He moved to Japan and started building cabins in the woods

I moved to Japan alone at 16 and enrolled in a boarding school in Kyoto. Growing up in New Zealand I often felt caught between cultures; in Kyoto, where two-thirds of students were returnees, I finally felt understood. At university I spent mornings driving out to surf and exploring the countryside, which reminded me of building huts in the woods as a child.

After graduating in 2015 I stayed in Tokyo, worked in real estate, and began posting on LinkedIn about the market and rural life. During the pandemic I traveled through rural Japan and adapted an idea I’d seen in the US: tiny cabins built on trailer chassis that are legally classified as vehicles, allowing them to bypass some building permits and zoning rules.

I shared the concept on LinkedIn in 2024 and gradually attracted collaborators; a year later a pre-seed fundraiser drew investor interest and my two full-time employees also found me through the platform. The first 16-square-meter cabin opened in a national park in Chiba in August that year.

Japan, Kyoto, Tokyo, Chiba

japan, kyoto, tokyo, chiba, tiny cabins, trailer chassis, linkedin, building permits, zoning rules, pre-seed fundraiser