"A House Alone" (ABC TV/TV Asahi, Sundays) is a variety show that uses satellite photos to find a remote house. On October 5th, it will be combined with the same station's "Major Makeover!! Dramatic Before and After" to air a two-hour special from 6:56 pm. This will be the first time the two shows have been combined in five and a half years, and this time the setting will be a resort in southern France and the Alps. Guests include TV personality Miyuki Imori and actress Wakana Aoi.
The property featured in "Before and After" is a French restaurant in Cagnes-sur-Mer, a resort town in southern France facing the Mediterranean Sea. It is run by a Japanese couple: the husband, 46, and his wife, 34. The restaurant's biggest problem is a huge pine tree, over 100 years old, growing in the newly added single-story building. Its thick trunk penetrates the roof, spreading its branches and leaves, and on rainy days, the gap between the trunk and the roof causes massive leaks, soaking the dining areas and floor. Furthermore, the roots of the tree grow under the floor, causing cracks to appear in the floor.
The man tackling this major renovation is garden renovation master Ryoichi Kanai (74). He is so skilled at garden renovations using scrap materials that he says, "Scrap yards are treasure troves." He is a "scrap specialist." The master immediately dismantled the problematic ceiling and floor and thoroughly inspected them. He discovered a new problem that put the entire building at risk of collapse. The master tackled the challenge with the help of a team of French craftsmen, including the president of a local construction company.
At the climax, the couple who commissioned the work are so moved by the dramatic transformation that they are speechless, and Takumi is also deeply moved, perhaps because of the constant hardships he has endured in a foreign land.
In the second half of the program, in the segment "A House in the Middle of Nowhere," the search team heads for a house at the southwestern edge of the Alps, about 80 kilometers from the French Riviera in southern France. As they enter the mountains, the magnificent scenery of the Alps stretches out endlessly.
The journey, which is completely different from the scenery in Japan, is also a highlight, with spectacular cliff paths that cross sheer mountain faces, purple rock surfaces, stone guardrails, and even beautiful villages perched on cliffs. What is the true story behind the isolated house in France? The search team comes across a touching family story...
After finishing the recording of the program, MC Tokoro George commented, "It was fun! When the two programs are combined, it becomes like an amazing travel guidebook. We already have a travel course. We go to France, eat at that restaurant on the Mediterranean, then drive all the way along a single road, stay in a hotel, enjoy dinner, and then, since Switzerland is nearby, we take the mountain railway back home (laughs). The food is delicious and the views are great, isn't it great?"
Panelist Hayashi Osamu also commented, "This time the scale was bigger and the setting was different, so it was a little different from usual. What's more, it was a combined special, so I think it was a great project that could be enjoyed from two angles."
