This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Erik Buhrow, who bought a house in Japan's Niigata Prefecture through AkiyaMart, a site that helps foreigners buy abandoned Japanese homes ...

"It matched all my expectations. It was huge, maybe a bit too huge," Coline Aguirre said about the house she bought in Japan.

Erik Buhrow dreams of retiring in Japan. Until then, he's renting out the akiya, or abandoned home, to other Americans who want to try living there.