The variety show "Potsun to Ikkenya" (ABC TV/TV Asahi, Sundays at 7:54 PM), which searches for isolated houses in remote areas using satellite photos as clues, will feature a close look at the life of a 91-year-old woman living deep in the mountains of Okayama Prefecture in its June 7th broadcast. The guests will be actors Toshio Kakei and Kurumi Shimizu.
The satellite imagery the search party obtained showed a building and fields on a plot of land cleared in a large curve in the mountains. The search party headed to the nearest settlement and approached a man working in the fields, asking him to look at the satellite imagery. It turned out he knew someone who lived in the house. "Shall we follow you in the pickup truck?" the man offered, and the search party headed towards the house with him as their guide.
As we made our way along the mountain path from the village, we saw what looked like a greenhouse. Historic Japanese houses stood nearby, and fields stretched across the slopes. "Even in the mountains like this, it feels like home once you live here," a 91-year-old woman greeted us with a smile. Her eldest daughter (67), who lives with her, also made an appearance. From this spot, carved out of a mountaintop about 400 meters above sea level, you can see all the way to the Seto Inland Sea on a clear day.
The woman reportedly goes out to her fields every morning to weed, smiling and saying, "If I don't work in the fields, my muscles will weaken and I won't be able to walk." She has a dignified presence and demeanor that belies her 91 years, but in fact, she suffered a serious illness and underwent emergency surgery at the end of last year. The preview video shows the woman working in the fields, as well as her eldest daughter making tempura from tea leaves picked in the tea field and serving it to the search party.
In the studio, guest Shimizu commented thoughtfully, "She's a truly wonderful grandmother! I thought to myself, I want to become a lovely grandmother who can live a life like that."
