SORA NEWS


 

”Just about the best-condition 300-year-old property you’ll ever find,” boasts realtor.

If you’re looking for a place to live in Japan, often the best options are located outside the city center. Sure, it might seem exciting to live right in the middle of Tokyo’s neon jungle, but if you’re willing to widen your search to rental properties an hour or so from downtown, you’ll be rewarded with more affordable prices, more spacious residences, and, in this case, the opportunity to live in a house that was built during the samurai era.

Japanese real estate website At Home is currently listing this detached home in Chiba Prefecture, Tokyo’s neighbor to the east. Located in Chiba City’s Sakazuki-cho neighborhood, the realtor isn’t sure of the exact date of construction, but estimates it to have been built sometime around 1710, in the middle of the feudal Edo period when Japan was still ruled by a shogun, and roughly 150 years before Japan would open its borders to the rest of the world.

At 120,000 yen (US$1,080) a month, this isn’t the absolute cheapest rental you can find in Japan, but if offers far more space than anything you’d find for that price in central Tokyo, with seven rooms plus a dining/kitchen area on 252.46 square meters (2,717.46 square feet) of floor space.
 

▼ The home’s floor plan


 

Also included in the rental are a classically styled warehouse and more modern-looking shed, though no information is given about when they were built.

Despite the home’s centuries-old age, it’s equipped with modern amenities such as running water, electricity, and gas. At Home also boasts that it’s been well-maintained, saying “This is just about the best-condition 300-year-old property you’ll ever find.”

▼ View of the property from the street




 

There are a few tradeoffs, such as the fact that it’s a 26-minute walk to the nearest rail station (Chishirodai Station), and from there about a 70-minute ride to Tokyo Station if you need to commute into the big city.

 

On the other hand, once you’re at the station it takes less than 30 minutes to get to Chiba Station, in the center of the heart of prefectural capital Chiba City, and if the whole package sounds like just the sort of living arrangement you’re looking for, the property’s At Home listing can be found here.