Netaro contacted me last week about a tiny house he built in Japan. I was concerned about him and the earthquake and contacted him again yesterday and found out that he is OK so that was encouraging. Please remember our Japanese friends and donate to help them rebuild after this devastating disaster.
Netaro is not a builder but graduated with a Philosophy major and his english is limited but I will share with you what he told me about his tiny houses. He used only a hammer and a handsaw to construct his home and he built it alone. The building costs were around $1000 not including the photovoltaic system. He plans to live in the house full time or when not traveling around the country in his portable home. Netaro calls his home B-Life or Basic Life.
The cost for the portable house was $130 and it just has the bare necessities but he plans to use it to travel around Japan and see the country.
Netaro says that tiny houses are not famous like they are in other parts of the world but there is a growing interest. The cost of land is extremely high in Japan and also the cost of building materials. With the earthquake, I’m sure this will be even more so. You can view more pictures of Netaro’s homes here.