Wildlife is nice. As long as it behaves reasonable. Unfortunately one inconsiderate specimen - and honestly speaking a rather foolish one - decided he doesn't like our house.
While Hiro-san worked nearby, a sudden bang as loud as a gunshot made him duck. He found that a falcon broke our kitchen window...
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Last week's guests already enjoyed the fully equipped kitchen, to produce French / Asian fusion cuisine. This weekend I optimised the usability for future guests by adding rails, and storage options.
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I had a bunch of business to sort out in Arisaka, but one main objective was to unpack all the shiny new kitchen gear that was delivered this weekend. As a hobby cook I enjoyed buying al my dream gear, but of course I am sad I cannot have such nice equipment in my Tokyo home (its too small).
Most of the gear unpacked, washed and ready to cook:
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The two bedrooms are now ready for action - I confirmed the excellent comfort myself .. but I nearly slept over. But with so much work remaining for the weekend, it was just something I could not afford.
Here the left room:
And the one on the right:
The Kitchen is is also nearing completion, and is scheduled to be operational end of next week.
Kunihara-san did an excellent Job last week. When I visited there yesterday, I found all the dodgy wooden beams and posts replaced with shiny new ones. He also poured concrete to create many small bases all over the ground. They are leveled so that he can place new supporting beams for the flooring, without touching the potentially moist ground. At that time, he also already finished the concrete floor in the kitchen.
After replacing the beams and posts, only simple scaffolding remains.
The entire structure was secured with temporary bracing, to ensure the house won't crush our heads:
The replaced beams and posts in their full glory. On the left near the window a vertical post, carrying all the weight. Also two horizontal beams running along the window front. Also of course the main beam going from left to right through the room. Finally, beams resting on the new concrete bases on the ground, had to be put in place.
The window view. Please note the new beam on the top, already has all the grooves needed for Shoji sliding doors.
Centre of the room.
Kitchen floor is already cured. The things sticking out are outlets for hot & cold water, waste water, gas and electricity. This may be the last view of the kitchen as it was. Next window in the back will removed and closed up, and the doors to the left replaced by a wall.
If you remember the previous post "Naked Kitchen" , we want to lower the kitchen to ground level and have polished concrete or tile flooring.
This time I used the second pair of hands to move the kitchen sink out temporarily. Tomo checked the beam structure holding up the bathroom and toilet, and advised which could be cut. 
So first we ripped out remaining floor boards and wooden wall frames, then I attacked the beams with the Chainsaw.
One beam extended far into the room and held up the bathroom. So before sawing it off, I supported it with the jack from the rental car, then slipped in a piece of wood that I cut to 16.5 cm. After lowering the thus supported beam again, it was safe to remove the protruding bit. On the very right of this photo you can see the new piece of wood.
Did I mention rubbish? Yes I did. I removed another two large bags of rubbish and polluted soil together with Mori-san.
Job well done. All beams and posts removed, we can now contemplate working on the kitchen for real. The sliding doors at the back will be replaced with a structural wall. The window at the rear of the room may be removed, and all walls need fixing. For the moment we put the sink back so that we can use indoors water during the construction period. The fireplace can also be left for a while, maybe we can use it for warming our fingers during winter reconstruction.
Oh whats that? A palm sized hole in the kitchen wall!
We aim to use mostly natural building materials, both to be sustainable and also to save cost. So from last weekend works efforts there remains a pile of mud wall, ready mixed:
I put a few shovel ful into a bucket and added water. it took a little experimenting to get the right relation of water vs mud straw mixture. The key point is that the small shovel should remain standing on its own when stabbed into the mix. At first I had too much water - the thing kept standing but when applied the mixture just ran away. Add more mud.
This is the wall from the outside after completing the inside patch. Before slamming on the mud mix, I placed two bamboo sticks and chicken wire in the middle.
This is how it looks from the inside:
It worked so well that I took on huge gaps above the windows in the south wall. Again placed some chicken wire and then scooped on th mud-mix. Wasps, hornets and spiders - fare well!
Nice work:
Tackling the kitchen required some of the same skills and techniques used on the other rooms to remove the ceiling. Because it was relatively low, I had no problem getting it out. 
However, in this room walls were wood paneled and covered with disgusting layers of cooking fat, oil and grease. There was no other way, they had to go too. Because the kitchen had a very low ceiling, we want to put it down onto ground level, and just finish the floor with concrete, like the entrance area. So I also had to remove the (ugly) wooden flooring.
The kitchen stripped (nearly) naked:
It appeared that the walls to the outside were made up of the the thinnest possible material, then an empty space, then the paneling. Because the outside is riddled with many cracks and holes, those cavities provide excellent habitats for bees and wasps... definetly have to do something about them! An internal wall was made with a gypsum plate.
Removing the floor paneling revealed another fire place. A second layer of weight carrying boards was revealed. Below those, a collection of old beams and provided a fixing place. I couldn't move the sink on my own, so it has to go some other time. In the mean time I used the CHAINSAW, to reveal the ground just in front of it. Getting the floor boards up is quite a job because so many nails are used.
The previous owner left a surprise for me: Below the floor boards - a load of rubbish! 
As I took this photo I already filled two garbage bags with the thrash. I found some evidence of small mamal habitation, but judging by tiny skelletons and absence of food, they are long gone.
There is still some rubbish to be cleared next time:
