Wara Nihon: A Journey of Simplicity and Connection

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‘"Wara Nihon" follows the transformative journey of K-chan and P-chan as they embrace a minimalist lifestyle while traveling through Japan in their self-built mobile home. After leaving behind traditional careers, they seek deeper meaning and connection with nature and local communities. Through the challenges of construction, waste management, and cultural discovery, they learn the importance of simplicity and sustainability’

Background

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K-chan (Chin) was born in China, a provincial city, raised and grown up as same as other Chinese children, tried to study well, go to university, find a good job... even continued to study in Japan, work in Tokyo. which made her doubt about life, who is she exactly, and where does she belong? after a long time struggling, she quit the job, started to travel around the world, life also started to change since that

P-chan(Pierre) was born in French countryside, mostly spent time in nature, after graduated from university, he worked as a journalist for local Newpaper, almost 8 years. Because of too much negative news in life, he decided to stop it, later volunteered for a NPO, where he learnt how to make a documentary. after it, he travelled in east Asia with his camera, tried to find and record more positivise in life while volunteering.

What inspired you to embark on this journey of building a mobile home?

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At the beginning, when we arrived in Tokyo, we thought to spend some months in Japan and go to live in Peru, because we were very impacted by this country. And Pierre, at the beginning really dislikes Japan because He thought Japan was like Tokyo. But when Covid arrived, we were stuck, all the human beings were living in a can due to covid 19. We wanted to continue to explore, and live happily. So, because we couldn't leave Japan, we decided to travel. And travel in Japan with our own house along was the best solution.

 How did you approach the design and construction of your mobile home? What were some of the biggest challenges you faced?

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K-chan studied Architecture in university, she liked design, but building a mobile home, it was first time for two of us. We found a community where people had built their mobile home before, and we could stay and borrow all the tools there.

Being inspired by that community, we chose to reuse scarp wood, which we took a couple weeks driving around to collect. Later, built with what we had, all the ideas and design were changed by the materials, we need to be more flexible in mind.

What materials and techniques did you use to ensure your mobile home is both functional and sustainable?

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Scarp wood, recycled insolation, bamboo... we thought about more natural material at the beginning. but we also accepted what materials came to us naturally, somebody trashed away, from a demolished house... with a low cost, we went to cut bamboo in the nearby forest, finally made a bamboo roof.

What motivated you to choose Japan as your travel destination?

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We didn't have a choice, the life decided it for us. we couldn't leave without vaccine because of Covid and government rules. So, we had to enjoy life in a way.

 You both believe in embracing a simple life. How does living in a mobile home reflect your values and lifestyle choices?

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Our mobile house is only 4 square meters, we can't have too much belonging, traveling and living less and lighter is the first thing we have learn. in our mobile house we don’t have power and water system, we need to carry natural water wherever we are and use it as important as we can. without electricity, life won’t be bad, this is also what we learn, and it maybe the way to avoid nuclear power problem.

We also realized trash problem, what we buy and bring into our house, and what it becomes and how to deal with it. for a diet, we chose to cook vegetables rather than meat, easier to wash and cook in a mobile home, and we could find more local options.

What does simplicity mean to you, and how do you incorporate it into your daily life while traveling?

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Less, small, slow and enough. we stopped to buy things, less consumption except food. this is also why we decided to settle down, have our own garden and grow food by ourselves.

 What has been your most memorable experience while traveling through Japan so far?

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It is difficult to keep one memory because there are so many and so different memorable experience. Maybe, instead of one experience, we can talk about one person. His name is Nakamura san. We met him at the beginning of our journey.

Our truck was stopped by the snow in a village, famous for his zero-waste center. The name of the village is Kamikatsu. We met some people, and they proposed us to meet a hermit, living in the mountains by himself. We went there and we were so amazed by his way of life and his way of thinking.

This person is over 70 years old; he used to travel during his life in Nepal or Tibet. When he came back to Japan, he started to live a very minimalist and simple life. he only uses electricity for a radio and a phone. The only gasoline machine he has is a machine to cut grasses. He has a driver licence, but he stopped to drive because "to buy a car costs money, to use a car costs money and to maintain a car costs money.

So, if I want a car, I have to spend time to work to get money". So, he prefers to walk 40 minutes to reach the village and buy some food or go once a week in hot spring. The rest, he does by himself, with wood he goes to get on the ground in the forest. Each action of this person is like a ceremony. When he prepares tea, he pays a big attention to the water, to the quantity of tea, to the time of boiling.

When he prepares food with his wood stove, he puts each piece of wood delicately and in the sense he thinks. But when we asked him if he was impacted by mindfulness, he answered "What is mindfulness?". For him, it is natural to pay attention and interest about everything. "Everything happening in life is not easy but interesting" he said. 

Another very interesting part of this story is that Chin was reading a book when we were in Kamikatsu. This book is about rural Japan and talks about several persons around Japan who live a very simple life (the title is "The abundance of less"). When we met Nakamura san, Chin thought she knew him. After few minutes, she discovered that the person she was reading in the book at that time was the person she was meeting: Nakamura san ! 

How do you find places to stay or park your mobile home while exploring Japan?

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In Japan, it is quite easy to stay somewhere if you don't stay too long and if it is not in a city. In city, you have to pay automatically, and it is not comfortable at all. In countryside, mainly, we were looking for quiet parks in our navi that have generally free parking and where you can spend several days without any problems. The good thing is also that almost all the parks have toilet, drinkable water and flat parking. So, it is very convenient. 

 As you travel, how do you engage with local communities and cultures in Japan?

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We offered whatever we can, very simple things, cooking, cleaning, chopping wood, painting, building, farming... observing what others need and help them. We received food in return, shower and sometimes some money for the gasoline. Our life was mainly like that. So, during two years and half, we didn't spend a lot of money. 

It is kind of volunteering life but without the rules of the volunteering organizations (no real schedule, no goals to achieve, no time you have to say you will stay). And also, we didn't meet people on a website, but almost every time, we were introduced by new friends meeting on the road. So, this is the way we learned a lot about countryside lifestyle and Japanese culture and traditions.

What have you learned about Japanese culture that has surprised or inspired you?

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People respect others, understand and accept different values and lifestyles. Nobody is absolutely right or wrong, but everyone has different background and different experiences of life that explain his actual lifestyle or actions. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced while living on the road, and how have you overcome them?

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The biggest challenge was to manage the waste. In Japan, there are not public garbage but all the food you buy have plastic package.

So, quickly, you can live with full of trash in your house if you don't pay attention. So, we tried to find solution about that. For the compostable waste, we buried in nature.

For the plastic, we decided, when we went for shopping in farmer's market for example, to take off all the plastic package of our food just after paying at the cashier and to put the plastic in the trash of the market.

This is allowed. For the rest, we used to empty in a convenient store that can accept small quantity of trash. 

Also, we had to face the condition of our truck. Our truck was more than 20 years old. He was like a grandfather carrying a very heavy bag on his back, and mainly in mountain (Japan is covered 70 percent by mountains). So, frequently, when we were driving, the truck stopped, because it was too tired.

At the beginning, we didn't understand, so we put the truck in a garage to ask the problem. But the garage said several times that there are not problems. So, we understood after few weeks that we didn't have to push it and we had to consider the truck in our journey. That means, we had to think about which road is better for it, and even travel more slowly.

Conversely, what are the most rewarding aspects of your journey?

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This journey offered us the possibility to live and enjoy the life we want in nature now. For two years and half, we had so many experiences with people, we learnt so many things helping, listening, joining, sharing that when we settled down and started our new life in the mountains of Nagano, the villagers were very surprised that we were able to manage our life in nature by ourselves.

And also, the villagers were very happy that we had knowledge and experiences about Japanese traditions and culture. So, the most rewarding aspect of our journey is today to be able to live the life we want, and to manage it by ourselves. 

This travel was also an opportunity to understand the culture we are living in. Japan is a very particular country. We don't know other countries like Japan. So, it is not still easy to understand and to accept some part of the culture. But spending a lot of time with people offered us the opportunity to put a sense and explanation on the special parts of Japan. So, we could accept what happened, and live easier and in peace with all different people. 

Do you have any specific goals or destinations you hope to achieve during your travels in Japan?

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We used to hear and to read that when you travel, the destination is not very important. What it is important, it is the travel. We can confirm it. 
If we have to say something about a goal to reach, we just would like to say: simple life, minimalist, to be able to do maximum of things by ourselves, considering the place we live, the nature, the life and the culture surrounding. 

How do you envision your life changing after this journey?

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More or less, we had a vision or answer about what we wanted, just it was not clear at the beginning. As our project and documentary's name <Wara Nihon (two straw), we hope to know how important it is and how to get the straw spirit back to life, humbly and ordinarily, grounded. 

What advice would you give to others considering a similar lifestyle or undertaking a self-build project?

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Being humble, and innocent like a new-born baby, think less and feel more. going to discover others or adults’ life without judgement, whatever it will be, just find a way to enjoy it.

To take time, to not be in hurry when you meet people, to try to spend time with them to understand them and to learn from them.

To prioritize the experience and to live present the moment before thinking to other things (videos, photos or other projects). 

Are there any resources or communities you would recommend for those looking to embark on a similar journey?

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We highly recommend people to discover the community "Yuru Yuru Haizai Ecovillage" in the prefecture of Kanagawa. This place was built 99 percent by abandoned materials. Also, this is the first time we found a place where everyone is accepted for who they really are where people are free to be themselves. And the most magical thing is that people really enjoy spending time together even if they are different or they have different background or interests. 

We also recommend spending time in Hokkaido (in august) and in Yakushima (in winter). The climate is very good at that time for people living in mobile house and the nature is really incredible. 

And our documentary may give more answer or perspectives, even it was only about our first-year travel. if anybody wants, it can be easily screened in your own country, since we already made it with English, French, Spanish and Chinese subtitles. So please contact us via

Instagram: waranihon

website: https://wara-nihon.jimdosite.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Wara-Nihon-Documentary-61553987860860/?locale=fr_FR

To continue following our explorers K-chan and P-chan’s journey or simply want to reach out and say Hi, you can connect with them on the following accounts:

Instagram:

@waranihon

Website:

https://wara-nihon.jimdosite.com/

Facebook:

Wara Nihon Documentary 

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