We are two foreigners living in Japan! We received a Startup Business Visa, which then earned us a Business Manager Visa. This essentially allows us to sponsor our own residency in Japan via our small business: Benton Homestead. We have an akiya-turned-guesthouse, small honeybee and natural farm, and consulting. It's been challenging but nothing is impossible!
Japan has an estimated 10-12 million abandoned houses, and we've purchased *two* of them! The first house was purchased for ¥1 Million ($7,500 USD) and abandoned for 10 years, which we've now renovated into Benton Guesthouse. The second house was purchased for ¥2.8 Million ($18,000 USD) and abandoned for an estimated 40 years. This one was a former 'ryokan' inn, and came with two pieces of land,. I’m documenting everything in hopes of helping others on a similar path.
Since we left the US and our 1/4-acre urban farm in 2021, we've been documenting our travels, house-sitting, Mexico and Japan immigration, and akiya renovation.