Graham Bell wrote:
> We found that there are lots of bargains to be had - once you get about
> 2 hours outside of Tokyo..

Same with Osaka - I remember seeing on TV last year a completely
rebuilt farmhouse in 777 tsubo of land, including bamboo forest, 10
minutes by car from the on-ramp for the motorway to Kobe, 20 minutes
away (assuming no jams...), yet barely 15 million.

> Sadly, a 3 hour or so commute doesn't thrill me, so we ended up paying
> about twice what we had hoped to pay for about half as much land as we'd
> originally wanted, in Tokyo-to.

I've seen exactly one new house within possible commuting distance of
Osaka that I thought had a decent garden - a new estate in Woody Town
(in the Arima/Sanda area) called Washington Square or something, with
about 400 square metres of land, but even with a (badly laid out IMO)
living space of barely over 100 square metres they were asking 50
million for it, and it was that ugly corregated metal facing that
they'd built the house with...

I couldn't cope living in the standard city house with the postage
stamp garden and half the windows smoked out. We were lucky enough to
find a flat with a 50 square metre terrace+garden and almost no other
buildings overlooking us.

Ken