After visiting the supermarket today, and fussing over our vegetable purchases, Yumiko suggested that perhaps we should buy a house in Japan where we can have access to farmland... She then quickly located this house for sale on the beautiful Izu Peninsula, which is a one-hour ferryboat ride across Suruga Bay from her family's home in Shizuoka City. Yumiko knew the rough area where the house is located, and she challenged me to pinpoint it on Google Earth, which I did (though it took me about two hours to find).
The place is situated in a small valley near the top of a mountain, with about a dozen vegetable fields and just as many homes dotted all about the little valley. The village's small Shinto shrine is just behind the house, as is a trail that leads to the community's old cemetery atop a nearby mountain (in the past, Japanese village folk would often bury their dead in cemeteries overlooking their village with an idea of giving the departed spirits a view of their homes, and a chance to watch their families living their lives below).
I think that this house would be a nice place for two retirees to at last escape away from the world: a place to grow our own veggies (rather than fussing about them at the supermarket), maybe raise a few egg-laying hens; and finally - and most importantly - to get a little rest after six-plus decades of struggling to get by.
Click here to view the listing for this property.
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.