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.

A breathtaking abandoned house stands alone in the vast Canadian prairies, weathered by time yet full of rustic charm.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Dani and Evan Benton moved to Japan on a startup business visa in 2023. They bought an abandoned house for about $6,500 and turned it into a guesthouse. The couple have also started a homestead with a ...

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 ...