"The Isolated House" (ABC TV/TV Asahi, Sunday 7:58pm) is a variety show that uses satellite photos to find a secluded house. In the October 13th broadcast, a search team heading for a house deep in the mountains of Tokushima Prefecture encounters difficulties on the rough roads and faces their biggest crisis yet. The guests are freelance announcer Akira Fukuzawa and actor Kaya Kiyohara.
Fukuzawa reveals, "The truth is, until I got this old, I've never lived alone in my life. When I was single, I lived with my parents, and after I got married, I lived with my wife, so I've always had someone within a 5-meter radius of me. So I really long for a place like that." Kiyohara also says, "I'd like to experience living in a secluded house at least once in my life. But I really hate bugs..."
In satellite images of northern Tokushima Prefecture, buildings with distinctive white roofs can be seen, but the area appears to be covered in trees, and there are no rice fields to be seen. "I like grilled chicken. Tokushima is famous for a local chicken called Awaodori chicken, so I hope they raise it," Fukuzawa said with hope.
The search team drove about an hour and a half from the airport. All they could see was mountain scenery. A woman (87) working in a rice field didn't seem to understand the satellite images, so they introduced them to a local kindergarten teacher. However, the teacher also shook his head, saying, "I don't know about this." Eventually, they called out to a man (71) they saw along the way and asked him to check the satellite images, and discovered that the house had been vacant for more than 20 years.
When the search team tried to head to the site to check on the building, the man told them, "The road is broken now and you can't get through," and guided them to where the road ended. Once they reached the point where they could drive, they started climbing the mountain. What was once a road for daily life is no longer maintained and now looks more like an animal trail. Pushing their way through the trees, they finally found a white-roofed building at the end, but it was also vacant.
The search team checked satellite images and decided to search a lonely house in another mountain area about 40km from here, but...
