a few years ago, my husband and i quit our steady jobs as a teacher and an engineer and up and left japan. we`d been living together in nara for about six years, renting an apartment, a parking spot, and two pieces of land for growing vegetables. long story short, we traded it all in for the unknown.
after years of scrimping, saving, studying, and sharing blocks of tofu for dinner, we moved to eastern canada and bought a tiny a-frame cabin near the ocean on 15 acres of woods with two extra parcels that were long-forgotten fields. we spent the next two years working toward self-sufficiency, cleaning up the land, overhauling the cabin, putting in permaculture gardens, shoveling snow, chopping wood, watching the land change day by day and experiencing a totally different way of living. it was incredibly difficult and trying, but when all is said and done it was amazing and the experience changed both of our lives for the better. we are back in japan, in kyoto city now enjoying the charms of city life and modern convenience, and much better groomed than when we were mountain people… but i`m sure someday we will move back to the wild when we can no longer resist it`s pulls. after all i can see the mountains from my apartment windows.
