Akiya Renovation » Photo Slideshow: Cleaning the Garage » Omishima, Imabari, Ehime, Japan

It took us 7 work days to clean the garage and sort the items into: keep, repair, donate, recycle, and garbage. This is the first step towards turning this abandoned garage into a a roadside farm stand, and turning the house into a guesthouse rental, while we build our own homestead just up the road!

Japan has an estimated 8.5 million akiya (abandoned homes), and we're in the process of buying this one, prior to receiving our residency status. We currently intend to renovate this house into a guesthouse rental, while we restore a second nearby akiya for our own homestead, and restore nearby farmland that's been sitting unused for over a decade. We're in the process of applying for a Startup Visa, which will then allow us to apply for Business Manager Visa, and essentially sponsor our own residency in Japan. I’m documenting literally everything, with photography, as well as our rough attempts at learning to incorporate video. Please stick with me through this learning process! In the meantime, if you’re curious about looking behind-the-scenes, I’m sharing pretty much daily updates on our Benton Homestead “stories” on social media.

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