Electrical Plans Approved

My wife's father is in town from Kobe to finalise the electrical plans for the house. After a few beers and long debate about the best placement for a light switch in the bathroom, we were done. In what is becoming a pattern, the electric company rejected our plans this morning. So we made some minor changes and by the afternoon we had the plans approved. 

The foundation guys (technical term) were on site today to measure the exact dimensions of the land to prepare for digging. A few of the remaining trees must have mouthed off because they were laying on the ground when I got there. But my hammock trees still remain so there is always a silver lining.

The exact start date of the digging remains shrouded in mystery (odd for a country where not only the trains run on time, but even the buses are never more than a few minutes off schedule). I guess I will just turn up one day and there will be a great big hole in the ground. Hopefully with a vein of gold running through it. 

We Have Power!!!

After reinstalling our temporary power pole, the electric company arrived unexpectedly and connected the power. The electrician gave the pole a shake, looked at his friend, and then shrugged as if to say, "Screw it. This foreigner probably doesn't speak Japanese, its Saturday, and I don't want to come back again." In their defense, the pole does have a slight lean, but it is in no danger of falling over. I think. So after two attempts we now have the pleasure of paying two electric bills each month.

We Have a Kitchen

Our discount kitchen has been ordered and will arrive in 3-4 weeks. We couldn't pick the exact arrival date, since we aren't paying full price, but we can store it in the fancy rental container we will be getting next month.

As you can see it is rather shiny under the harsh glare of fluorescent lighting, but it should look a bit more subdued once it is in our house. We will be building an island as well to separate the kitchen from the living/dining area and to add more counter space. 

The Good, The Bad, and the Incompetent

We accomplished a few things this week and we are moving ahead on schedule.

The Good: We found a showroom system kitchen that fits our requirements exactly at about half the cost of a brand new one. The only difference being that this one is out of its packaging. The rampant consumer desire for new items in Japan works in our favor!

The Bad: I spent about 4 hours installing a temporary electrical pole this week. 1 blister, 1 broken hacksaw blade,  a 1 meter deep hole, 5.5 meters of pipe, and some wiring were all it took.  Only to have the electric company "suggest" (suggest = demand in Japanese), that the pole be installed about 1 meter further onto our property. So Saturday will be spent repeating the above procedure, hopefully with better results.

The Incompetent: Me and my abysmal knowledge of Japanese building codes.

On the upside, it won't cost anything but time and energy and in the end I can reflect on a job well done. Twice.

Chainsaws and Rain

I awoke on Saturday morning to a slow but constant drizzle. It looked like the trees would have to wait until Sunday. However, just as they gasped a sigh of relief, the rain let up and we were on site at around 9:30. I guess there is some merit to the paper shaking after all. The above photo is a shot of our land before the destruction began. If you look closely you can almost see the trees shaking with fear (it could be due to the wind, but fear sounds much more menacing).

Despite my desire to wield the chainsaw, I thought it best to let my friend take the lead. Besides, we still have a long way to go on this project and the absence of a thumb might throw a spanner in the works. You can see him on the right wielding the gasoline version of Excalibur, while I stand aside in my fashionable yellow ear muffs and over sized goggles. My main role was to carry the felled trees to the back of the property, coerce my office staff into helping on a Saturday (not pictured since they didn't show up until 11:00, but once they arrived they did an outstanding job), and to provide lunch. My wife prepared prosciutto and brie baguettes for everyone which was greatly appreciated and gave us the energy to continue our assault on the trees. 

50 odd trees later we finished the job around 14:30. The lot is clear at a fraction of the cost of hiring professionals. This week I will be spending every evening cutting logs and stacking them for use in our wood stove. In the meantime, we will host a BBQ tomorrow in repayment for all of the help we received today.

The gods are pleased. I think.

The ceremony went smoothly and as far as I can tell the gods were happy with their sake and raw red snapper. I only hope they were occupied elsewhere when I placed the pine sprig upside down on the shrine. The priest assured me it was fine, but these gods can be a fickle lot. It won't come to human sacrifice, but the local goats should be wary.

Now that the formalities are out of the way, we can get started on the house. The first step is clearing some trees to make way for the foundation. As you can see from the photos, our land is pretty much a forest of silver birches at the moment so it is not a small job. Our architect/builder suggested that we hire professionals to cut the trees down, since some of them are fairly large. But why spend money on professionals when you have friends with chainsaws? Besides, the goal of this project is to incorporate as much DIY as possible and what could be more fun than throwing on a flannel shirt and living the life of a lumberjack for a weekend!

So for the price of a BBQ and a case of beer (the only acceptable means of payment in Niseko), me and some friends will be felling trees in reckless abandon. My friend with the chainsaw assures me he can drop a tree on a dime, but nevertheless the neighbors have been warned. I hope the cakes we gave them will offset any crushed cars or broken windows that may result from this endeavor.

Paper shaking and some sake for the gods...

In a little over two weeks the foundation will be put in, but before that we have to follow a time honored tradition in Japan. The paper shaking ceremony! While not actually called that in Japan, it is the first thought that pops into the head of anyone not born and raised here. Before I can cut down any trees and before any construction can start, we must ask the gods of the soil for a get out of jail free card. 

Despite the lack of a stifling belief in religion, Japanese people still honor certain Shinto and Buddhist ceremonies. My wife still pretends to be out of the house when the Jehovah Witnesses stop by (Yes, they really are everywhere. And no, despite their convincing arguments based on the complexity of a tree frog's elbow joint, I have yet to be swayed to a belief in creationism), but she would not let construction begin without the ceremony taking place. 

In line with this tradition we signed the contract with our architect on the 30th of May (a good day for contracting) and the ceremony will take place on the 4th of June (the luckiest day for starting a new venture at this time of the year). So all in all, we have done pretty well. I am half expecting the house to magically throw itself together, but at least if we run into any problems I can hold my hands up and blame it on the Shinto priest.

The ceremony basically involves the priest chanting the address of our property, our names, and a plea to the gods to not strike us down with volcanic eruptions or a shortage of nails. Then a stick with some paper tied to it is shaken over our heads, some sake is poured on the ground, and the gods move on to smite some other aspiring home owner.

Wish us luck.