"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. The January 26th broadcast follows a couple who continue to live in two locations: a house in the mountains of their hometown, Tokushima Prefecture, and their home in Osaka.
The search team's destination is a house in the mountains in northwest Tokushima Prefecture. After a two-and-a-half hour drive from the airport, they arrive at a village along a river with beautiful mountain scenery. When the search team showed the residents satellite photos, they were told that "the road is pretty bad, and from halfway through we'll have to walk to get to the house." Once they entered the mountains, they found themselves on a slippery mountain path covered with moss. The mountainside was also covered in thick moss, forming a green wall.
Eventually, we came across a narrow, unpaved, hilly road that could only be reached by foot, and at the end of the road we saw what appeared to be a family home. We were greeted by a couple, aged 84 and 76. They told us that the village once contained 24 houses, but now there is only one house left, the husband's childhood home.
He got a job in Osaka, met his wife and continued to live in Osaka after getting married, but quit his job at the age of 62 and returned to his hometown to look after his mother who lived there. After his mother passed away 10 years later, he began splitting his time between Tokushima in the summer and his home in Osaka in the winter.
The husband recalls the harsh memories of life in the mountains during his childhood, when he would walk barefoot in straw sandals along snowy mountain paths for an hour to get to school. He says, "I think it's great to have a hometown. My ancestors developed the land and made rice fields...I know the hardships that they faced, so I want to protect our home and the rice fields."
The trailer shows a search party being surprised to find a black telephone in the house where the couple lives, as well as a view of a sea of clouds hanging around the house.
Guest Aimi Hika, who was watching the video in the studio, was moved to tears, saying, "They are such a wonderful couple." Takanori Iwata also seemed impressed.
