We built our dream home for the family we thought we'd have. Then we started over in rural Japan.

Sia and Mikael Lilja moved from Sweden to Japan to buy one of the country's old vacant homes, known as akiya. Sia Lilja. Sia and Mikael Lilja spent six years building their dream family home in Sweden. When they decided that kids were no longer part of the plan, they moved to Japan for a fresh start. They paid 8 million yen, about $49,000, for an akiya, one of Japan's old vacant houses in the countryside. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sia and Mikael Lilja, who moved ...