The new post

And finally the surveyor has moved that last post to its right place and everyone is happy.

3 whole meters bigger

I can fit in at least 5 more trees in that strip's front half, I suppose. In the back half though where it narrows down, I guess it doesn't matter much.
I have been looking at buying a kei truck. Man those things are expensive.... Right now I am looking at the simplest variant, albeit with air conditioning and power steering. The come only in white it seems, but if I pay 30000 extra I can get it in another color. I have noticed most cars out there in Japan are in "anonymous" colors like white, grey, faded green or faded pink or if they are very daring light blue... they kind of disappear in the crowd, and don't stand out. I guess it is to avoid being hammered down. But I want my car to be bright colored and seen.... like red.

The flattening

By the end of last weekend I had flattened about 40% of the area... Here is the progress in pictures.

The smaller branches are the ones taking most time

Little by little...

Walking in the flat area is risky though

It's good exercise however

The last one

The "logs" are now all laying parallel with each other. Since they are still new and smooth, if I walk on them they roll around and it is hard to maintain balance while walking fast. At the same time, I am running out of space, so I think I have to lay two layers of logs... maybe that and the leafs on top of them keeps them steadier. And hopefully a bit of rain and snow will anchor them better to the ground. For now, though, I have to be careful when walking on them.
An idea hit me by the way... what if after making the floor, I bury it all in cow dung? Surely it would help decomposing and at the same time improve the soil quality... I checked with Mr. O and apparently there are cow farms nearby where I can ask for manure. But he also said I should be careful with cow manure because new weed seeds can come with it as a bonus... so now I am not so sure my brilliant idea was so great.
I will keep flattening and let the ideas hit me...
By the way last weekend we finally got everyone together again, to inspect the moving of the incorrect border post. Mr. K is very particular that everything must be done properly, and I oblige. I remember the first time I introduced myself and asked if we could just meet and agree between the two of us about a border line and mark it, he said he would come once I had arranged with a surveyor. So that's how the whole surveyor thing started, and it was actually good because now it is more official and on paper, though I had to pay for the surveyor. Another time when I was talking about how there is so much bamboo blocking the sun on the south side, he said that I have to talk to the owners of the neighboring lands to those, and then the owner of the actual lands where the bamboo was growing and then to the city office since there is a small road there as well, before trying to cut any bamboo. "Because that is the correct way to do it" he said. So he is that kind of guy. Typical Japanese and quite good that he is too because I can always check that I'm not doing anything out of bounds or reckless.
So of course when I brought to his attention that the post between my and his land was incorrect and showed him the measurements and the maps, he checked it, and agreed that it looks wrong, and then said to get the surveyor so we could fix it.
What surprised me though was that he asked to bring Mr. O who doesn't own any land near that post, and also owner of another far away plot, as well as the owners of the two plots on the other side of the road, again, totally unrelated. "Since they are key persons, and may know a bit of history" he said.
Of course, none of those guys remembered anything useful. And neither of them was interested in or had time for showing up when the surveyor would. I did run around and checked with them one by one though if they did have any ancient stories or background, and also if the proposed new post position did make sense to them. After I reported back to Mr. K, he said that should suffice, now that everyone seems to agree. So I set up a date for the surveyor and me and him to meet and set the new post. Somehow he managed to nag Mr. O and one other owner by himself though, so they did show up as well.

All this for 4 more meters

Not that there was any dispute or disagreement, but to be correct we measured everything from different places, taking into account old marks such as trees etc, and no matter how we measured or looked at it, putting the new post 4 meters east of the old one seemed correct. So everyone said OK, and after about an hour of everyone measuring and talking, the surveyor marked the new position and left. Mr. O and his friend hung around a bit more and talked and nodded that the new position indeed looked more right. Then they left too.
I was about to go about my flattening too, when I noticed Mr. K pacing back and forth along the new "border" and tilting his head here and there to try and get things to make sense. Curious I asked him if he was OK, and what he was thinking.
Turns out that the new post looked farther to the east than he had "imagined". Damned be the correctness and how all measurements had shown the fact of it, and how everyone else he had insisted to approve also had agreed, it "didn't look right to him". I asked the reason, and he said that there used to be a barricade made of fallen bamboo that his old dad had made. Not to mark a border he agreed, but to hinder the bamboo from going into his plot. So while that old bamboo border in no way was a marker of the border, it was close to what might have actually been the border.
I asked him, mockingly of course, which completely missed him, if his dad had measured anything when making that bamboo fence. Oh, no, not at all he said. Back then people didn't measure, and there were no good measuring tools available like nowadays, he continued laughing. Then he started looking along the line where I had felled bamboo for old remains of that fence. He did find some logs which were decomposed, maybe 3-4 years old at most and said here, see? This is the original fence my dad made with bamboos. Hmm, I thought. So 3-4 years ago when these bamboo were put here, there were no measuring tools? It doesn't add up. That fence was not put there by his dad or anyone who had measured anything... and now he wanted it to supersede proper measuring and other owners' agreement and discussions and other marks. He was no longer the "proper" guy.

The old post is red, the new one is not there yet but is just where the picture ends

I asked him, not hiding my mocking, but he probably just pretending not to get it. He said, well all the landmarks and everything else is not exact neither to be honest. So centuries old trees put there by the old farmers who owned the plots and seen as landmarks are not exact, which I agree. But somehow he maintained that some bamboos laid out in a line a couple years ago by someone was more exact and had to be taken into account more. He probably had laid those himself and was now claiming it to be ancient and made by his dad when he had been young at a time where measures did not exist.
I joked in a worried voice "Wow, and here I was thinking all the bamboo on my land would fall apart after 3-4 years. But bamboo is apparently tougher than I thought. If it is still in this good shape after decades and decades. What am I to do...?" He nodded and said yes, bamboo is tough stuff, you can ask Mr. O...
He was playing dumb, and he was older than me, and I was not in the mood to call his bullshit and remind him how we must be proper and respect facts as he had kept teaching me. If I did, he would be a sour neighbor for all future. I thought fuck it, let him have 1 meter. Neither he nor I can use that tiny strip of land for anything useful, so best to use that 1 meter wide triangle to sweeten his loss.
So I said, pretending to realizing his "facts": yeah I see your point now. While the bamboo fence was not the border, it was probably in-between the old post and the actual border, so if we consider the distance between the old post and the ancient bamboo fence, and take the same distance from the bamboo fence to the east, we are likely to hit the target for the new post.
I did a bit of measuring and said yes, it seems 4 meter to the east is too much. 3 meters is more right. What do you say we make it 3 meters instead of 4? Would you be satisfied too?
He lit up and said yeah, can we call the surveyor back?
I called the surveyor, apologized and handed Mr. K the phone, he explained and asked the surveyor to come back for a short re-surveying.
When he came, Mr. K started explaining his whole silly story, and I could see that it made no sense to the surveyor and he started to grow very bored and impatient. He looked at me: "My job is to make sure there is agreement and mark and document the post. Are you two already agreeing about something?" Yes I said. We want the post to be 3 meters away instead of 4. He was relieved that at least one of us could be short. All right, he said. So 3 meters instead of 4. Got it. I will mark it and let you know once it is done.
He left. I left too, to my plot, thinking how this time no others were needed and how quickly Mr. K had agreed to things. After an hour, Mr. O turned up in his plot to cut some trees. I went to him and told him about the re-surveying. He asked why, and I said Mr. K didn't "feel" right.
His face turned into a frown and it was clear to read "I am sorry, that is too silly." I said to him that extra meter didn't mean anything to me to be honest. I'd rather keep a happy neighbor. He agreed.

Receding hairline

In order to clean up all the fallen bamboo and make the "flooring", every now and then I take my saws and spend a couple of hours in the forest cutting branches and moving them and laying them in parallel lines, while listening to some audio book. It's pretty zen.
Everyday just before going back home I take a picture of the plot and little by little one can see that it's getting cleaner. It almost looks like my forehead and how it gets clearer and looks wider and flatter year after year as my hair is recedin.
So anyway here are my latest end-of-day shots...

Just started in the corner

Sloooowly cleaning inwards

Stretched the flattened area along one side

Still there's a lot to go...

I can't wait till I've flattened the whole thing. That is when I can start felling the sugi. I counted them and there are 24 in the plot (25 if I count one in the back/north)
Have still not moved the incorrect corner post. I have talked a lot about it, and also knocked doors and talked to the 90 something year old owners of the land nearby to find out if he remembers where the old path goes, but of course he didn't remember. So I measured and set up markers according to the map instead and it looks sensible. Next I need to get the surveyor to come by and give his blessings while we all are present, and move the post for us.
In the meantime, I am busy busy doing forest cleaning.
Oh, and I ordered some seeds for the farm plot I am borrowing. Corn, squash, melon, watermelon... this kind of thing.

I can see clearly now

Finally, a couple more days and I have now removed ALL the bamboo from my lot.

Day 9

With the bamboo gone, I can see all the way to the lot next to mine from the other side. Next I have to get rid of the sugi trees. I shall start with the thinnest one and fell it, to get a feeling of how easy or hard it is. If it proves to be difficult, I will ask a professional...

Day 10

The ground is covered with fallen bamboos in all random directions crossing and lying on top of each other, so it is a high heap. My next step before getting to the sugi trees is to tidy up the ground. I don't have a chipper, and even if I had one I could only chip the green freshly cut bamboos, not the brown hardened ones. So what I will do is to cut all the fallen bamboo into 2-4 meter long pipes, and lay them all down in the same direction so they cover the ground properly. Like bamboo flooring...

Final Day

In the final day picture one can see all the sugi trees that are standing. Not so many. But tougher to cut down...
On the north side (right in the picture) is the shared slope with something like 100 unknown owners. I can't leave those bamboos as they are because they all lean over my lot, and one by one will fall over my saplings or whatever I have. So after I am done with the bamboo flooring I need to cut those back too as far as I can, and not let new shoots pop up.
On the south, there are no big trees leaning over my land but a few (maybe 40-50?) bamboos. I have to find the owner of that lot and ask if she allows me to clean up the bamboo in her land. That way I will get more sun too. When all that is done, then I can start with the sugis. And after that I can start putting things in the lot.
So, to summarize my todo list:
1- tidy up the ground, flatten the "flooring" and block the sun
2- cut back bamboos in north and add those to the ground cover
3- clean up the south side forest
4- keep new shoots to come up in all those areas
5- cut down sugis
6- plant young trees. I am thinking cut holes in the "flooring" where I want to put in a sapling and dig a hole only there. That way I will keep the natural ground cover longer, and bio life will hopefully take care of the dying and rotting bamboo roots beneath.

Final day, taken from other side

The north bamboo wall is clearer visible in the last picture from the other side. Also the messy ground can be seen better.
Oh, and I have a chance to maybe get back those 4-5 meters that I was missing on the border when we dug in concrete posts. I mentioned the miscalculation for Mr. K and he said he doesn't mind if we dig up the post and put it in the right place, but he wanted us to check with Mr. O too.
We checked and all agreed that the border line looks weird the way it is, and that it doesn't match the actual map, and as a result my land is more than 50 sqm smaller than it should be. So it should be corrected. But they said it is best to do it properly, and check with the owners around the area if any of them remembers where the old road used to go. The reason they want to find that out is that on the map the old road happens to intersect with the current visible road exactly at the border between my land and Mr. K's so if we know that road, we are sure to know the almost exact point where the post should go.

Visual aid for the confusing description above

Post new year 2019

Phew... I am spent! cutting and cutting and cutting. I am posting here the day by day progress pictures of the forest plot. First off, here is me in my gear.

Helmet is really needed

I was real glad to have worn the helmet. Already the first day I got two big bamboos falling and hitting me right in the head. The mask also is a must because not only does it stop me from getting all the sawdust in my lungs, it also blocks the white, black and other color fungus spores that seem to live in this plot.

Day 2

Spending so much time in the plot, I saw that my neighboring owners, let's call them Mr K and Mr. O, also come by once in a while. Mr. K came by almost every day with a truckload of burnable (including plastic) trash and made a nice fire on his lot and burned it. One day he gave me a baked sweet potato which he had made in that same fire. Hot hot hot and yummy. They are both nice guys and seem to want to help. Mr. O already set me up with another Mr. O who I already mentioned lent me his field.

Day 3

It was nice to have someone to chat to when I felt out of breath and took a break. And I could gradually get some background information about the area, like long time ago how water used to be lead over our plots in order to reach the rice paddies further down west. (Before those rice paddies became golf courses). I would stop my cutting, get a sip or two of drink and have a five minute chat while wiping my glasses. Yes, the glasses fogged up all the time thanks to the mask and my heavy breathing, so I was cutting half blind.

Day 4

In the day to day pictures it is not so easy to see how much I have been cutting due to the thick bamboo grove still remaining in the background. So I add a picture from the side just to show better.

Day 4 from side

I started by just felling the bamboos and letting them lie there randomly but quickly realized that they pile up real bad. So I spent the 5th and 6th day cleaning up the mess from the beginning, and starting from day 5 I actually took care which way the fallen bamboos would lie so they would not take too much space.

Day 5

You can see that the border between my plot and Mr. K's becomes cleaner and cleaner. I wanted to chip down all that bamboo and spread it over the plot, but I don't have a wood chipper. I think if I chop down the bamboos in decent enough size and arrange them properly, they would work as mulch blocking the sun from reaching the soil and stopping more bamboos from popping up. Also they would disintegrate naturally over a couple of years and add to the soil anyway. So that is what I will do.

Day 5 from side

Once Mr. O came by and showed me a really old map of the area and told me a little about the history of the place. He was also accompanied with the owner of one of the plots farther south. We were talking about how there are 2 paths in the south and that no one knows whose the plots directly to the south of the path belong to, and how the city never maintains that path so it has become overgrown with trees. Actually Mr. O thinks that the paths are where the woods are, and that the clear land that looks like a path and currently being used is part of our plots. Anyway, we all would like to remove as much trees from south as possible to allow for sun to reach the lands.

The old-ass map, with my plots marked with red crosses

I don't think the expression "not being able to see the forest for all the trees" applies here, but something like that is what I get to experience first hand. Not being able to see the forest plot because of all the bamboos. The more bamboos I cut, I discover more of what the plot has growing in it. The most obvious is the several tall sugi trees which I kind of could see even before cutting down any bamboos, but now I get to see how many more there actually is. All of sugi trees I really want to cut down as they cast big shadow and take up land with their roots and are generally in the way. Plus I have a bit of allergy. Also their falling branches and leafs are a big nuisance according to Mr. O who agrees with me wanting to cut them down. Except he asked me to let one sugi remain. If I understood him correctly he wants it to serve as a marker for where the path goes south of my land. It is the biggest sugi tree around, and it is right in the south part of my plot so I want it gone. But I don't have the power or time yet to cut it down so I just said sure, for now. Of course since the tree is on my land I get to decide to cut it.

Me and a couple of the sugis. These are biiig

Cutting down bamboos is one thing but the sugis are large powerful beasts that I think not me alone with my chainsaw can kill. I will attempt of course on the smallest of them and see how realistic it is. But still thinking about it is scary. The tallest non-bamboo tree I ever fell was the one next to the house, which was a midget in comparison. And that one was a pain in the ass to cut down. I think if I ask nicely the other owners that Mr. O knows can help out...

Day 6

Except for the sugi trees, what grows in that plot is 4-5 types of "weed" trees and bushes almost all with running roots. Thanks to the thickness of the bamboos, those are still tiny and I can pull them out with my hand, so it should not be a big deal.

Day 6 from side

It is nice to see the sun shine on the middle of the plot where it didn't reach before. And it is nice to walk and step on old rotting branches and bamboos and hear them crack crack. Once I have cleared all of the bamboos, I will cut them into shorter logs and arrange them on the ground to cover everything. After that I will cut down as much bamboo as I can from the north side because they all kind of lean over my plot and just fall over once in a while. If a bamboo falls on a sapling, it is finished for sure. Then I want to also go into the south plot on the other side of the path and cut down bamboos there too. I am sure the owner doesn't mind me cleaning up.

Sugi trees emerging slowly from their hiding

After that, I want to fell down all the sugis, and then rent an excavator to dig up roots and stuff. After that I can put in saplings. If I work really hard, maybe by summer I can do it but it would be the most optimistic case.

Day 7

After the 7th day I had cleaned up along the border between my land and Mr. K's, but he said he didn't mind if I mess up on his land cause he is not planning to do anything on it anyway.

Straight and clean along the border

After 8 days of hard work, it was time to go back to work (office), but I am glad I have cleared more than half of the plot. I will cut more on weekends and hope to finish it within this month...

Day 8

I think I can see a slight difference even now, compared with the "Before" picture  

Christmas updates

Now finally the forest plots' boundaries have been marked, albeit not so very officially. As I mentioned the surveyor didn't actually measure anything but just asked all the owners if they were OK with putting the boundary posts here and here. Also the boundaries are not registered with the city office. We have made a document signed and stamped by me and the other owners that says we are OK with these posts but the actual official map still overrides all that. The surveyor made a map of where the posts are put, and when I compare that map with the actual map the shapes of the plots are not exactly same, for example a couple of borders that are supposed to be parallel according to the official map are only almost parallel according to the posts. So the plot sizes are different (in my case I think one of my plots is like 80 sqm smaller than it should be)
Overall it is not a huge difference. If I plant trees in my plot it means a 5-6 less trees, so instead of planting say 150 trees, I will have 145 trees. I can still add those 5 missing trees if I plant them right at the border where I think the correct map shape is but really who cares.

One of the new concrete posts

Another post. They are red and cute and cost me 10000 yen

So with the boundaries defined, I can no longer blame anything to block my progress. I have a square shape of over 1000 sqm full of bamboos to tidy up and get into shape. Armed with my new chainsaw I went into the plot thinking it would take 1 or 2 days tops to cut down all the weed...

The before image...

...and the rest of it

A day of cutting down bamboos and laying them along the border later, the plot was still full of bamboos. In fact no change seem to have occurred.

Oh boy! This is gonna take a while isn't it?

Looks like just a couple of days won't be enough. So I decided to spend all my free time during the new year holidays to cut and cut and cut....
On our way back I also took a picture of the farm plot I have borrowed nearby.

I am thinking melons, garlic, corn and some more stuff

In the garden at home, not much goes on except for freezing. The little pond is completely frozen.

Let it go, let it goooo...

And frozen is also the passion fruit. The huge thing started to drop its leafs and I thought it is going to sleep for the winter, until I looked closer and saw that it had actually frozen.

Wait what?

Not only frozen but the water in the branches has exploded with ice. Man. I guess they are dead unless the roots have some magic left in them. Oh well, learned the hard way. Passion fruits are not gonna grow here.

Close up of the exploded passion ice