Featured on Dockleys Blog

A couple of weeks ago an old friend, Adam Dockley, got in touch to ask if he could feature this blog on his site. Adam is the estate agent who found my flat in London for me and helped me to sell it again years later. In many ways, he's the guy who made this whole Osaka project possible! If anyone is reading from the UK and needs an exceptional agent, I would recommend Adam without hesitation. Here's a link to the piece that they wrote about us.

https://dockleys.com/2019/07/25/self-build-in-japan-the-osaka-house-project/

First steps inside

On Friday last week, we had a meeting at the house (definitely going to call it a house now, even though it doesn’t have any walls yet) to confirm the location of plug sockets and light switches. This sounded pretty boring to be honest but then we hadn’t actually really thought about what it would entail.

We arrived and were led up the temporary steps to the house and then ushered inside the blue sheeting that covers the frame. It then struck us that we were, for the first time, standing inside our house! With the frame fully up and standing on the wooden flooring beams, we could finally experience the scale of the place we plan to be living for the next 20-25 years. We were finally able to appreciate the layout, the flow from area to area and, perhaps most importantly, the size of the rooms.

We actually began our tour of the house standing on the outside wood deck. We have talked in previous entries about how we like the Japanese idea of the inside blending with the outside and it was immediately clear that they builders had achieved this. There is a kind of roofing in Japan called noki (軒), often found on temples, where the roof extends over the outside walkway and is supported by vertical beams. This allows for good weather protection and the ability to transition from inside to outside without having to put on shoes or use an umbrella. There’s a good page with more information (Japanese) about noki here.

Downstairs, we were particularly pleased with the size of the study and the laundry room, both of which seemed bigger than on the printed plans. The corridor that runs from north to south is a little narrower than expected but as long as I can lay off the Costco hot dogs a bit, I should still be able to squeeze down it. Relatively speaking, corridors are kind of wasted space anyway, especially in a small house, so it’s not something we are too bothered by.

Having walked around the downstairs and chosen the height at which to put lights and where to put the plug sockets and light switches, we were surprised to be told that our next stop was the second floor. Obviously there is no staircase yet so we had to make do with a long (and pretty wobbly) ladder. Being the brave one, I went first to show Yuko how it’s done. Since I weigh about twice as much as her, I can’t imagine the bending and contorting of the ladder as I tramped up it made her especially comfortable but, by that point, I was too busy taking in the second floor!

I presume Yuko got up the ladder ok since she soon joined me upstairs. We both looked around the main living space in silence. It was surreal – somehow, it was both exactly as we expected and yet, at the same time, a complete surprise. Standing in the middle of the living room and seeing where the balcony is (covered by a sheet so we couldn’t see the view this time), the pantry, the Japanese room, the height of the ceiling, the wooden beams etc. was such an awesome experience. Even though it’s just a frame and a sheet (did I mention no walls?!), for the first time we could imagine actually living in the house. Seriously cool stuff!

We ran through a few more decisions about lighting and plug sockets and took a few pictures and, before we knew it, we were in the car and on our way home (via conveyor belt sushi and the golf range), no doubt smiling from ear to ear. It’s been a tough journey to get to this stage but we’re finally getting to the point where we can start to look forward to living in the house rather than just building it!

That’s it for this entry. More photos to follow next time I hope. In the meantime, enjoy the very much blue-sheet influenced photos below.

The downstairs

Upstairs. You can see the high sloping ceiling with exposed beams and the loft area above the tatami room

View from the front door down the genkan

Wooden floor beams. This is the master bedroom

The wooden beams in the bedroom. Will be left exposed like this

The Frame is Up!

Very exciting news over at the site. The rain has held off for the last couple of days and the frame is now up. The builder sent over the photos this evening and, honestly, we are pretty speechless. We're in love with our new house! I can't think of anything to write so here are the photos!  So happy!

The view from the roof deck

Inside the protective blue covers

The roof terrace access from the side

The frame!

The frame again!

The parking space. On the LHS, the steps are taking shape

A View From On High

When is it going to stop raining?! It’s been a long, wet couple of weeks in Japan with frequent weather warnings and some unfortunate folks in the southern prefectures being evacuated. Osaka has not been as badly hit as some but the bad weather has delayed the frame going up by about a week. We’re pretty used to delays by now but it is still frustrating to pull back the curtains in the morning and see that, once again, rain stops play.

There has actually been some progress on site although the weather has meant that we haven’t been over there for about 10 days. We’re both itching to go and take a look for ourselves but, for now at least, we have to make do with some photos from the builders. As you will see below, the scaffolding is now pretty much up and we are ready to get started! The outline of the wood deck has also been put in place.

We have also had our first glimpse of the view we will have from the upstairs floor balcony. I’ve scoured the pictures to try and get an idea of the height from which the picture was taken and it looks to be at about the balcony level, although I may be wrong. Nevertheless, it’s a pretty cool view, despite the bad weather.

In other news, we decided to forego the expensive (and to us, pretty meaningless) ceremony to bless the land and the frame and all that stuff. I hope the Japanese gods decide to take pity on us in light of our overall patience and unbridled positivity towards the project. I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities for us to throw some rice and sake around at a later date. We will however be meeting our carpenters in a couple of weeks which should be a nice experience. So far, we’ve spent a lot of time with the architects and people coordinating the design but not much with the people actually building the house. They probably think we’re a bit crazy so it will be nice for them to see that for themselves.

Thanks again to the new followers. We’ve actually just passed 10,000 views which is pretty insane for a random couple building a house in a sleepy suburb in Japan. More updates to follow in due course.

The view to the west. Excuse the lousy weather!

Our house from the scaffolding. You can see the outline of the wood deck on the LHS

From the road

From the road 2

Next door's garden is looking nice. Inspiring!

Raised Foundations

Hi all. A relatively short update this week. There has been a reasonable amount of progress over at the site but there’s not a huge amount I think we can really say about it in the blog post! I was able to drive over there last Saturday to take some pictures, which you can find at the bottom of the page as usual.

The most noticeable change is that the next level of the foundations has been completed. You can no longer see the steel rebar that is reinforcing the concrete and the wood panels have now been removed. What is left is a smooth and rather cool looking concrete maze on which the frame will eventually sit when it goes up (hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks depending on the rain)

The concrete base actually sits about 50cm above ground level. The reason for this is to raise the whole house by that distance in order to build up as high as possible without including an expensive (and difficult to get through planning control) 3^rd floor. We want the house to be as tall as possible to protect the views we have over the house in front, in case they decide to rebuild at some stage.

I think, now more than ever, we can really get a feel for how big the house is going to be and where it sits on the plot. Actually, I think the builders have got the position of the house absolutely perfect and there is plenty of access space around the East side where all of the meters and various house equipment will be. The garden feels like a good size and the wood deck is well situated. It’s still a bit dicey next to the carpark area but that will no doubt feel a lot safer when the roof is added.

There has also been some progress on the concrete steps that will lead up to the front door from the road. The plot shape and elevation dictate that these will have to be fairly steep, but we’ve opted for a simple design that should hopefully make getting up and down them reasonably easy.

As I said, there’s not a whole lot to write about since the pictures can give you a much better idea than I can. There are likely to be quite a few updates over the next few weeks as the pace is really picking up. Of course, it’s now rainy season so delays are always possible. As always, please keep in touch and keep your questions and comments coming. Speak soon!

View to the NW. Shows well how the house sits on the plot I think.

View to the SE taken from the garden.

View to the east. It's reasonably narrow between the end wall and the car park. The roof will make this a lot safer!

View down the soon-to-be staircase

View up the soon-to-be staircase

The gap where the front door will go. Before that is the porch

The corridor stretching from the study to the south wall of the house

Mini foundations for the wood deck

Smooth concrete - this is the kids' room

The south garden area. Small, but with elevated veg patches on the RHS

The main garden. There is a little bit of space to the left of where I am standing too

A final picture of our concrete maze

Window Shopping

Greetings all. For those in Japan, I hope the summer heat isn’t causing you too much trouble. We’re up to the high twenties here in Osaka but the worst is certainly yet to come. It’s been rather quiet on site lately as we are waiting on the wood for the house frame to arrive and for a break from the recent rainy weather to build the concrete base above the foundations on which our house will sit.

The groundwork and a few other things have delayed us a bit so we’re now looking like November for our completion date. We were hoping to be in before the Rugby World Cup, as the stadium is nearby and we have tickets but unfortunately, it was not to be. Ah well, what’s another few weeks eh?

Whilst the last couple of weeks have been pretty wet and miserable, we have at least been able to make some decisions about materials and finishes for the outside of the house. Obviously it’s not built yet (!) but I have a few sample pictures which I’ll include below to give you all an idea of what it might look like. The main focus today, however, is the windows...

I’ll start by saying that choosing window frames involved a huge amount of deliberating and compromise both amongst ourselves and also with the builders. We are having LIXIL Thermos (in Japanesified English, Samos) windows fitted since they are double glazed and relatively inexpensive. You can see more about them here. This gives a choice of both internal sash colours (to be discussed in a later blog) and external sash colours. Double the fun!

Yuko and I had been given a small sample to look at and had provisionally decided on “Shine Grey”, a kind of dark and, oddly, not especially shiny grey as the exterior frame/sash colour for all the windows. Since there are two LIXIL showrooms in Osaka, it was pretty easy for us to drive over to one of them and have a look. We were very positive and excited to go and have a look at our new windows.

Then we encountered our first problem. I didn’t like Shine Grey. To me it looked cheap and flimsy under the bright lights of the showroom. I didn’t like the other options much either, with one exception. The black frames looked smart, sturdy and, from a distance, they could have easily have been made of wrought iron instead of the lightweight aluminium that they are really made from. They seemed rather neutral and cool. I could imagine them aging well.

Yuko didn’t like the black frames. Oh dear! Problem number 1. What to do? We asked the shop assistant for help and she told us that some people like black frames and some people don’t. Not especially helpful. She then showed us a mockup on a computer screen with black frames and then grey frames, which didn’t really look anything like our house. Again, not the breakthrough we were hoping for. This was becoming an issue.

We wandered round a few more times but it was pretty clear that we were at a bit of an impasse. I kind of agreed that having all black frames for the whole house would be a huge decision but I couldn’t really see any alternatives. After rather a lot of pacing and not a whole lot of constructive commentary, Yuko announced “We have a big problem”. It was hard to disagree.

Now, since I am a super husband and all-round reasonable man, I had reluctantly told myself at this stage that I was likely going to have to accept the Shine Grey all over the house. Of course I couldn’t tell Yuko that! That would be akin to pulling out the white flag and I still wanted at least to discuss it a bit more! Negotiations continued.

Then I had a bit of an idea. The lower part of the front of our house is going to be clad with Japanese cedar in a kind of orange stain which should weather into a kind of darker burnt orange hue. The top part is going to be finished in a white-ish mortar with a small amount of yellow added. Whilst I had accepted that the Shine Grey frames looked reasonable against white-ish backgrounds as the two colours blend together reasonably well, what I really didn’t like was the way the Shine Grey looked against the stained cedar. Black looked much better I think. It could also pair up nicely with a black door handle on the wood front door and the darkness of the roofs above. I felt that this would create a kind of cool wooden ‘wrap’ effect around part of the ground floor of the house. Perhaps you can see where this is going...

We asked the lady at LIXIL if people often have different window frames for different parts of the house and she said that they didn’t really. This didn’t bother me (us?) as we aren’t trying to build a 100% typical Japanese house like the ones you get from the big homemakers. In a way, we are trying to build something that incorporates both of our cultures (although that’s certainly more difficult to do with the outside than the inside). A plan was developing.

At home the discussions continued with lots of Google image searching for examples and inspiration. At one stage, I think I had about 70 tabs open on my computer. Conversation ebbed and flowed but I sensed that we were starting to come together towards consensus. Perhaps I could put the white flag away for good?

After more than a day of discussion, we finally opted for the bolder option of having black window frames on the cedar part and Shine Grey for the mortared walls. We sent our decision off to the builders with a couple of the pictures we had sourced to explain the concept. They responded to say thank you and that we would speak about it at the next meeting.

At the meeting, we went over the various choices we had made and the conversation turned to the windows. Japan is pretty conservative when it comes to these things and conformity is certainly the norm. Doing something that others don’t is perhaps seen as a bit eccentric and a bit individualist. As such, our architect described our two (small) black window frames as rather “kitsui”, loosely translated as intense, bold, or striking. Negotiations had re-opened and this time with a different adversary. This being Japan, several long and uncomfortable silences ensued!

Yuko did a grand job of mediating between us and eventually it was agreed that we would in fact go with the more striking option. I (and perhaps still to a lesser extent), Yuko have faith that the black windows are going to look good and, at the very least, in a world of conformity, it will make our house a bit unique.

All this fuss over two small windows! We’ve lived at our current flat for over 3 years and I still couldn’t tell you what colour the frames are on the outside. Still, I’m really glad that we took the time to really discuss it together, as difficult as that was at times, and presented our decision to the builders as a team. If it looks awful, I’ll have to suck up my pride and find some replacement frames or get the paintbrush out.

I think that’s a good point at which to draw this entry to a close. In other news, there’s going to be some concrete work on site in the next few days so hopefully I can get some pics up early next week. I’ll also try and get something together on some of the interior decisions we’ve made lately. Tiles, toilets and the like. As always, we really appreciate the ongoing feedback, commentary, shares and likes. We’re closing in on 10,000 views which is just absolutely insane. Thank you all for taking such a keen interest.

The sash colour options. Interior are on LHS, exterior on RHS.

Cedar wood cladding which will feature the two black windows.

Mortar options - we will probably go for something like the one right in the middle.

An "inspirational" picture which shows the look we are going for.

The only picture I remembered to take in the showroom despite spending hours there!

Bathroom Madness!

It’s almost the end of May and the last few days in Japan have been seriously hot and the thought of working out on a building site all day seems almost unfathomable. Perhaps that’s why, when I went over to the house yesterday (I’m not sure if I should start calling it a house yet but it now has foundations so perhaps it is time), there were precious few changes to be seen. It seemed as if we had made no progress this week, save for some delivered metal poles in the car park area and the absence of the digger at the top that been there the previous week.

Based on other blogs that we have read about house building in Japan, such as the excellent Catforehead Blog and Gaijin House Blog, it is not altogether unusual to have brief pauses in the frantic building schedule, due either to paperwork, staff scheduling or other factor. We are not all that concerned as it’s only a week but it was a little disappointing to see no obvious major signs of progress.

This update therefore is not going to be about the site itself but our first forays into choosing utilities for the inside of the house. We are going with the builder to the bathroom showroom this weekend to pick out the options for our small bathroom. As such, Yuko and I have spent a number of hours this week looking through the online catalogue for the TOTO 1616 bathroom that we are having installed. TOTO is the brand and 1616 refers to the size of the space, as decided by our builders in the original plans (we took their suggestion as to what would fit best given the available area and other rooms in the house).

This sounds simple but is, in fact, anything but simple. TOTO offers about 7 different ranges of bathrooms, each then further subdivided into about 8 trim levels with certain things being included or excluded for each. Somewhere between 50 and 60 different starting points. Customers then can choose from a dizzying array of add-ons and upgrades for everything from rainfall showers and TVs to screw covers and window blind density. Sounds great right? Full customization!

In practice, this is absolutely baffling. The catalogue for each range is over 400 pages long and everything is explained meticulously. By the time you have reached the end of choosing everything, you wonder if you should have just started from the next trim level up. By the time you’ve done through that, you think “Well maybe we should look at another range”. We’re drowning in choice! How are there so many types of white? Why is a square tap more expensive than a round one? Help!

I’ll report back from the TOTO showroom later in the week. In the meantime, here are some typical pages so you can see what I’m talking about. Madness.

Page 135 of about 100000000

Why are there so many choices?

Not in fact a physics textbook but a bathroom catalogue