I bought a house in Japan at 23 with 7 friends. We spent less than $20,000 to have a place to escape to.

Hilary Tang, second from right, and her college friends bought an abandoned home in Hiroshima, Japan. Courtesy of Hilary Tang Hilary Tang and her college friends bought an akiya in Hiroshima, Japan, for a little over $11,000. The group of friends spent months living at the property while renovating it. They plan to use it mostly for gatherings but are open to renting it out to cover yearly costs. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Hilary Tang, 23, a recent college graduate from Hong Kong who purchased a home in Hiroshima, Japan, with her college friends . The following has been edited for length and clarity. I graduated from Minerva University in San Francisco last May. I was planning to work at a startup in San Francisco, but I decided that I wanted to take a gap year.