会社案内


Kasahara Village.

The satoyama village that stretches along the Kasahara River and its scenic V-shaped valley is the birthplace of the famous Yame tea.

Further up the hill from Reigenji Temple, the birthplace of Yamecha tea, there is a house that was on the verge of demolition at the top of the Yashiki district there.
Through various dramas, this place has been reborn as an interesting community project.
My name is Jiro Sakamoto, and I am the new owner of Sky Tea House (天空の茶屋敷)

I was originally born and raised in another rural area called Tachiarai town in the same Fukuoka Prefecture, and moved around Japan and all over the world until I arrived here in Yame City.
After graduating from high school, I joined the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) and served for 6 years all over Japan, with the desire to leave my parents and start my own business,
(I didn't want to burden my parents, so I couldn't go to public university after high school because I couldn't study hard enough,
I was physically strong. (In those days, the Self-Defense Forces was considered to be a remedial job for such a person.
(Photo taken when I was in a place called “Sergeant Education Corps” in Sasebo, upper left is me as a young man)
I had originally intended to work at this job for a lifetime, but a dream came up in the middle of my career that I really wanted to fulfill, and I was very worried about it, but I wanted to make my life shine. I resigned at my own request.

After that, I did what I had always dreamed of doing: I set out on a wandering life overseas.
For about five long years, I wandered around the world, meeting many people, experiencing culture shock and various values.
I visited about 65 countries so far, went around the world as a backpacker, crossed continents as a hitchhiker, rode a bicycle around Europe, worked on a farm as a volunteer, taught Japanese at a local school, lived in a slum as a working holiday, went sightseeing in the northern lights in a very cold place, ran a dog sled in a company, I once spent 12 days in a temple in northern India.
My curiosity was endless, and I was in danger more than once, but I did everything I was interested in and went everywhere I wanted to go.
Thanks to this experience, I made many connections around the world and throghout Japan, and I had the opportunity to experience many different cultures, way of thinking and values.
Now, unlike in the past, I have more confidence in myself and I am filled with a tremendous sense of fulfillment in my life.








After spending a lot of time thinking about my life and happiness, my way of thinking has become simpler and simpler.
I have come to realize that I don't need a lot of things to live a happy and joyful life! '”
I want to live like a human being in the true sense of the word!
I want to live as healthy life, enjoying the connections with others, appreciating the sun, being kind to the environment, being kind to myself, and as much freedom as possible, independent of the concept of labor and money. I want to live such a healthy and wholesome life.
And what I ended up with was, “I want to live in the Japanese countryside.
Nowadays, I think this way of thinking is called Minimalism and gradually increasing, and I have come to that conclusion as well.
I have always had a strong yearning to go abroad, and for a while I was working toward emigrating overseas,
However, after I got to know the outside world, I was reminded of how wonderful Japan is, and since then I have wanted to live in the Japanese countryside to lead a healthy life both physically and mentally.

A place where beautiful Japanese landscapes and culture remain, a place close to nature, and a place where people can feel connected to each other.
I wanted to live in such a place while appreciating what is there.
Now, normally, when you set your sights on moving to the countryside, you would probably start by doing research, considering locations, and looking for a house, but thankfully, in my case, there was no need to do that.
I was able to find a place to live because my grandparents' Sakamoto residence in Kurogi town, Yame City, which I had been familiar with since I was a child, was vacant for long time, and I was able to find the best decision to live.
When I returned to Japan and visited that town for the first time in a long time, I fell in love with its beauty and decided to start living there in the spring of 2015 when I was 29 years old.
(And I inherit the name of Sakamoto, too.)
I am grateful to my grandparents for giving me such a wonderful opportunity.
Yame City, located in the southern part of Fukuoka Prefecture, is a very attractive place famous for its traditional crafts, white walled townscape, and Yame tea,
Kuroki Town is a beautiful small town surrounded by mountains with a rural landscape that seems to fit the famous folk song “Furusato” (hometown).


However,
This was one challenge, because although I was familiar with the area, I didn't know anyone there, except for a far distant relative.
The challenge of quitting a long journey.
The challenge of doing it in the midst of the reverse culture shock of returning to Japan
The challenge of exploring new places
But I knew from my past experiences that taking on a challenge has irreplaceable value, and I was not anxious about making this decision.
Even if the result is good or bad, the value, freshness, and excitement of gaining a new experience is really worth it.
To tell the truth, however, my family was opposed and even ridiculed me a at first.(if often happen as tipical Japanese family)
The house was not a good environment from a general point of their view, butI learned from my wanderings that just having a roof over your head to shelter you from the wind and rain and to eat is enought for all you need to live a happy life, and that old house is unmistakably my roots. I could not have found a better place to live.

After moving to the area, I cleaned the Sakamoto residence for a while and just kept on cleaning.
I had no experience to live in Japan except for the Self-Defense Forces, and I had never worked for a company in Japan before. But I was more excited about what I could do than anxious, and I was confident that I would be able to live happily here at least.
At first, rather than looking for a job, I actively participated in local volunteer activities and made connections.
In this way, I gradually made connections with more and more people, and I was often called upon to help people who needed help, and I was able to survive for a while like that.
I was in my twenties at the time, and in a time when few people were talking about minimalist lifestyles or rural migration, so I was hardly understood.
I started a hobby of bringing travelers to Yame and letting them stay with me on Social media, etc., which travelers love to use. I was playing to pay them back in this way...


In addition to that, many friends I have met during my wandering around Japan and other parts of the world have naturally come to visit me. Whenever Japanese friends come to Kyushu, they usually come to my place, and when foreign acquaintances come to Japan, they usually stay with me.

Then they introduce their friends to me and bring them to me in the same way, and so on,
It was definitely a bizarre space for locals!
I think it may seem like a very simple life to the average person, but for me, it was a very enjoyable day, full of smiles and wonderful encounters with people I met every day.
The house, which had been a rundown and empty house, has been revitalized in no time at all.
Especially in August 2016, I think maybe 100 people came to the house.
I wonder, would our ancestors be pleased?
(Sometimes when all the bicycling travelers get together, it's a mess like this.)

For some reason, I have naturally made more and more quirky friends among Yame too.
More than anything, meeting people like that is more valuable and fun than anything else.
And, moreover, bringing people from outside to Yame, which I love, was more fun and playful than anything else.
(Thanks to all the help the visitors gave me, the area around my house has been cleaned up considerably over the past year.)

So, I was living a peaceful life, However, that peaceful life didn't last long,,,,,
because as I lived my life, I became more and more involved with the local community, and little by little I came to see the various situations in the countryside.
Kuroki Town is a beautiful town surrounded by mountains, but there are serious problems in the mountainous areas, such as population loss and farmers who have no heirs. I learned about these realities as well.
What I realized that I could do to help people was to increase the number of visitors and let them know how wonderful Yame City is.
The year after I moved to Yame, I took on the challenge of planning and guiding a Yame tea tour in the Kasahara area, the birthplace of Yame tea.
It was an unprecedented event to have about 40 people come to Kasahara at one time, but thanks to the support of so many people, it was a great success the first time.
The farmers were pleased, the local people were pleased, the people were pleased to come as guests, and most of all, I was most pleased. I fell in love with this town even more.

Also, busy season for tea.
I was able to connect with the green tea cooperative by chance,
I bring young, free-spirited young people from outside to our home and have them accepted by the farmers who are short-staffed.
For them, it is a short-term job and they can enjoy the satoyama lifestyle. For the farmers, it was a great help to have them come and help during a busy time of the year.
I also enjoyed the days I spent with them as a landlord for the first time.
I heard that this was the first time for them to accept a bonehead from some unknown place as a laborer, but it was a great success for the first time.

it was because of this connection with the local community that one day I learned of the existence of a magnificent vacant house deep in the mountains.
It was the largest house at the top of the village, about 500 meters above sea level, in a community called Yashiki, which is quite high up in the Kasahara area.
It is surrounded by tea fields in all directions, with magnificent terraced rice fields in the background, so magnificent that it could have been selected as one of the 100 best terraced rice fields, with spring water flowing from everywhere and a waterfall with natural water nearby, it is truly a peach paradise, a dreamlike house.
The house had been vacant for about 10 years, and all the grandmothers who were born and raised there were marrying into different families, and their children and grandchildren had gone away and did not plan to come back. The grandparents who owned the house were planning to demolish it so as not to cause trouble for the generations to come.

Mr. Ohashi, a heavyweight in the community who wanted to do something about this.
It would be a waste to destroy such a magnificent house. Can't we put it to use in some way?'
He had been looking for the next generation of young people to make use of this house for a long time, but it was so far away from modern comfortable civilization, deep in the mountains, that he could not find anyone who would live there and make use of it so easily.
That is why He approached me.
He said, “All right, you're good! You can take the house!
That would probably be the last time, and if I refused, the beautiful house would be torn down by the end of the year in 2016...
Such a beautiful house to be torn down...
It would be a waste...' 'But I already have a house that I inherited from my grandmother...
Besides, how can I live in a place so far away from the comforts of modern civilization, and I can't do anything to make a decent living?”
It was a very kind offer, but I couldn't give an immediate answer, and I spent about three days worrying about it.
It is really an extravagant question.
I was shocked that such a story really existed, and I was grateful for the opportunity to hear such a story.
Not only that, but I have seen poor people in many countries around the world, and I feel sorry that there are so many empty houses in Japan, even though there are so many people without houses.
Looking back, I had mixed feelings in many ways, but I had the courage to make the decision.
I will take this house!
It was an old private house that became the prototype for the current "Sky Tea House"

So, with the idea and cooperation of the Community Development Cooperation Volunteers, many people were convinced to make this a community project, and the vacant house renovation project was started.
This is a true story that is hard to believe, but it happened by an amazing coincidence of timing.
In short, it was a mechanism to attract people to Kasahara.
I am grateful and embarrassed to know that people are expecting me to do something that I did just for fun. No, I am simply happy.
I have been to about 65 countries and visited many places in Japan, but Kasahara is definitely one of the most attractive places in the country.
What I think is good about Kasahara is not only its scenery and natural environment, but also its local character, which was severely damaged by the flooding five years ago and has since recovered from it, even in times like these,
Even in times like these, you can really feel the strong ties of the community.
In addition, such as the Shikinasaikan, Sanson Juku, and other organizations have a long track record of attracting people from outside the community, which has provided the groundwork for accepting people from outside and the tolerance of the local people.
I am sure that the fact that I was one of the first to become familiar with the local community is a result of these many years of activities.
And the location of the house itself is second to none among the many places I have visited in Japan and abroad.
It's been a little over a year since I moved to Yame, and things have gone in a direction that I could never have imagined from the beginning of my free and easy slow life.
I've thought about this for a long time,
“Someday I want to live a quiet life in the mountains.”
“I wish I could do what I love for a living.”
suddenly became a reality.
During my wandering days, I used to dream, as travelers often do, “Someday, when I finish this trip, I would like to find a place I like and build a guesthouse or a space where people can gather.
And although I had been doing things that seemed inconsistent, when I look back on them I realize that they were all connected to my coming here.


With this in mind, in the summer of that year, we began a month-long renovation project with local carpenters at the helm.
Thankfully, thanks to the serious efforts of the local development cooperative at the time, we received a subsidy from the city to renovate the vacant house, and after that, we started to publicize the project on social networking sites,
Many people, both locals and those who came from outside, cooperated with each other in the renovation work.
What really impressed me here was that I myself am not a DIYer, I can hardly use machines, and I have no sense of design.
However, thanks to the wisdom and cooperation of the people who came together with their different connections and special skills, a far more wonderful place was created than I had initially imagined.
For the first time, I was able to witness the greatness of the power that can be created by people connecting with each other.

The previous owner who entrusted this house to us saying 'for the young ones to come'.
The local people who connected us with them, and also the support from the government. And friends who helped with the renovation work.
We also received support from many people who gave us unused furniture, bedding, appliances, and decorations, saying, “Use it.
This is one artwork that was completed with the thoughts and support of many people.
(After the completion of the project, we greeted the local people and exchanged cups saying that we will move here.)

We would like to thank those who have backed us up, and above all, we would like to remember to respect the people who have lived in Kasahara for many years, because this place is here now.
I will try my best to play around in this place "Sky Tea House(天空の茶屋敷)" from now on. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

This is a villa and playground on the mountain for everyone who comes here.
The original Japanese landscape in the wilderness, and the wonderful people who live there.”
Other than that, there is nothing special about this place,
Please come and visit us, and enjoy the luxury of doing nothing in a place where there is nothing to do!
If it's OK with me, let's have a cup of tea together (including the old man and the old woman next door)!
Jiro Sakamoto, 2017 March
*Update
Sky Tea House originally started as a community-building traveler's inn and has now transitioned to a family-run homestay-style inn.
And Since the opening of Sky Tea House, it has been covered by numerous media outlets, and in January 2022
Jiro Sakamoto's story was published by a local publisher.
『2000日の海外放浪の果てに辿り着いたのは山奥の集落の一番上だった』
('After 2,000 days of wandering abroad, he arrived at the top of a village deep in the mountains.)
If you are interested in the rest of this story and the details of his wandering journey overseas, please read the book.
Amazon, Rakuten, and e-books are also available. It is also available at Sky Tea House.
(currently only Japanese version, English version is under preparation )
