Five years ago today, I was the happiest, proudest and tiredness man in Scotlandia as I has just become a papa for the first time.

Fiver years on and I am still very tired but in Japan..



The 4th craft brewery in this prefecture opened their taproom doors today and we popped by to support them. By this point I know the brewer well and we frequently share info and ask each other for advice so I understand his struggle to get to this point and am delighted for him!



Hmm, the company who owns a piece of land we were considering for our brewery (whom I figured were tactically playing down the chances of them selling it to raise the price) have emailed us with a price.. it isn’t bad, we could negotiate it down a bit but certainly affordable.. if our preferred site turns out to be a no go (though it still very much seems like a deal can be made).

So looks like we are down to two sites, one preferred and one back up, but importantly both I the village we intend to live until we evaporate into the ether. Totally different projects depending on which we get.

We discovered that a close high school friend of my wife’s works with one of the two sons of the owner of the preferred site and he is the same age as me and a seemingly approachable and friendly guy.. seems pretty upbeat that the property could be used for a brewery.. I think we may call the owner tomorrow for a catch up.



Visited Mt. Koya today and it was beautiful, however I did not appreciate the sudden dip in temp (was about 27°C 2 days ago and 9°C today).. spending the night in what we thought was an old unused train station converted into a hotel.. it is still very active..

Tomorrow..Adventure World



As we (hopefully) close in on the location of our wee brewery, talk at the wee brewery where I have been interning has inevitably been moving towards the end of my contract and the next steps etc. My mentor is pretty much sure that he has taught me pretty much all that he can and he has confidence in me, I feel ready too but, as excited as I am about the next step in the journey, I am really going to miss working there.. I have loved every minute and will be eternally grateful for the opportunity.

My contract runs until end of June so still a couple of months to go but it is flying past so quickly.



Having been very quickly (within a space of a day) being told that new potential site for brewery was a no go, we found another site nearby.. spoke to a very friendly local who told us who the owner is and he was sure they would sell it to us (as they previously sold a plot to him).. he called them for us and gave us their details.. we called today and they are open to negotiating since they don’t seemingly have any plans for the land.. my wife is going to meet them tomorrow to discuss..

.. meanwhile a forestry friend showed us a few sites on a mountain that may be available at very low cost.. mostly too small but then he showed us an empty house (with workshop and Kura (grain storage building)) at the top of a nearby mountain which is empty.. we are very interested in this site, and on our way down the hill we met the mum of a school friend of my wife who knows who the owner is and is going to pass on our details next time she sees her (hopefully within 2 days).. even better, if we get this place, he is going to try to get the land opposite to build a campsite!

.. we suddenly have several excellent options, all within the village we live in..

.. things are getting pretty spicy!



Whilst waiting for progress on our water supply discussions to likely future brewery site, we have started parallel investigations into an alternative, nearby site which potentially offers many advantages over the first site.. but it is owned by the village so probably more hoops to jump through to be able to use it.. the first site is owned by the family tea farm so progress on that front may be quicker..

However the first site is in a wooded hill whereas the new site is flat and has better access.. would be a less challenging and less expensive build.. going to follow the stream by the new site today to try to find the water source and see what it looks like, whir up my fledgling 3d modelling skills and start to put feelers out about it..

Investigating just one site at a time here isn’t advisable given how slow processes are.



Yesterday, on my drive home from work I saw four wild monkeys (Japanese macaques)! I had heard that there were some on this Island but didn’t expect to see them on that route.. made my day!



Not sure if this will work at all (might on GtS but probably not in my site), but recorded this whilst walking our dog in the darkness the other night.. the frogs are back.