They bought an abandoned house in rural Japan for $6,500. Now, they're renting it out on Airbnb for $130 a night. The Bentons' akiya has been transformed into a guesthouse.

There are more than 8.5 million akiya, or abandoned homes, in rural Japan, according to the country's 2018 Housing and Land Survey, its most recent on record. By some counts, there are many more.

Japanese traveler Daisuke Kajiyama and his wife Hila convinced the owners of an abandoned Japanese farmer’s house to allow them to transform it into a guest house back in 2012.

Jaya Thursfield, an Australian who moved to Japan 2017 with his wife Chihiro, bought an abandoned house not far from Tokyo for 3 million yen, or around $23,000, in 2019, and set about renovating it.

There are more than 8.5 million akiya, or abandoned homes, in rural Japan, according to the country’s 2018 Housing and Land Survey, its most recent on record. By some counts, there are many more.

Japanese traveler Daisuke Kajiyama and his wife Hila convinced the owners of an abandoned Japanese farmer’s house to allow them to transform it into a guest house back in 2012.

A couple transformed an 150-year-old abandoned farmhouse in rural Japan into an Airbnb. Here's how they built their country homestead.

One person it did not dawn on recently is Alex Kerr, an author and Japanologist originally from Maryland, who became an akiya owner in 1973 when he acquired an abandoned country house (known as a ...