Help sustain Kanbara homestead in Japan

You are cordially invited to help repair and maintain the centuries-old Kanbara homestead as a resource for Japanese Canadians and others who have an interest in rural Japan. The house is located in the village of Urasaki, Hiroshima prefecture, on a hilltop next to a shinto shrine overlooking homes, gardens, and in the distance, the Inland Sea. Visitors say they have had magical experiences there.

Since the passing of our two aunts in the 1990s, the house has been offered as a rural retreat, an alternative to big city hotels, and a base for artists residencies and travel. The household facilities are rustic but there is electricity, kitchen appliances and well water (which needs to be upgraded with connection to the municipal supply). Urasaki has an excellent supermarket, agricultural co-op, junior and middle-schools, a post office and police post. Every October, there is a home-coming harvest-festival at the shrine.

We have completed the complicated process of establishing legal ownership and begun contracting work on much-needed repairs to roofing, building structure and electrical wiring. We hope you will share in our excitement to secure its viability as a destination for visitors, and its potential to be a unique, community asset. (Ideally, long-term oversight of the property will be shared/assumed by a JC organization.)

A contribution of any amount is a welcome sign of support. Our immediate goal is $50,000 ($25 x 2,000 would get us there!). All donors' names will appear on a thank-you wall in the house. Future visitor participation in the form of onsite maintenance, renovation, gardening will also become a valuable way to sustain the property. Put Urasaki into your imaginations and your travel plans!

Here is a partial list of Canadian visitors who have spent time at the Urasaki homestead over the past 20 years (from day visits and overnights, to month-long stays): Lynda Nakashima, Ron Shimizu & Edy Goto, Ted Haines & Jewel Foster, Heather Midori Yamada, Alain Carriere, Gerry Shikatani, Bernadette Rule & sons, Bruce Bezeau & Marie-Jeanne Kergoat & family, Denis & Danielle Akiyama & family, Laura Shintani & Cecil Houston, Sally Ito, Shawn & Sheri Selway, Yumi Schoenhofer, Marianne Reim, Ben & Kiyomi Ferguson, Sam Starkman, Dawn Obokata & kids, Paul Kozowyk, Noriko Yamamoto & Rick Kumagai, Liza Kozowyk, Dana Oikawa, Carey & Tamiko French.

Bryce Tatsuro Kanbara / Carlene Sayoko Mercer (nee Kanbara)