This Foreigner Couple Bought a Mountain Home in Tokyo

Quick Overview

A couple from Los Angeles, Deana and Mark, purchased a spacious 6LDK (six-bedroom house) in Ome City, Tokyo, for ¥11.5 million (approx. $75,000) and spent an additional ¥10.5 million (approx. $68,000) on renovations, totaling around ¥22 million (approx. $143,000) for the entire project.

Key Points: The buyers, Deana and Mark, are from Los Angeles, California, and bought the home as a future retirement/vacation property. The property is located in Ome City, Tokyo, which is about an hour west of Shinjuku, offering a balance of nature access (hiking, fishing) and proximity to the city. The house was built in 1972, making it 53 years old at the time of filming. The total investment (purchase price plus first round of renovations) reached ¥22 million (approximately $143,000 or $150,000 equivalent). The house is spacious, featuring 6LDK (six bedrooms, living, dining, kitchen), two parking spaces, and a beautiful garden/view, which is rare for central Tokyo. Renovations included updating the kitchen (which was previously a narrow galley style) and adding a second bathroom upstairs for convenience. The owners found the home buying process surprisingly seamless, though the renovation process involving choosing fixtures and colors was slightly more difficult due to a language barrier with managers.

Context: The video features an interview with Deana and Mark, a couple originally from Southern California (LA), who recently purchased and renovated an older house in Ome City, a suburban, nature-rich area within the Tokyo Prefecture. The host, Shu Matsuo, Co-Founder of AkiyaHub, tours the 6LDK home with them, discussing the location's appeal, the purchase price, the renovation scope, and their future plans for using the property as a base for exploring Japan.

Detailed Analysis

The video documents the journey of Deana and Mark, a couple from Los Angeles, who purchased an aging house in Ome City, Tokyo. They chose Ome because it provided access to nature (hiking and fishing near Okutama and Mt. Mitake) while still being within the Tokyo Prefecture, about an hour from Shinjuku. The house, built in 1972, is a spacious 6LDK structure sitting on a large 353 sqm plot with 120 sqm of living space. The initial purchase price was ¥11.5 million (approx. $75,000), and they invested an additional ¥10.5 million (approx. $68,000) in the first round of renovations, bringing the total cost to about ¥22 million (approx. $143,000). The renovations modernized key areas, replacing the old galley kitchen with a contemporary stainless steel unit and adding a much-needed second toilet upstairs for convenience, especially as they plan for retirement. The couple intentionally preserved some traditional elements, like a tatami room with an old kotatsu and the wooden fittings of an engawa. They noted that while the purchase process was seamless, managing renovations involved a language barrier, making fixture and color choices tricky. They plan to use the home as a base to explore the rest of Japan, including family in Kagoshima and Shizuoka.