OPEN DOORS

Singaporean couple buy $89,000 home in Okayama and have hosted more than 40 guests for free there

- Sarah Stanley

Singaporean couple Sean Gwee and Ashley Hong, both 34, liken the suburb in Japan’s Okayama, where they bought a three-storey house in 2023, to Singapore’s Toa Payoh neighbourhood.

“Like Toa Payoh, we're around 20 minutes outside of town and have amenities like supermarkets, restaurants and convenience stores nearby,” says Ms Hong, a freelance television producer who grew up in Singapore's second satellite town.

“It’s also an older suburb and, while it may not be as lively as the main town area, the location is perfect for us.”

Since moving to Japan in September 2023, the couple have had more than 40 friends, acquaintances and strangers stay over — sometimes opening their home to travellers when they are away.

No one, whether he or she stays days or weeks, has to pay a cent. It is a matter of principle for the couple, who want guests to feel welcome and enjoy what Okayama has to offer.

Unlike major cities in Japan such as Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, Okayama is an unhurried haven - a place the couple set their hearts on after visiting a friend there in 2018. They got married in 2019 and have a three-year-old daughter, Luna.

Situated in western Japan, Okayama is the capital city of its namesake prefecture and home to more than 710,000 people. It can be reached with a flight to Okayama Momotaro Airport or via a 45-minute ride on the shinkansen high-speed train from Osaka.

Traditionally an agricultural hub, the prefecture produces cash crops such as rice, barley, grapes, peaches and cotton. That legacy endures today, with much of its land still devoted to farming and homes nestled amid nature.

Mr Gwee, an architectural designer, has long dreamed of living - quite specifically — in a forest.

“A lot of it has to do with how I function as an architectural designer and needing more space to do the kind of work I want to do, like building conceptual and experimental projects surrounded by nature,” he says.