The Endless Miracles of Life... The History of Sound House Began with the Unstaffed Station, Shimousa Manzaki

How many people can correctly read the name ‘下総松崎’? This name is not easy to read, even for Japanese. Even the large sign along the prefectural road is mislabeled as ‘Shimousa Matsuzaki’. However, the correct reading is ‘Shimousa Manzaki’. It isn’t ‘Shimofusa’ or ‘Matsuzaki’. I think I wrote to the Narita City Office back in around 1995 and pointed out that there was a mistake on the road sign. Needless to say, the city never corrected it even many years later. This station is such a minor place that even the government doesn’t pay much attention to it.

Shimousa Manzaki is the name of the JR station at the northern end of Narita, Chiba, and not the name of the town. There is no town called Shimousa Manzaki, at least not to my knowledge. JR Shimousa Manzaki Station is the next stop after JR Narita Station. However, despite the fact that the station is located in the international city of Narita where Narita Airport is located, there are no station staffers there early in the morning and at night. There is only one ticket vending machine in the old station building. Of course, there is also no store at the station. The southwest side of the station is nothing but rice paddies and weeds, and there isn’t even a road. On the northeast side, there is only a narrow road that connects to the prefectural road, but it is full of old abandoned houses and vacant lots, and only a parking lot is visible. This is why the station is also called the ‘unexplored station’.

The origin of Sound House is actually related to Shimousa Manzaki. I ended up there one day in January 1992 when I left Tokyo with a vision of going to an unknown town called Narita. Not knowing where I was going, I drove back and forth from place to place until I first arrived at this Shimousa Manzaki. At the time, there was the old Narita Onsen (hot spring) near the Shimousa Manzaki station, and I was mysteriously drawn there. At the time, the hot spring was still in business, but it was in such a state of disrepair that it did not seem like the kind of facility that would attract visitors. However, for some reason, I found myself being drawn to this natural hot spring facility. So then, I took a walk around the area with my dog, Mitchie.

As it turned out, I was blessed with an unexpectedly wonderful discovery. First of all, Narita Onsen was next door to the Boso no Mura. It holds the only prefectural museum in Japan that specializes in archaeology, Fudoki no Oka. In addition, Boso no Mura is home to the large-scale Ryukakuji Kofun (burial mound) Cluster and the Iwaya Kofun, which contains as many as 115 burial mounds. Iwaya Kofun is said to be the largest square-sided tumuli in Japan. I learned that Boso no Mura is a 51-hectare area with a humongous trail where visitors can enjoy nature while feeling the weight of history. Since it was located right next to such a beautiful and historically romantic place, I fell in love with Narita Onsen. Later, Narita Onsen fell into financial difficulties and had to close, and was put up for auction by the courthouse. I negotiated with the owner of Narita Onsen to somehow acquire the hot spring, and I ended up taking it over myself. In other words, I visited Narita without any idea of what to expect, and I quickly established a base in Shimousa Manzaki.

From this point on, I found myself traveling back and forth around Narita with only my guitar and Mitchie, and suddenly I found myself blessed with many friends. I was leading a music meeting every Sunday night at a newly established Christian church in the city. At one of these meetings, I encountered a woman who had changed the course of my life. My arrival in Narita was no coincidence. Within a little over six months, we were married in a blitz of events, and the wedding ceremony was held at Karabe Park in Narita. I thought that saving money was the best thing to do. Since the park allowed me to have a free wedding, I made the bold decision to do so.

From that marriage, the Sound House egg had hatched. My then in-laws were, for lack of a better word, very poor, and they did not even have a television in the house. My then wife lived in an old house that looked like a small prefectural housing complex with her parents, two younger sisters, and a younger brother. In other words, six people were living together. Even in such a cramped environment, I was moved by the sight of this family enjoying their lives together. I learned that my in-laws owned a modest tailor shop, which closed down immediately after our marriage due to the bursting of the bubble economy, and they were saddled with a large amount of debt. I decided that I had to somehow pay off this debt so that my in-laws would have an easier life. After consulting with friends I had met in Narita, I came to the conclusion that I had to start Sound House. Life’s miracles are endless.

JR Shimousa Manzaki Station