Surrounded by a cafe and dog run?!

[Nancy]

Wow, I can't imagine if everything is built and you are surrounded by parking lots. Is there any way you could move your house? I know that there are some companies in Japan that do this. Maybe you could move it to a quieter environment close by. Doing protests and making official complaints can be very time consuming and an exhausting process, so hope that you can find a solution.

[Beaglehound]

Just for reference, this is the proposed development. We’re in a tiny clearing, my place is in the middle. I understand that it may come across like I’m being a nimby but I put all the money I had into buying the land and having the house built. I live in a small house with my husband and his mother so it’s my bolthole to get away and have my own space at the weekends. It just seems an unreasonable plan to me.

I don’t think anyone could justifiably accuse you of being unreasonable here, given you will be surrounded at very close quarters by facilities which will inevitably involve a fair bit of activity and noise, when your aim was seclusion/peace and quiet.

I doubt that the proposed developers would be willing to buy you out to the extent it would compensate you for your building costs, but it may be worth asking on the basis that you might otherwise be difficult. In your position I would probably consult a professional about my options.

[Gulliver]

One possible mitigating factor is that bakeries tend to close fairly early, so they would likely only bother you in the daytime.

Not great as you are used to your peace and quiet, but it could be worse!

However, If it’s a real European style bakery then these nuts start working at 3 AM.

Alternatively, you could open your own cheaper bakery if you wanted to really cheese them off .

[Roger Van Zant]

Sounds like a very difficult situation for you. Maybe you can go to the city or village office and see how the land is zoned. It sounds like at the moment it is residential, and they plan to use it as a commercial type of use. I have heard about a case before where people bought land which was zoned as for agriculture use, and it took forever for the city to rezone it into residential. Also though, if the landowner has a lot of pull with the zoning board, it might become easily rezoned...It might be good though to make a lot of noise now, before anything is decided. If you are known as a difficult person, they may reconsider the sale etc. Good luck!

It's purely a question of money and brown envelopes. The new TSMC fab being built down here in Kumamoto is all on former agricultural land. The land was reclassified very quickly once the money started coming in.
Personally, I have converted agricultural land to mountain land. It took about three years and cost me 90,000 yen.

[Roger Van Zant]

Anecdotal, but I once looked at some property very close to us, maybe only 200 meters away. It had an old, crumbling house on it, and cheap at the time, but a big road has since gone in, it was close to that, and the plans for that were public. I figured the road would eventually boost the value, etc. Someone else bought it, removed the house, and built new. And the road went in.

But it turned out there was another parcel more or less next to it, and some low key/small construction company built a 'temporary' structure on that--no foundation, just pipework all clamped together and then covered with (ugly) corrugated metal, and a makeshift set of doors on the front. A little bigger than a one car garage. And then various things accumulated in piles outside, e.g, the stuff used for scaffolding/ashiba. That sort of thing. Small trucks often parking in front of it.

Pretty unfortunate for the folks that bought and built on that parcel (and a couple other neighbors right there, too). I never heard of any requests for change or complaints. Probably not much could be done.

From what I know of Japan, the average Japanese person doesn't care much at all about nearby aesthetics and the view from their house. I am always amazed at the ugliness of Japanese towns/suburbs, and that nobody cares or even recognizes it. Jangles of wires everywhere, metal-clad shacks, parks without grass, piss-poor zoning....all mixed in with brand new houses and apartments!

[adamu]

From what I know of Japan, the average Japanese person doesn't care much at all about nearby aesthetics and the view from their house. I am always amazed at the ugliness of Japanese towns/suburbs, and that nobody cares or even recognizes it. Jangles of wires everywhere, metal-clad shacks, parks without grass, piss-poor zoning....all mixed in with brand new houses and apartments!

Yes. It's funny because it's probably the "cleanest" country in the world. This is actually one of my biggest issues with living in Japan. Now I recognize it and manage it, by making sure I at least live nearby places with manicured open space, big old trees, and greenery. Streets without overhead power cables are a good sign someone is putting some thought into / prioritizing aesthetics (I say as I look at the distribution pole outside my window). Also, pavements.

[Gulliver]

Personally, I have converted agricultural land to mountain land.

Just curious. Why did you do this? Is it harder to rezone mountain land?

[Roger Van Zant]

Personally, I have converted agricultural land to mountain land.

Just curious. Why did you do this? Is it harder to rezone mountain land?

I wanted to buy the land, but since I am not a farmer I was unable to do so as long as it was classified as agricultural land.
Anyone can buy mountain land though.

[Matt_Black]

Personally, I have converted agricultural land to mountain land.

Just curious. Why did you do this? Is it harder to rezone mountain land?

I wanted to buy the land, but since I am not a farmer I was unable to do so as long as it was classified as agricultural land.
Anyone can buy mountain land though.

Don't mean to be hijacking this thread, but this sounds very interesting. I recently found an interesting piece of land, mostly mountain, but after learning that a tiny part of it is classified as agricultural, I thought that all was lost. I would have thought that only the owner could have the land reclassified, but you could do it on their behalf? I'm also guessing that they were not in rush to sell if were ok to wait for three years.

[Beaglehound]

From what I know of Japan, the average Japanese person doesn't care much at all about nearby aesthetics and the view from their house. I am always amazed at the ugliness of Japanese towns/suburbs, and that nobody cares or even recognizes it. Jangles of wires everywhere, metal-clad shacks, parks without grass, piss-poor zoning....all mixed in with brand new houses and apartments!

Yes. It's funny because it's probably the "cleanest" country in the world. This is actually one of my biggest issues with living in Japan. Now I recognize it and manage it, by making sure I at least live nearby places with manicured open space, big old trees, and greenery. Streets without overhead power cables are a good sign someone is putting some thought into / prioritizing aesthetics (I say as I look at the distribution pole outside my window). Also, pavements.

Ah, pavements, about 20% of streets in my town have them. Another of these paradoxes in a safety-driven country.
When we were buying land to build our house I looked at the rosenka values, and was surprised to see that land with houses on a reasonably busy road (for this quietish town) was valued higher than our land on a very quiet road less than 100m away. The houses on the busy road are right on the road, perhaps 1.5m setback, highly undesirable to my way of thinking but it seems the ‘convenience’ is valued.