Homeward Bound (Part 1)

I apologize for the length of time between posts. These last few weeks have been busy to say the least. School is getting back into full swing with the beginning of the new school year and I am getting ready to move into my new home in Kikuyo Town. This will mark another major life experience and a new stage of growth in my life here in Japan.

I never thought that I would be a land owner in a foreign country when I started this journey, but here I am with 116 坪 Tsubo (383.5 square meters or 458.6 square yards) in Japan. I know that this may seem a little off topic for this blog, but I would like to share with you the stages of building and try to explain some of the interesting customs involved with building a house in Kumamoto, Japan. We will make our move into our new home in June and therefore, I titled this post "Homeward Bound."

 

(The Land as it looked at the beginning of building, 2014)

 





The process of building a house turned out to be a very long one which began with trying to find land. The photo above is the land we decided on. It is located about 20 to 30 minutes from down town with great access in an area that is really building up and developing now. There is a train station about a 10 minute walk, with elementary and junior high schools within walking distance as well and very close to the airport.

 

I know this is not a very large property by North American standards, but by Japanese standards it is about 2 properties worth of land. I will not bore you by writing about all of the paper work and the countless stamping of 印鑑 Inkan that has been involved. I will start by introducing the first of three ceremonies that has taken place since building began.

地鎮祭 Ji Chin Sai