. Eventually the police would be called on you for camping in an unauthorised area or some shit. Or if you find a place up in Hokkaido or whatever where people won't bother you, you'd probably end up bear food without proper shelter/protection or a community of people to help you survive the winter.