Photo: At Home
lifestyle

You could be renting this 300-year-old samurai era house in Japan right now

8 Comments
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24

If you’re looking for a place to live in Japan, often the best options are located outside the city center. Sure, it might seem exciting to live right in the middle of Tokyo’s neon jungle, but if you’re willing to widen your search to rental properties an hour or so from downtown, you’ll be rewarded with more affordable prices, more spacious residences, and, in this case, the opportunity to live in a house that was built during the samurai era.

Japanese real estate website At Home is currently listing this detached home in Chiba Prefecture, Tokyo’s neighbor to the east. Located in Chiba City’s Sakazuki-cho neighborhood, the realtor isn’t sure of the exact date of construction, but estimates it to have been built sometime around 1710, in the middle of the feudal Edo period when Japan was still ruled by a shogun, and roughly 150 years before Japan would open its borders to the rest of the world.

At 120,000 yen a month, this isn’t the absolute cheapest rental you can find in Japan, but if offers far more space than anything you’d find for that price in central Tokyo, with seven rooms plus a dining/kitchen area on 252.46 square meters of floor space.

▼ The home’s floor plan

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Also included in the rental are a classically styled warehouse and more modern-looking shed, though no information is given about when they were built.

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Despite the home’s centuries-old age, it’s equipped with modern amenities such as running water, electricity, and gas. At Home also boasts that it’s been well-maintained, saying “This is just about the best-condition 300-year-old property you’ll ever find.”

▼ View of the property from the street

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There are a few tradeoffs, such as the fact that it’s a 26-minute walk to the nearest rail station (Chishirodai Station), and from there about a 70-minute ride to Tokyo Station if you need to commute into the big city. On the other hand, once you’re at the station it takes less than 30 minutes to get to Chiba Station, in the center of the heart of prefectural capital Chiba City, and if the whole package sounds like just the sort of living arrangement you’re looking for, the property’s At Home listing can be found here.

Source: At Home via Hachima Kiko

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Five uninhabited Japanese islands you can buy right now

-- Buying property in Japan? This mini tower house can be yours for less than $12,000

-- Open-air toilets, showers for every room among offering from crazy Tokyo apartment agency

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

8 Comments
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Wouldn’t even think of moving into any Japanese house until the crawl space is filled and sealed as well as the walls and ceiling torn down, vapor sealed and insulated.

Don't know how it would work in Japan but when I had my house in the north of England tightened up, I started condensation on the windows and walls plus mildew all over.

Amazes me how the home construction industry here have been able to cointiniue to maintain the farce that a house has to “breath” just so they can increase their profit margins by building cheap uninsulated homes. 

My father was a carpenter. I always stop and look at residential construction sites. Everything I see going up in my part of Tokyo appears well insulated.

In any event, most single family homes are built to order, and if you are willing to pay, the contractors are more than happy to give you what you ask for.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

there is way more cheaper houses than this which is also have the same style i mean this is a rip-off to pay thing amount as a monthly rent ...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I did that at our art studio house in Nagano. Took the floor boards up, laid thick plastic sheets and put 50 cm of dry sand on top.

I remember you mentioning that, I’d prefer a concrect slab over dirt, but how on earth did you insulate inside the mud walls? Plus the mold/moisture is an issue.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

You didn't even get to the window or lack or insulation or sound proofing.

Given the inconvenient location and lack of modern appliances, plumbing and wiring 120,000 seems grossly over priced !

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Wouldn’t even think of moving into any Japanese house until the crawl space is filled and sealed as well as the walls and ceiling torn down, vapor sealed and insulated.

Amazes me how the home construction industry here have been able to cointiniue to maintain the farce that a house has to “breath” just so they can increase their profit margins by building cheap uninsulated homes. If it’s an old house, you can do a lot of work yourself and who cares if doesn't look perfect.

invalid CSRF

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Nice house. It's very easy to find on Google Earth.

Old houses like this are usually very dark inside. This one has a steep hill to the east, which means it will be even worse.

One to buy cheaply and do up, not rent as is, I think.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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