/modules/weblog/ Out of the blue... and into the green. en Crip http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=13 2010-08-25T22:47:54 +00:00 Crip http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/26.jpg It's official , we will be hosting a 'work party' here in Okayama on Oct 10th for all our friends and colleagues. The idea of the party is not only to help us with some of the jobs on the land, but also to raise awareness of climate change issues and to persuade people that waiting for their leaders to do something will be too late, and that they themselves can do something. Hopefully we'll have got the yurt, the shed, and a toilet set up in time, because we're expecting maybe 20 people or more. We'll be putting together the solar array that we've bought (most of), and people will each have a couple of trees with which to start planting our forest garden. Of course, if you're coming, feel free to bring a tree for the forest. Anything productive and suited to the climate. Bushes, trees, ground cover (that handles shade well)... the choice is yours! We will be providing soft drinks, so bring a bento for your lunch. Party runs from 10am to 10pm. If you want to stay, bring a tent! http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=12 2010-08-17T21:44:07 +00:00 Crip http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/27.jpg It's been hot. Bloody hot! Working out there in the middle of the day is impossible, so we've kind of gone Mediterranean... maybe nocturnal would be closer to the truth. Work starts at sun-up, usually between 5~5:30am, then we knock off at 10 or 11. If there's stuff to be bought from the builders' merchant or some such, we head off and do that in the middle of the day or just chill out (figuratively speaking, 'melt out' would be more accurate) over a slow lunch. Once the site is back in the shade, between 4 and 5pm, we head back to finish off and tidy up. Usually knocking it on the head just before sundown. Not such a hard schedule, but hey, we're not on any particular schedule... actually, having said that, I've kind of gone and created an artificial deadline and battle plan for the next two months, culminating in a " Forest Garden Tree Planting and Solar Array Building Work Party " in solidarity with the 350.org inspired Global Work Party on Oct 10th. Oops! So, where are we at? Firstly, a new face. Iain will be wintering with us and helping out around the place. He has spent most of the last year down in Kyuushu and has moved up to Honshu recently to look for a plot of his own. Hopefully, while staying with us, he'll be able to find something suitable in the vicinity. Talk of an Okayama based 'Intentional Community' has been bandied around for quite a while now, and who knows, this might be the start of something along those lines. We've finally finished the foundations for the shed/garage that Kazumi & I have been building in the N.W corner of the plot. Horrible job in this weather. Fiddly as hell too what with the slope and all. Hopefully Iain and I can make short work of getting the framing and cladding up and done with in the next couple of weeks because then we really have to start getting the Yurt foundations done. The Yurt will ship on the 22nd of this month, arriving in Osaka on or around the 8th of September. Theoretically that'll give us 3 weeks or so to get it up and ready-ish for the Oct 10th do. The compost toilets have already arrived and are cluttering up the hall in Kawanishi, along with all the stuff that's destined to be put in the shed once it's done (generator etc). Kazumi and I bought ten Sharp 120W solar modules yesterday. They're 5 years old and 2nd hand, but polycrystalline so relatively long lasting (30yrs) as PV modules go. We paid a very reasonable price for them and considering that we can count on 4 hours of sunlight a day almost all year round in Okayama (Japan's 4th sunniest prefecture!), we should be able to get somewhere around 3kWh a day out of them on average. Hopefully more than enough. One thing that has been knocking around my head the last few days is "Where the hell are we going to put them all?" I'm thinking now that maybe we'll end up having them on the bank, though I'd have liked to plant that over with stuff that'll bind the thing together a bit more than it is. Maybe we can do a bit of both... Have to think about it. Kazumi's bathroom goodies are also on their way, apparently. We've ordered a shower unit that, to be honest, looks more like a shower room to me! Hope I can get the water pressure up. This yurt is going to be so well kitted out that I doubt we'll want to move out of it, even if the real house gets finished ahead of schedule! (very unlikely, I should add). Other things that have kept us busy. Weeds. Now, I know they say that there are no such things as weeds, that all plants have a use. Well, the only use I can think of for these is cutting down and mulching/composting. A very important role, I know, and it's good to have a limitless supply of compost... really it is. Anyway, I've started mulching large areas of the lower field with old cardboard boxes in an attempt to: a) add some organic matter to the soil, which seems to need it, and b) suppress new weeds from springing up where Kazumi is going to start her raised beds. We'll see how that goes. I just wish the weather would give us a break. It's been in the mid to high 30s for about a month now, and 22℃ with minimal humidity would be just perfect right now! Climate change in action? Maybe so. The media are full of stories about unstable and unusual weather nationwide, veg prices are all over the place and the count to date is 132 dead of heatstroke. It's not just Japan either. Pakistan and China are experiencing horrendous floods. Russia along with more than a dozen other countries is burning up under record highs. The World Meteorological Organization has a sobering news item up at the moment titled: " Unprecedented sequence of extreme weather events .", and the next item on their news page sounds even more ominous: "Scientists projected an increase in intensity and frequency of extreme weather events". The warnings were there for all to see... http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=11 2010-06-22T05:54:17 +00:00 Crip So, money has changed hands and documents have been duly stamped. The land is well and truly ours now. I think I mentioned before that we're trying to get at least some of the woodland to the north of our plot. Here's an image to help you follow what I'm about to say: http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/25.jpg The plot to the right, No.3 in the pic, is up for sale and at not too bad a price, to be honest. It's only 300 or so square meters though, and it's somewhat 'separate' from us, if you see what I mean. The plot to the left, No. 1 in the pic, might be for sale. Trouble is, the owner is currently bed ridden and, unfortunately, non compos mentis. The family that stand to inherit this plot are inclined to realize it before gramps pops it, and thereby add cash to the inheritance rather than keep the land. Or so we've been led to believe. I'd like this bit of land for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's three and a half thousand square meters of not too steeply inclined san-rin which we could use to build on rather than the small genya down at the bottom of our plot. Another reason is that while we were exploring at the weekend, we found a small pond (tame ike) that would be really useful if we wanted to or were forced to stop using the mains supply that we have. The third reason is that it adjoins what I've called 'Plot 2' in the picture. This plot appears to be ownerless, or we've been unable to trace them in the usual manner (city office, real estate searches etc.). Seems like he's just dropped of the face of the earth... which means that if we put up signs stating out intents to claim the land as our own, and if no-one challenges us for 20 years, it becomes ours :-) Yes, I'm serious. Here's a link to an article by another non-Japanese homesteader in Japan, Ken Elwood, titled "Adverse Possession of Abandoned Land in Japan: A Primer". It tells you all that you need to know :-) So if I can buy plot No. 1 and claim plot No. 2, I reckon that will do us just about right and we'll be set up for the rest of our time on this good ol' planet of ours. http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=10 2010-06-16T21:26:36 +00:00 Crip I've been thinking about how we'll use the land we've bought as time goes on. The permaculture course I've just finished reminded me of the importance of zones. Zones can refer to many things, but a useful set to start with can be zones defined by expected usage, or frequency of visit. I've knocked up a couple of zone maps, only preliminary but reflective of my thoughts as they currently stand, and will put them up here so I can come back to them in the future to see how far off the mark I was ;-) There're three maps. The first with no zones, but a rough idea of what I'm trying to do. The second showing with Zone 0 (the yurt). And the third one showing how the zones might change once the real house has been built. I should add that I've forgotten to include the yurt as a secondary residence in this map: http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/24.jpg http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/22.jpg http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/23.jpg As I said earlier, these are just rough ideas that we're still thinking through (I don't like the look of the beds, for example, and I'm not sure I want the pond so close to the yurt...). Oh, and comments are open to folk who want to register now. More as it comes :-) http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=9 2010-06-15T02:04:47 +00:00 Crip http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/18.jpg Well, it's taken me a week to get myself sat down in front of the computer to type this, so here goes. I got back from the UK last Wednesday, and what a time I had! The first few days were at home in Farnham with sis and the folks. It was great to see them all again and everyone was looking relaxed and well. It was reassuring to see that the dining room table is still the place for heated political debate and putting the world to rights, just like it always was. The volume seems to rise at about the same rate as I remember too. No wonder Dad's starting to lose his hearing! I managed to catch up with Rog & family too which was great. The other reason I was in the UK was to do a fortnight's Permaculture design course down in lovely Dorset . The course was hosted at Pat Bowcock's " Ourganics ", a debt free and self sustaining business that is a venue for permaculture courses and grows produce to sell to the local community. Our principal instructor was Aranya of Designed Visions . The residential (they provided a field and food, we brought tents) course spanned 14 days and covered all the usual stuff that a Permaculture Design course covers. If you've read Bill Mollison's Permaculture a designers Manual, there won't be too many surprises, what the course does provide though is an intense and distraction free 2 weeks in which you can reinforce all the stuff that you've read about and studied by yourself. Further, you get to meet a bunch of highly motivated fellow travelers some of whom may well become life long friends or correspondents. Other things that stood out on the Designed Visions course I attended were the location, the field trips and the food. Yes, there was I expecting to lose kilos by the day (on reflection, I've no idea why I expected that. Guess I had this wrong image of scrappy veggie dishes and camp cooking in mind. Couldn't have been further from the truth!). Needless to say lose weight is precisely the opposite of what I did, and if you've seen the pics on my facebook page of late, you'll know what I'm talking about! Anyway, suffice to say that I had an excellent two weeks, and ended up with a bunch more confidence that what I kind of thought I understood before, I really do now. I mentioned the field trips. We visited four permaculture-ish projects in the vicinity. http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/20.jpg The first was to The Treewise Co-operative , a terrace of thatched cottages run as a coop which aimed to provide a place of peace and learning for children and adults alike. They began their project by buying the cottages and an abandoned apple orchard behind it. Since then, they have restored the orchard, built a permaculture garden, and gradually expanded up the hill as land became available. Now the site covers 7 acres and goes right up to the ridge above the terrace. http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/19.jpg The second was FivePenny Farm. This working farm is where the Peasant Evolution Producers Cooperative keep their shared resources, namely their kitchens, fruit presses, stores, dairy and processing rooms. These shared resources are all to be found in the beautiful timber frame barn (right) that the coop members built using local craftsmen and materials. I was particularly inspired by the fact that this coop now has well over a dozen participating groups on board. When you think that some of the groups involved have a dozen or more members, think how many people that represents. It's fantastic that there's so much actually going on down there, and if it's happening there, it's probably going on all over the country and if that's the case, it's probably going on all over Europe and so on and so on... Bloody excellent! The post capitalist society has really made a start. The third place we visited was the Bridport TLC , a community resource & recycling project. There we saw how Bio-Diesel is produced, and learnt how this volunteer-led group is offering solutions to improve the local environment & contributing to a sustainable local economy by supporting all those working towards a more sustainable, climate-friendly environment. The project was started by two street performers and soon grew to offer community workshops, a small business recycling scheme, an arts & crafts scrapstore, rickshaws and other community based projects. http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/21.jpg The fourth and, as far as I was concerned, most inspiring visit took us to Blackthorn Farm, a 28 acre, self described "Energy Farm" permaculture project. Yet another member of the Peasant Evolution Producers' Co-Operative, the farm is home to the Rainbow family (how appropriate is that!) who made us feel so incredibly at home that I was ready to doze off in the shade had I not been totally engrossed in talking to Mark Rainbow about all aspects of their project and especially their fantastic house. I'm sure Mark was understating it, but he made the whole self build thing sound like a doddle. What I found particularly cool, other than the design of the place itself, was how they'd managed to get everything ready for a crew of 30 or so friends and volunteers to put the whole building up in a mere 4 day weekend! Amazing. All in all, it was a great two weeks made all the more special by the others there to teach and study. My special thanks go to Pat for hosting us all, Aranya for putting up with us, Tim, Trish, Izzy, Bokudan, Jo and all the others there who made it such a unique and special time. Thanks guys! See you next time you get out to Japan! http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=8 2010-05-09T01:24:53 +00:00 Crip http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/17.jpg Well, the interview with the Nogyou inkai is over and done with. I get the impression that the district we're hoping to move into is about as strict as they come. I think I mentioned earlier that the chou had successfully resisted being swallowed up by their nearest city a couple of years back, and that as a result they were proud as hell about their new found independence. The inkai was represented by the kai-cho and three senior members, and we had our notary (forgotten the Japanese word for it, a kind of lawyer) with us. The interview was a fairly weird experience, the notary had told us to not go into any details that weren't brought up directly by the inkai, and so I spent most of my time biting my tongue. I wish he hadn't said that as it made me very self conscious. To be fair to the inkai, the kaicho and one of the members seemed unfazed by my foreignness but keen to establish that we weren't religious nuts or dope fiends, a perfectly understandable stance imo. One of the other interviewers, probably the oldest, certainly the saltiest looking, was full of intelligent questions about permaculture, seed saving and how we intended to protect our crops against cross pollination with local non-heirloom/non-hybrid varieties. If he'd spoken with a less broad accent I would have understood a bunch more of what he was saying, but what I caught sounded very interesting. I'll have to look him out if we get our permission to move. Inevitably there was the obligatory a-hole too. Extremely defensive about his farm/the village's well being and skeptical if not downright hostile towards us and our ability to farm, I assigned him to the 'smile and ignore' pile and concentrated on the others. One sweaty moment came about when the notary chimed in that we'd bought a Kominka in the neighboring village, which was total bullshit and I've no idea where he got that idea from, so we had to explain that that wasn't the case and what our actual residential situation was. Something we'd managed to avoid talking about up until then. It made us look foolish and cast unnecessary doubt on the whole proceedings. What a pratt! Anyway, it turns out that the only real reason they can use to reject our application is that they fear we might be up to no good. Whether our notion of agriculture matches theirs or not is neither here nor there. So maybe we'll be ok. The inkai reps we met yesterday will now take their findings to the whole inkai which convenes on Monday and they'll make a recommendation to the chou following that. Blimey, what a palaver! http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=7 2010-04-25T00:01:21 +00:00 Crip http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/14.jpg I thought it might be useful for some to see what they can expect to have to do when trying to buy agricultural land (nouchi - 農地) here. There are probably other posts scattered around the threads on GP (the best on-line place to meet other foreigners doing similar stuff) somewhere, but maybe people could post links to other relevant info in the comments below this post. Caveat Emptor: I'm not a lawyer! This is info that I have gleaned by buying agricultural land myself. There may be inaccuracies or missing info amongst the text here. Please check all this for yourself! Primer: Dividing the land. Land in Japan is zoned. The first layer of zoning is when land is designated either 区域内(kuikinai)／区域外(kuikigai). This means that such land is either within or without the area that the local municipality defines as the 'urban area'. Laws are comparatively strict if you're buying/building within the urban area. Within each of the above definitions are the four classifications known as 原野(genya)、山林(sanrin)、農地(nouchi) and 宅地(takuchi). Loosely translated as 'wilderness', 'Mountain Forest', 'Agricultural' and 'Residential'. So it is possible, though unlikely, to have wilderness within the urban zone for example. [Note: There are in fact a dozen or more classifications of land other than these, but as an individual looking to live in the countryside, the above are the terms you are going to be running into most often. For more info see: Land Use Control Regulation in Japan , or find English translations of J law here . If you're still reading, what you are probably thinking of doing is buying a plot of land in the countryside. I'll stick to describing the process for that. Scenario 1: You buy an old Japanese house to do up or use as is. Your house will either be in the 区域内(kuikinai)／区域外(kuikigai) zones. If in the 区域内(kuikinai) zone, any modifications you make to your house 'should' follow rules for such things as earthquake resilience, Electrical standards and the like. If it's in the 区域外(kuikigai) zone you are more free with what you can do. Your house is also probably registered as 宅地, and you will therefore have an address that is registered at the city office and the land's boundaries will be officially and accurately recorded in both metric and traditional J units of measurement. You will be being taxed at residential rates, and basically doing everything 'by the books'. However, many older houses are built outside the urban area (区域外) and some of those are built on 原野. If this describes your case there are several things to be aware of. Firstly, all land on which houses have been built 'should' be re-zoned as 宅地. This is a legal obligation. This is also often ignored. Particularly with houses that have been standing since before the war when much of this legislation was formulated. If your house is on 原野and is 区域外 the ownership transfer may well be very tricky and if not sorted out carefully (and at no little expense) you may end up paying for and occupying someone else's land. Be warned! Scenario 2: Buying land to live and farm on. There's a classic catch 22 situation regarding agricultural land in Japan. You can't buy it unless you are a registered farmer. Of course, you can't become a farmer without farmland... ok. You can see where this is going, right? There is a way around it though! Rent farmland and make your application to the 農業員会 (nogyouinkai - farmers' association) as a tenant farmer. If accepted (and this is in no way a given) you will be legally able to buy the agricultural land that you've found. So, how to become a member of the inkai? You should be able to get the necessary forms (forgotten their names) from the municipal office or possibly from a JA office. Along with these forms you will be required to present a written description of what you are going to do there, why you want to do it in that particular place and most importantly, how you intend to make a living while doing so. Of course, your living must be seen to be coming from the land in question. In other words no hobbyists. Let's face it, unless you're one of the 1% of people with enough savings to live the life of luxury and not have to work to do so, you'll be needing a business plan anyway. Translate the whole thing into Japanese and submit it along with your application. I found these great links that may help you get an idea of the format which is expected. link 1 , link 2 . If you're buying through a real estate agent (不動産屋) they should have a scrivener on the books who can make sure you dot all the 'i's and cross all the 't's correctly. Make use of this fella or find your own if necessary! Expect to pay around ¥100,000 for this service. Changing bare 原野 or 山林 to another classification is not so difficult nor so expensive. However, changing 農地 to another classification, especially to 宅地, is a different ball game. To change agricultural land to residential land requires a minimum area of land to be in your possession (this can, if you're lucky, include rented land). This area of land varies from district to district, but is typically 5 tan (5反= 4,958m² = 1500 tsubo). You will probably only be allowed to change in the region of 100~150 tsubo of this to residential land. Which should be enough. Again, employing a scrivener to do the paperwork is the way to go. Expect to pay in the region of ¥400,000 for this service and fees. Bear in mind that it is rare but possible to be called for an interview with the inkai. Also bear in mind that it is within their rights to refuse your application. So far, this is what I've learnt through experience. I'll add more as time goes on. For now, I'll leave it at this. Good hunting! http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=6 2010-04-16T06:42:26 +00:00 Crip http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/9.jpg So, last Saturday we went to have one last look at the Kamikayama plot (Sho-o cho). It'd been keeping us up all week, me worrying about slippage, and Kazumi worrying about the 'being on display' aspect of the place. We also wanted to visit S san, the gent who's got all the useful contacts in the area and was a Miya Daiku until an accident at work took him off the sites. We intended to just spend the day there, scoping the site, taking soil samples and generally hanging out, soaking it all up. But at the end of the day, while talking with S, he let slip the fatal words "I know a better place..." We bit and asked him if we could take a look at it. "Come round first thing tomorrow." he said. "We'll go take a look." I was kind of doubtful as we'd 99% decided on Kamikayama, and the place that S had mentioned was a third the size. Still, no harm in checking it out we thought... So, yet another night in the car at Kamikayama. And man did it rain! We woke up at the crack of dawn and took yet another look around. The site was a total bog. The fact that it was almost all rice fields really sank in. How on earth were we going to build on that, I thought to myself. Anyway, after brekkie at the local michi-no-eki we headed off to meet S. Boy can he talk. We met at nine, and it wasn't till 12 that I finally said, "Well, the rain's obviously not going to let up. Let's go see the place shall we?" and with no further a do, off we went. http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/10.jpg http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagethumbs/11.jpg "Guibi valley" (reads: gooey bee) is less than 10 minutes from Kamikayama, one valley over to the N. West. It's a small, incredibly picturesque valley with both sides forested and rice fields running down the foot of the valley from top to bottom. Elevation is about 400m at the top running down gently for maybe 2 or so km where a hamlet is located. About half way down the valley on the northern slopes lies the plot. A mere acre, but 100% usable and only divided in to two terraces. Totally different from Kamikayama. Totally sold! As you can see, there's a 'curtain' of evergreens running along the southern and eastern sides of the land. A forested mountain to the north and a strip of mixed woodland to the west. Totally sheltered from both the heat of summer sun and morning and evening winds coming up and down the valley. The forest should provide some welcome cool air in the summer months too. The land has JA water mains on it, with three cocks strategically placed. The south western corner (about 80 tsubo or 265sqm green in the lower pic) is classified as 'Genya' meaning that we can build on it. The rest is 'Nouchi' or agricultural land. There are just over 1200 tsubo (or 4,057sqm). An almost perfect 'acre'! Of course, then the price came up. 330 man. We could hardly hold ourselves back from running down to the fudosan (estate agent) immediately, but thought we should at least have a chat over a coffee before making any decisions. One quick coffee later, we were sitting at the desk and I was signing on the bottom line. Man, call me impulsive if you like, but I'm now a land owner (gulp!). Obviously an underground house wouldn't suit this site as well as the last one, so a new house design is called for. Considering that the only location we can build on is on the south-west corner of the land, the area with the view down the valley, Kazumi and I both instantly thought of a roundhouse. Perfect site for one, really. We both think that it should be on piers, not necessarily so tall, 50cm between the ground and the underside of the wall plate floor beams would do the job. Enough space to get the compost toilet 'tank' under. There's enough space for a 10.8m diameter house with a 1.75m deck around that, the roof ( a reciprocal roof ) would come out to the edge of the deck, and a floor plan something like this: http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/13.jpg http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=5 2010-04-01T05:17:48 +00:00 Crip http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/6.jpg I'm very happy to be able to write that Kazumi and I tied the knot today. We've been living together for several years now, and dating longer, and a month or so ago decided that seeing as how we were both intending to stick around and get in each other's hair for the duration, we might as well get married. To be honest, we didn't really see the point in formalizing it as the reality spoke for itself. None the less, what with buying land and/or emigrating looking like strong possibilities we thought we might as well. One unfortunate (?) thing was that due to getting some wrong information from the city, we thought that we had to change Kazumi's family name. With that in mind, we bought air tickets in my family name, but it turns out that she could in fact have kept her own name. Of course, the air tickets are not transferable. I know, I know. You try persuading them that it's not actually a transfer... good luck. The long and the short of it is that there's now a new Mrs Moorey in the family. I'm deeply honoured, but can't help thinking that she must be a wee bit mad. http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/7.jpg So, in other news. It's been a week of reading and thinking, and I just can't get Sho-o-cho out of my mind. Here are a couple of rough 3D sketches I made. You can see that the idea of a living roof appeals. I don't yet know how good an idea it would be (damp/humidity wise), but the fact that we wouldn't lose too much in the way of workable land and the insulating properties of the soil seem like a good idea. http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/8.jpg Listen to me, here I am going on about the place like we've actually bought it. I had a big chat with my folks the other night, and they seemed fairly disappointed when I mentioned that I hadn't 100% decided to return to the UK yet. http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=4 2010-03-28T07:38:35 +00:00 Crip Today we went back to Okayama to look at more places. First we went to see a block of land (genya) which was the cheapest we'd seen to date. http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/4.jpg It was made up of about 2,500 tsubo at the top end of a small valley. It had obviously been rice fields until several decades ago, but was now well and truly given over to wilderness. It seemed like it was a close second to Sho-o-cho but on reflection it'd take a heap more work just to get the place in a state suitable for planting anything. Sho-o-cho is way closer to a working state than here. We meet Saiso san from " Archon ", another estate agent specializing in traditional Japanese properties. He was very straightforward and showed us around a very nice old house with over 7,500 tsubo of land with it. Sadly, while the house was in pretty good condition, and obviously well built and cared for, it was right in the middle of a hamlet and was totally inaccessible by car. Not only that, but the 1 tan (300m) of rice fields had been farmed in the normal (oil-based fertilizer) way until last year, and it was right in the middle of a strip of similarly farmed paddies. Yet another disappointment was that the bulk of the land was forest, something like 7,000 tsubo of the whole property. Real shame as the price was great and the house itself would have been perfect if it had just been in a different place :-( http://www.out-of-the-blue.info/uploads/weblog_imagephotos/5.jpg The next place was in Hyogo ken, and we met Ashida san from another estate agent, " Slow Life ". This one was in even better condition than the first. Once again though, it was in the middle of a block of houses and only accessible by car if you all breathed in and drove veeery slowly. I'm decided at least, I'm not sure that Kazumi is yet though. I don't think we're going to find an old Japanese house with all of the following criteria: a) enough useful land attached. b) a price we can afford. c) of good enough condition to make it worth while. I'm for a piece of land that we can build something unique and appropriate on. Sho-o-cho is looking better and better the more places we see.