I'm a 31-year-old Canadian who bought an $11,000 house in rural Japan. Here's why I don't see it as an investment.

Canadian Andrew Koller bought a home in Japan.

Courtesy of Andrew Koller Andrew Koller owns property in Canada, but decided to buy a home in Japan after visiting.

Koller spent $15,000 CAD on an akiya and spent months renovating it.

He plans to visit on occasion and rent it out some of the time.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Andrew Koller, 31, a freelance camera operator who purchased a home in Yamagata, Japan, in March.

Koller, who's based in Edmonton, Canada, renovated the home and plans to use it as a vacation home.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Like a lot of millennials, I was exposed to Japanese culture in some sense early on with "Naruto," "Pokemon," and "Dragon Ball Z." After that, I don't think my interest really left.

Come 2020, I had a bunch of time on my hands like everybody else.

It seemed like a good time to finally learn Japanese.

I've been learning Japanese with a private tutor since then.

Then, in 2023, I made my first trip to Japan.

Like everybody else who comes back from their first trip to Japan , I just fell in love.

I couldn't stop talking about it, but I wanted a deeper connection to the community.