This is the story of Yoshi Yamazaki and his family who left the busy streets of Tokyo for Sofia and the village of Dalbok Dol near Troyan. Together they bought a cheap house in Dalbok Dol and renovated it to create an architectural wonder. We learned about their move to Bulgaria from an article in the Bulgarian newspaper “Dnevnik”.
Here is a little snippet from this article: Nadia (Yoshi’s wife) explains how they found their house “my sister and her husband already owned a house in the village and we came often to visit them, and eventually warmed up to the idea to buy our own house. As Yoshi joked – the house was the price of a computer. For six years, after we bought the house, we did nothing on it, until at one point the roof began to leak and we caught up and renovated it”.
“Our house is a clay house. It is made of a hedge, plastered with a mixture of mud, clay, and concrete. The house was built in 1917 and a separate barn was added later in 1933. We asked the locals about the history of the property and it turned out it belonged to a shepherd from the village, a very modest man. Living in a village is very nice, the place is very peaceful. We feel alive here, especially when we talk to the locals. A wealth of knowledge which you cannot normally get if you are living in a city. About 300 people live permanently in the village, there are two shops as well. In our house, we do not have a single room. There are no internal walls to allow the air to flow. Some locals called this Japanese way of living”.
Here you can find the full article in Bulgarian. Or find out how another Bulgarian village gains popularity with Belgium expats.
