"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. In the June 8th broadcast, they visit a "hidden village" in Hiroshima Prefecture that is said to be a place associated with the Heike refugees.
The guests were the entertainers Katsumata Kazukazu and Kunimoto Risa. Kunimoto, who hails from Shirauma Village, Nagano Prefecture, said, "I used to live in a place like an isolated house, so I think I'm suited to living here," and seemed very interested in the video. Meanwhile, Katsumata revealed, "I'm a lonely person and I'm afraid of ghosts, so it's not for me."
The satellite photos the search team obtained showed buildings and vast rice fields, with a narrow road weaving through them. As they began to ask around, they received information that "the daughter and her husband, who live in a village at the foot of the mountain, are still taking care of the rice terraces." However, locals were concerned and warned them, "The mountain path is quite narrow, so please be careful and go slowly." As soon as they entered the mountain path, they found a cliff road that was barely wide enough for a car to pass. Moreover, because the road was so steep, the search team screamed, "We can't see the road (ahead)."
When I reached the end of the mountain path, the vast rice terraces finally came into view. There I met a 70-year-old man. "I'm taking care of this house and the rice terraces because there's no one to take over the family business," he told me, explaining that he commutes there almost every day from the village at the foot of the mountain.
It is said that this was once a village, but the residents gradually left the mountain, and 45 years ago, only one house remained. This place is said to have been a hiding place for the Heike clan's fugitives, and up the mountain there is a shrine associated with the Heike clan. A man who lived here as a child now manages the shrine and the graveyard. The search team closely follows the man as he continues to plant rice with his sister-in-law and her husband.
Guest Katsumata said with a sigh, "You still come here because your feelings of gratitude to your parents and ancestors have never faded."
