I moved into this extremely countryside in 2014, aiming to find out truly sustainable lifestyle through my own experiences here.

In totally surrounded by "Satoyama" circumstance, I spend slowlife everyday. Every season, we enjoy so beautiful landscape and pretty rich biodiversity (possibly you can be a witness of various kind of wildlife if you visit us).

I live in more than a century-old Japanese-style country house, and enjoy traditional and organic way of life.

Here, I am trying to be a half farmer, half social developer or designer (for sustainability). My current mission is to create new jobs for this mountainous region in sustainable way so that more young people will come and settle down to this region.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Recently I had an experience to host certain couchsurfer couple, and I was deeply fascinated by the coushsurfing system.

I and my family love to communicate with foreign people, because talking with them is so fun and exciting, and they often give us a lot of awareness and happiness.

I also want to let foreigners know about Shiga prefecture, such as Lake Biwa ( the largest lake in Japan), Mt Ibuki (one of the most historical and religious mountain in Japan), nature, history (e.g. very famous Shogun like Nobunaga and Hideyoshi had their castle in Shiga, Shiga used to be the capital of Japan 1500yrs ago), religion (number of temples is No1, more than Kyoto!) ...

Interests

SOCIETY: how to realize peaceful and sustainable society, economics of happiness, Gross National Happiness, local governance ..
NATURE: bio diversity, wildlife, wild plants, endangered species, microorganism ..
LIFESTYLE: slow life, LOHAS, recycling, saving energy and natural resources, spiritualism ...
FARMING: natural farming, parmaculture ..
FOOD: macrobiotics, eco cooking, herb and wild grass ..
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES: hiking, trekking, cycling, camping ..
BOY SCOUT: I volunteer as a scouting leader
CULTURE AND HISTORY: regional tradition, myth of Japan ..
ART: crafting, painting, taking photo, making movies ..
TRAVELING: meeting people, feeling the power of the earth ..

• wildlife
• arts
• culture
• folklore
• design
• dining
• cooking
• movies
• traveling
• socializing
• painting
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• economics
• history
• religion
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSIC: I like various kind of music.. Especially world or ethnic music. I want to know traditional or spiritual music of other counties. I have an acoustic guitar, djembe, asalato, reed recorder and electric piano in my house, yet I'm not good at playing them..

MOVIES: Personally, Star Trek series were my favorite (esp. TNG).
Actually, I have produced two local documentary community-made movies; "Hongara" ( http://gonza.xii.jp/hongara/hongara_eng.html ) and "Yui-Gon".

BOOKS: L'Homme qui plantait des arbres (The Man Who Planted Hope and Reaped Happiness) -Jean Giono,

Teach, Learn, Share

If I and my family become your host..
We want to learn your country's language, culture and values.
We can teach you Japanese language, culture, history, eco-system and values.
We can enjoy some Japanese countryside's traditional way of life together.

Countries I’ve Visited

Egypt, Ireland, South Korea, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, United Kingdom