First lesson of Japan’s akiya gold rush: No such factor as a free home.

The promise of low cost or free homes in Japan has dreamers and chancers speeding to among the nation’s extra rural hamlets to make chump-change bets on the disused and dilapidated.

Quaint farmhouses. Traditional wooden, clay, straw and bamboo kominka with thatched roofs. Remote mountain lodges with million-dollar views.

For the fitting particular person with the fitting abilities and the fitting expectations, shopping for an akiya, which implies empty home in Japanese, is usually a rewarding expertise that yields a novel area and a livable dwelling, competitively priced.