Farmers convert old homes into guesthouses.
Released from their economic confines, many proprietors have started turning their elegant colonial homes into guesthouses.
Known as the "old ladies," each bears a woman's name and not a few have been turned into guesthouses.
Now money generated by the detention centre pours down main street into guesthouses, hotels, hardware stores, car rental companies and grocery stores.
The on-demand economy is in many ways a continuation of what has been called the "sharing economy" exemplified by Airbnb, a company which turns apartments into guesthouses and their owners into hoteliers.
But he has also, over the years, acquired the three houses behind it, one of which has been painted purple and converted into storage space, while the others have been turned into guesthouses.
His local investments also include stakes in the Hermannhof Winery; Tin Mill Brewing, a European-style brewery in two old mills; and six old family wineries that were dismantled stone by stone, reassembled above Hermannhof and converted into guesthouses.
Shirakawa-go can be visited on a day trip from Tokyo, but some of the buildings have been made into guesthouses, and you get a much better feel for the culture with an overnight stay.
Mr. Kitto served as my guide in Moganshan, and as we zipped along the area's curving roads on his motorcycle, his dog Charlie in the sidecar, he commented on the history of the homes, some of which have been renovated by developers and turned into guesthouses.
Some of these buildings though were converted into guesthouses for backpackers.
