Meet Reiko & Allen

An interview with CANVASREBEL

We recently connected with Reiko & Allen and have shared our conversation below.

Reiko & Allen, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

How Reiko and I (Allen) came up with this business idea of opening an Airbnb in a scenic, sleepy farming village in the region of Yamanashi, two hours train ride from Tokyo, Japan is really a story of love. Love of two people whose lives six years prior were in shambles much like the 100-year-old kominka (old-style Japanese home) we would eventually end up buying, reforming and turning into an Airbnb.

Reiko and I met six years ago at a time when both of our marriages were ending. It was a difficult time and yet through all the turmoil, the moment we first met the seed was planted. Little did we know it would be the beginning of something very special.

Eventually finalizing our divorces, that was when we really started building a life together. We searched far and wide for a place we could someday call home. Dating for three years offered us the chance to lay a foundation and really get to know one another and discovering what each of us wanted in mid-life and beyond. Hitting middle-age and single you realize that you don’t want to spend time aging alone nor waste time with someone who doesn’t have the same values and philosophy in life. Those three years were an opportunity to get to know one another and fall in love on a much deeper level than either of us expected or experienced in our previous marriages.

The home we settled on buying after an exhaustive search of more than a year was in rough shape not unlike our lives before meeting each other. After purchasing the home, we spent more than a year meeting on weekends reforming and breathing new life into it. Over time and in parallel with putting our lives together, we realized we had created a unique space built on a foundation of love. The moment you walk into the house there is a calm, relaxing feeling. Originally a summer home for a wealthy family, there are windows everywhere with stunning views. We wanted to bring out the original character of our home along with creating a calm, relaxing atmosphere, and share that feeling and experience with friends and guests who stay in our home.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

We both come with creative backgrounds, Reiko with experience interior designing and reforming. This is her most recent home and the largest project she has done to date. I come with a background in advertising and writing. What we are most proud of is having seen the potential of this home and uncovering what already existed—spaciousness, Japanese aesthetics along with adding our own design touches. This is not a typical traditional Japanese style reform project. It is uniquely our own vision. By utilizing furniture left by the original owner that at first glance may seem like garbage, we see potential and up-cycle the piece turning it into something useful that fits within the space.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

This project was all about resilience. On a personal level we were both dealing with the end of our marriages while at the same time still getting to know one another in conditions that were less than perfect. After deciding on and purchasing the kominka it was time to get to work. The home was in really rough shape having not been lived in for more than ten years. Externally it was in good shape but internally it needed a lot of work. This was really a chance to get to know one another working in such conditions.

We were “camping out” we’d like to say. With no running water, toilet or shower it was not easy. We slept on two foam mattresses duct taped together. Without a car we had to walk about a mile to the train station to use the bathroom. Reiko made meals on a camp-like stove. We really got a chance to know what each other is made of. Even with all the difficulties, we loved this period of time bringing back to life this dilapidated home and making it livable. It was a labor of love for two people falling in love.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson we had to unlearn is that if we wanted to create the vision we had for the home, we could not depend 100% on the contractors. What I mean by that is most contractors that we interviewed to help with the major construction brought a narrow cookie cutter-like view. The best example is the kitchen. Reiko envisioned creating a wide-open island space kitchen with a very specific oven choice and working around an up-cycled desk as the center piece. Most contractors didn’t want to get involved or felt they couldn’t do it. We had to learn to be patient and make sure we found the right contractor to work with. It took a while but we found one who has done great work and in fact has learned a lot from us.

Patience and staying true to our vision has been the key in all aspects of what we have done.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: kominka_airbnb