Courtesy of Keito Swan Keito Swan moved from California to Hokkaido, in northern Japan.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Keito Swan, 37, a professional gambler who moved from Modesto, California, to the countryside of Hokkaido, Japan, after buying a home. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I was actually born in Japan — there's a Navy base in Sasebo, Japan. My dad's white, my mom's Japanese.

I lived there until I was 7. Then, with my father being in the Navy, we moved around a bit. I lived most of my life in Seattle and then about seven years in California.

I go to Japan every winter for snowboarding , and I'd actually considered moving there before.

But I thought, "It's cheap enough to just vacation.…