"The House in the Middle of Nowhere" (ABC TV/TV Asahi, Sunday 7:58pm) is a variety show that uses satellite photos to find a secluded house. On September 29th, following on from the previous week, the show will air "Katsuo Land," a place built deep in the mountains by the owner of a long-established soba noodle restaurant in Yamagata Prefecture. The guests are actors Misako Tanaka and Katsumi Takahashi.
The search team discovered a large area of land cleared in the mountains of Yamagata Prefecture, several buildings, and what appeared to be a pond. Katsuo, the 67-year-old who built this place, which the locals call "Katsuo Land," works as a soba noodle maker at a long-established soba noodle restaurant founded in 1890 in a village at the foot of the mountain, while also working as an employee at a construction company.
With Katsuo's guidance, the search team heads to "Katsuo Land," located deep in the mountains. As we drove deeper into the mountain, cutting through the mountain road, we came across a beautiful landscape of well-maintained fields on the gentle mountainside. Katsuo used to grow tobacco leaves on a vast area the size of four Tokyo Domes. Now, he grows seasonal vegetables and wild plants to be used at his soba restaurant at the foot of the mountain. The search team was surprised at the abundance of ingredients, including udo, wood ear mushrooms, nameko mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and koshiabura mushrooms.
While working as a soba restaurant owner and a company employee, Katsuo also works hard at his farm work every day, but that's not all he does. He remodeled a tractor park to make it a place where people can gather and stay, and built a pond in a former rice field to cultivate rock trout. He made it into a natural playground where friends can gather and have barbecues. The trailer says that the area was once used as a filming location for movies, and that it also once housed Japanese serows. The search team was constantly overwhelmed by Katsuo's powerful activities, but he ended up inviting them to a barbecue party with his friends.
When the search team visited later, they found friends from all generations and countries gathered there, including the thatched roof craftsman who maintains the soba restaurant's roof, a wadaiko player, an English teacher, and even his son's friends. In the studio, guests Tanaka and Takahashi were also impressed, saying, "This is the happiest place."
