A&I Lifestyle Report #4: Izu Oshima
Bullet trains, boats, and buses to Tokyo's own End of the World
A&I News
Sorry For the Wait!
Hoooo-wee! What a month of hacking through the forests of dirty data regarding Japan’s vacant properties. Major takeaways:
International creative communities are starting to make meaningful movement into the akiya market, notably from Australia & the US.
Notable redirection of individual buyer interest away from East Tokyo towards Shonan, with Yamanashi and Shizuoka starting to come into the conversation.
From what we can tell, corporate interests are moving very quickly on Japan’s Snow Country, with akiya banks and private listings alike getting picked clean almost overnight.
Government Relations
We’re starting to get buy-in from prefectural governments, including Fukui, Aomori, and Gunma. We’ll pat ourselves on the back a bit for more or less not being surprised at this, as these are 3 prefectures we’ve identified as precision areas of interest:
Fukui’s historically had cheap energy, as well as a prefectural government that’s been open to subsidies for new businesses. That being said, its just on the edge of what we’d call reasonably accessible, so our recommendation is that Tsuruga City should be the focal point given its proximity to Nagoya and Kyoto.
Aomori and Kuroishi City in Aomori Prefecture have been focusing administrative efforts on educating their local accommodation owners about modern booking technologies. Part of our job is calling bullshit, and it is very much the case that Japan is not a technologically literate country, especially in rural areas; That Aomori is making a concerted effort to address this is encouraging.
Kuroishi is also the home of Nyango Star, the infamous Apple Cat that is also a rather talented extreme music drummer who was kind enough to invite Matt out to see their performance in Tokyo. It was enlightening.Gunma is very popular amongst our clientele, and because of that we’ve become quite familiar with the prefecture’s offerings, which are many, especially in the Takasaki/Maebashi/Kiryu area. Thanks to the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, we were recently able to meet with the Governor of Gunma Prefecture, Yamamoto Ichita, to discuss their heretofore victories and challenges going forward.
Izu Resource Rundown
There’s growing attention on the Izu Peninsula these days, and it’s probably pretty obvious that we’re involved in that, partially because Matt spends a good deal of time squaring off against hordes of wild monkeys or surfing, hiking, and bouldering in Yugawara.
But Matt’s aren’t the only experiences or resources out there for exploring Izu. There’s a lot out there, but - perhaps unsurprisingly - it isn’t as accessible as it could be. Thus, a list, below, of some good finds!
Facebook
Websites
Japan Guide - Izu Peninsula
Tokyo Cheapo - A Travel Guide to Nature-filled Izu Peninsula
Accommodation Aggregators
Agoda - The 11 Best Hotels in the Izu Peninsula
Booking.com - The 10 Best Hotels in Izu
Expedia.co.jp - The Best Luxury Hotels in Izu in 2022
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