Episode 05 Let's Turn the Annex Into a Guesthouse!

Yoko and Shu's family gathered in Yodoe from August 12th to 16th, 2018 for their father's first Bon festival.

This is Japan’s traditional annual event in which people welcome the spirits of their ancestors to their homes for a few days.

Around the same time, Kotoyo Oguchi(読み方) from Osaka visited the house in Yodoe with her mother, who was recuperating from an illness. Kotoyo was a colleague of Yoko's previous workplace at an accounting firm. Kotoyo was well known to Shu’s family since she had visited London with Yoko's family when Shu was posted to London and had stayed at Shu's house.

“What an awesome place! Ocean and mountains are so close, and the scenery is amazing!”

“I’m so jealous.”

Kotoyo and her mother repeatedly told Yoko how wonderful Yodoe was and how envious they were.

Those words made her realize once again the value of this place.

Shortly after the last visit, Yoko and Shu’s family gathered again in Yodoe from September 14th to 16th for a first-year memorial service for their father.

Yoko's thinking had drastically changed after the typhoon on September 4, 2018.

 “There may be more major earthquakes in the future, and Yodoe could be effectively used as an evacuation site if something happens in Osaka.''

Yoko finished transcribing the love letters left by their parents and brought them to Yodoe. While reading them and looking at various photos, Yoko and Shu immersed themselves in memories of their parents.

Then, the topic turned to what to do with the lands and buildings. It had been a year since they finished the inheritance process, and no action had been taken because they had found out how difficult it was to sell.

“I thought Yodoe was in the middle of nowhere because of the lack of transportation. But Kotoyo and her mother kept saying how nice this place was. After the earthquake and typhoon in Osaka, I started thinking that this place might be useful as an emergency shelter.”

“Come to think of it, all kinds of people, including Mom’s friends, used to gather and stay overnight at the annex.”

“I had a pajama party with five other girls from my class when I was in high school. Even during my college years and when I was not in Yodoe, my friends from the archery club stayed there for many days to go skiing.”

“My friend stayed there for a month and went skiing at Mt. Daisen every day. Mom took care of him, including his meals. It's a space where people can easily stay.''

“Even after we became adults, many people visited here. It might be a good idea to use this place as a guesthouse! The main building is difficult to clean up, so why don’t we start by making the annex a guesthouse? It might be a good idea to run it through Walisu (a corporation established by Yoko in 2008).”

Next day, Yoko went to the Legal Affairs Bureau for registration consultation. Then she visited the Private Lodging Consultation desk of the Living Environment Bureau, Environment and Circulation Promotion Division in Tottori Prefecture Western General Office.

The person in charge, Mr. Endo, kindly explained the process of opening a guesthouse. According to him, there are two main ways to apply: "Minpaku" and "Simple Lodging."

September 15th coincided with the alumni reunion of Yonago Higashi High School, Yoko's alma mater.

Over there, she discovered that the husband of one of her classmates, Mizue, is a first-class architect. The day after her father's first-year memorial service, Yoko was able to have him come and see the annex.

According to him, it would roughly cost about 2 million yen for the interior and exterior renovations.

After listening to him, Yoko and Shu asked him for an official estimate and started working on turning the annex into a guest house.