Minakami & The Mountains of Madness
Join us on our second day exploring the wondrous city of Minakami in Gunma prefecture, where luxury and rural life combine spectacularly.
Matt is “The Akiya Hunter”, real estate marketer, event producer, and consultant. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Matt moved to Japan in 2009 after graduating from Hobart and William Smith Colleges to teach English in Miyako, a small port town in rural Iwate Prefecture, in the northeast of the main Japanese island of Honshu. Abundant seafood, open-minded musicians, a well-paying, easy job and a low cost of living — Matt was enamored with inaka life. But then, on March 11, 2011, at 2:46 p.m. all of that was washed away by a 37.9-metre tsunami and he was left standing outside of a hilltop temple, homeless, watching the city burn.
After two months of organizing response teams in Miyako, Matt moved to Tokyo to work with art galleries and NPOs active in Tohoku. Fast forward through a diverse career spanning market research, consulting, and most recently serving as Executive Director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and you could say Matt is a jack of all trades, and a master of fun.
Underlying all of that, Matt has relentlessly pursued his passion for independent, boundary-pushing music as a guitarist for black metal bands Darkcorpse, Retch, and now Worship Pain, a respected booker and tour manager, and a data-hungry documentarian cataloguing and analyzing the physical history of Japan’s rich underground music cultures – a methodology which he has recently begun applying to the akiya market, culminating in the genesis of Akiya & Inaka.
Join us on our second day exploring the wondrous city of Minakami in Gunma prefecture, where luxury and rural life combine spectacularly.
Join Akiya Hunter Matt Ketchum on a trip out to visit multiple akiya in the rural wonderland of Kamimoku in Gunma Prefecture!
Travel with us to one of the most remote regions around Tokyo – Nagara – and visit an absolutely stellar wooden cabin just waiting for you!
Akiya Hunter Matt goes to Nikko in Tochigi prefecture to explore the corporate-retreat-turned-hostel ex-akiya Earth Hostel!
Akiya Hunter Matt Ketchum goes deep into the woods of Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture to visit a farm built from akiya & hard work.
Take a trip with us metalheads down to Shizuoka to explore a woodland cabin and enjoy the charbroiled flavors of Yugawara barbecue!
Join Akiya Hunter Matt in a trip down to Kamakura, where he explores geisha culture and stays the night at Geisha house Tsuki no Kage Tei!
Matt & Parker headed down to Jomyoji to check out a local artist’s homestead, and ended up finding much more. Coincidences about in inaka!