Episode 07 Wonderful Visit of Kumiko and Shokichi

The story goes back to November 3, 2018. Yoko returned to Yodoe, but this time, she accompanied her company staff and acquaintances to a meeting with an architect to turn an annex into a guesthouse. In the evening, she went to the nearby sea and filmed a short video. She posted it on Facebook the next day, and said:

“Sunset over the Sea of Japan and Mt. Daisen.

I started working on turning the annex of my parents' house into a guesthouse."

Kumiko Sahara saw this post and sent Yoko a message on Messenger. She wrote,

“There are some interesting youngsters in Tottori. Why don't you ask them for help if you want to create a guesthouse?

https://www.facebook.com/pticpartic/

Kumiko Sahara and Yoko met for the first time at the "SALTVALLEY” in 2017. Both of them were at an event called “Who's this? Everyone’s Collection.”

SALTVALLEY was an event space renovated from an old three-story building in Osaka. It was purchased in 2014 by Com Planning Co., Ltd., which Yoko had management support and a business partnership with.

Kumiko introduced Yoko to Party Architecture, a group that traveled around Japan renovating vacant houses. They recently settled in Hamamura-Onsen in Tottori-City. Kumiko also introduced Shota Nozaki (A.K.A Shokichi) from Osaka. Party Architecture planned to hold a “Dong Teng Yagai” music festival on November 18, and he was planning to exhibit a stand there. Kumiko was planning to accompany him.

 At that time, Yoko was also visiting Yodoe. On the 19th, a day after the event, Kumiko, Shokichi, and their friends came to Yodoe to visit Yoko.

On the afternoon of November 19, 2018, Kumiko, Shokichi, and their friends came to Yodoe. Yoko thoroughly showed them the house, from the attic, which requires a ladder, to an 2nd annex where her grandmother lived.

"It's like a maze!" "There's more to the end." "What is it here?"

Occasionally, enjoyable voices can be heard.

Shokichi, who later founded the architectural group Noma in 2020, was a member of “Maeda Bunka (Maeda Culture)” at that time. This group of performers performs at Bunka Jutaku, a type of apartment complex popular in the Kinki region during the 1950s and 1960s. Their performance is unique; one time some sumo wrestlers were brought to do an experiment how far they could break down the walls when demolishing these old housing units. Another time, they combined classical concerts with demolition. Recently, they incorporated many people for the direction, venue design, and construction of “I Wanted to Be Osamu Tezuka: Seitaro Kuroda Exhibition,” which was carried out using 2,000 cardboard boxes. They have an outstanding ability to get people involved. 

Yoko showed Shokichi the 700,000 yen estimate for house cleaning that she had received the day before. She also explained that it would cost about 1 million yen if it included the annex cleaning.

After seeing the estimate, Shokichi said,

“We create a new community through the project.  We believe that it is best to be involved with one project as long as possible. Please let us be involved with this project from cleaning, and you can post about these processes online. Let's make the house filled with memories of you and your family a long-lasting home!”

After she heard Shokichi’s idea, she thought about what she had told her son, Kuniyoshi, when they discussed about the usage of this house about a year ago.

 “Instead of visiting me often, I would rather see you (Kuniyoshi) following your dream and doing good in the world. I will invite people here and have a fun life.”

With these unique members, it may be possible to create a house that can be used for many years without demolishing the main house! Even though the future was vague, Yoko was very excited about the fun future ahead of them.