Low Maintenance Yard

Hi Tim,

That grew fast! Two months and it's a jungle lol

I've left Japan now until December, so I worry about mine too, especially the back garden — it was already fairly overgrown when I left. At least my neighbour sends me photos on LINE from time to time.

On winter — growth pretty much stops once it gets cold, so what you find at Christmas should be I think what's standing there in autumn.

That black sheet in my photo is something you'll see in gardens all over Japan — it's called bōsō sheet (防草シート), literally "weed-prevention sheet". I had to Google it (well, "Claude" it, as I did not know its name):

It's a woven fabric, so rain drains through, but nothing grows up through it. Cheap rolls at any home centre (Nafco, Komeri, Cainz…), pegged down with plastic pins. A lot of people put gravel on top, which looks nicer and protects the sheet from the sun. Part of my garden is covered with it, and that bit has stayed completely clear while everything around it went wild.

I think it depends what you want from the garden. If you're planning trees and proper planting, some maintenance is unavoidable. I want to have a nice semi-Japanese garden but need my gardener back, lol. But if you want the lowest-maintenance option, covering most of it with this sheet, or gravel, or a combination is a good way to go I think.

I'm actually in Korea at the moment — partly a holiday, partly seeing how I feel about maybe a second base here one day, so I could spend time in both countries and alternate (especially once I retire, though that's still a long way off sadly). I recorded a lot of raw footage on this Japan trip too, so there's more than enough interesting content coming between now and December.

Enjoy the Christmas trip — winter in these old houses is its own experience, I made a note to make a video about it at some point. Mine is not too bad actually in winter once I turn the AC on but that is one of the reasons I wanted to buy in Kyushu due it its very mild winters!

In reply to Timleedude

Good to hear from someone with family there! It was still just as hot as Kyushu when I arrived, pretty much every day, 33/34C.

Busan right now is just a scouting trip, deliberately not buying anything. I want to see first how I feel about Korea and then save up! I visited Seoul and liked it a lot, second favourite country after Japan. But Busan feels more like Thailand so far. It does not mean "bad", but so different to Seoul that I might as well be in a different country. Not yet sure how I feel about Busan but I chose to visit because very convenient to do hops from Moji, I have a ferry port 10-15 minutes drive from my Moji house and there is a fast one hour ferry to Busan!

The plan for now — just walking neighbourhoods and getting a feel for what "cheap" actually looks like here. The area I'm most drawn to is Yeongdo, the island just across the bridge from Nampo-dong. Old hillside lanes, small older houses, elderly neighbours — I hope for a feeling like my Moji neighbourhood but I have not spent much time exploring yet, I am planning to do it next week once the rain stops, it's raining heavilty from today, can't do anything at all.

I'm also planning day trips to Gijang on the coast to see the more rural, semi-empty-house end of things.

On price — you're right and wrong at the same time, which is what makes it interesting! Korea overall is much more expensive than Japan, and Seoul is in a different universe. But Korea's market is overwhelmingly apartments — a cheap detached house is the exception rather than the rule. Where those exceptions exist, in old hillside districts younger Koreans are leaving or in rural fringes, prices can be genuinely low, more Kitakyushu-like than you'd expect. 5 million yen in Korean won is mu budget, it's possible but it likely will need more work than my Moji house. They're just much rarer and harder to find than in Japan, where there's an akiya on every hill. So it's less "Korea is expensive" and more "Korea has fewer bargains, in fewer places."

For me it's a lifestyle idea rather than an investment, and I'm in no hurry — realistically it's a couple of years away if it happens at all. This trip is about learning whether Korea's version of "cheap and old" would suit the way I'd actually use it. I'll share what I find here as I go I likely make video on it at some point.