about us
After a long journey trying to find a place to settle down, we moved from Okinawa to this ancient mountain village in Mori-machi, Shuchi-gun, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Here we inherited our property “Nishimuki” (facing west), which was named by previous owners a long time ago. We wanted to keep the name so that we can pass on the memory and history of the land and the house.
We are exploring a recycling-oriented lifestyle that is close to nature, a lifestyle where we can produce our own food, clothing, and shelter with our own hands.
The property has three houses. While repairing, rebuilding, and renovating this place, we hope to create a place where people can gather together around a fire and share stories.
Thoughts
The 2011 March 11 earthquake was a major event that was so devastating and affected many people.
It was an event of such magnitude that it impacted our values and the way we view life.
Many people don't think about how everything can be gone tomorrow and take simple things for granted like food, water and shelter. Through the earthquake we learned that all these simple life necessities can be all taken away from us in an instance.
Products disappeared from store shelves, electricity blackouts began, and we quickly learned that our lives were not in our hands.
We wanted to reexamine our relationship with nature and become people who connect with and preserve it.
We asked ourselves, how do we want to live from now on?
We traveled abroad for two years to see how different people live around the world, visiting many people who practiced sustainable living.
After returning to Japan, we came to the conclusion that the answer may be found in the satoyama lifestyle, where people have lived in harmony with nature since ancient times.
We want to create opportunities at Nishimuki for people to create a closer connection with nature.
