Koyo Murata, now 25, grew up in a small rural town in Japan.
- He moved to Tokyo to study electrical engineering and spent three years working in the city.
- Last year, he returned to his hometown to transform an abandoned community centre into a modern guesthouse.
This is based on a conversation with 25-year-old Koyo Murata, the founder and operator of Essay. Villa Aso Guest House in Taiki, Mie Prefecture, Japan. His words have been edited for length and clarity.
I grew up in a quintessential rural town in Japan with a population of about 8,000. My elementary and middle schools only had about 100 students combined. Now there are fewer children there too.
After school, we used to play in the river or organise football matches in the park. I felt lucky to be surrounded by rivers, mountains and the sea.
Looking back, I realise that my hometown, Taiki, was already part of a broader trend in Japan.
As people move to Tokyo, rural towns like it are disappearing. The capital is where you find the best jobs. Most kids like me who grow up in small towns dream of moving to a big city.
i want to live that dream
I went to Mie University to study electrical engineering at the age of 19; after graduating, I spent three years in Tokyo working in construction management and later independent sales.
I had a busy life, but I didn’t like the city being so crowded. Approximately 37 million people live in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area. The trains were always packed, and the people seemed more excited than the friendly people at home. Over time, I began to realise how valuable life in the countryside really was.
That’s why, in August 2025, I decided to go back home. In Japan, we call this a “U-turn” – when someone leaves for the city and later returns to their hometown.
My parents and elder brother now live in Tokyo and run their businesses. I wanted to challenge myself by building my own career. At the same time, I wanted to discover a way to share the beauty of the Mie countryside with the rest of the world.
That opportunity came when my parents called me one day to tell me that an abandoned community centre in our town was going to be demolished.
“This might be your chance to do something,” my father said.
That’s when I made my U-turn and moved back to Taiki to start my own business and find a new use for the old building. I started a project to convert the former community centre into Villa Aso, a guest house for visitors to the area.
reviving the old
The former community centre was a gathering place for local residents and also served as an evacuation gathering point. But it was lying unused for 10 years.
When I started my company, NexusTown, my idea was to renovate the building and convert it into a guest house that could accommodate a group of 8 people. I hope we can bring more tourism to our shrinking city.
I borrowed about 10 million yen, or $62,000, from my brother’s company and received another 10 million through a government-backed startup loan from Japan Finance Corporation.
Over three months, we hired a construction company to do 70% of the work, but the rest was DIY – just me and a few friends. It was hard work; none of us had any experience of renewal. I also had to teach myself how to market a guesthouse, how to list it on Airbnb and Booking.com, and how to set the right prices.
In December, when it officially opened, and I saw our first guests enjoying their stay, I was glad I did it.
to make it successful
In January, we were operating at 30%, in February at 60%, and by March we reached 100%.
Our guests include college students on spring break, multi-generational families, and working adults from across the country. So far, we have only had a group of tourists coming from abroad, but I hope we can host more foreign visitors in the future. The house is close to the Kumano Kodo, an ancient pilgrimage route that attracts hikers and travellers from all over the world.
People who come to Villa Aso enjoy the same mountains, river and ocean that I did when I was growing up. They can slow down and enjoy the stars at night. They can meet my loving people.
In addition to the villa’s private sauna, there is also a natural onsen or hot spring a three-minute walk away, which I always recommend and where guests can visit for free.
Villas cost an average of 28,900 to 33,700 JPY or $179 to $208 for two guests, with 5,000 yen added for additional party members.
In the future, I’m hoping to combine the villa experience with local restaurants and activities like sitting meditation and fishing in the harbour.
My goal is to revive the city’s economy, and my work is never done. Along with managing the guest house, I also work for a talent-matching agency. I’m always thinking of new ways to renovate and improve a villa. I expect to recoup the investment in about three to four years.
the future of small-town japan
The declining population of Taiki worries me. I don’t think the town will ever disappear completely, but it may eventually be annexed into another township. It saddens me to think that this could happen to the place where I was born.
If this project can help even one or two more people fall in love with my hometown, I will be happy.
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