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My brother and I finished demolishing the entire kitchen by hand, including the stone foundation, brick stove, ceramic tile bathtub, and wood framing. (Here’s a YouTube short of the demolishing of the kitchen.) Upon clearing the site of debris, we dug deep footings around the entire perimeter and placed rebar inside.

We were working against the clock because our flights home to California for the Christmas break were upon us. However, we managed to pour the concrete, batch by batch. Without the luxury of a backhoe or a cement truck, we completed this process with shovels, a hammer drill, a wheelbarrow, and a portable electric cement mixer.

Ultimately, we left the work site at a great spot. In January, I’ll be able to pick up where we left off and cap off the entire floor of the future kitchen with a nice concrete slab. Then will come the fun part (and my brother’s specialty as a trained carpenter): wood framing.

Below, you’ll find three photos of the old kitchen:

Now, here are four photos of the cleared space and the footings we dug. We had to remove the old foundations first. (It was interesting to see how the previous builders worked. They placed large boulders beneath the rectangular foundations to lock the whole structure in place.)

When digging and forming the new foundation, we used string lines and the Pythagorean theorem to make sure the corners were square:

When my parents visited in November, they helped a great deal with cleaning, organizing, demolishing walls, and composting the old straw from the attic:

One last housekeeping note, I am going to change the name of the podcast to: The Akiya Project. It provides more continuity with the YouTube channel. Most importantly, the name more truly reflects the central theme of the podcast. Logistically, nothing will change on your end.

And with that, I am excited to bring you today’s episode on the iconic and tumultuous life of Frank Lloyd Wright. His designs have had a profound influence on me and how I hope to build. It was a pleasure to dive deep into his life to learn about his own influences, his philosophy on nature and democracy, and in particular, his fascination with old Japan.

His imprint still echoes deeply across America, and even parts of Japan. At the very least, here in my little corner of Kobe, his legacy will endure.

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Books Mentioned In This Episode:

When you purchase a book (or anything on Amazon) with the links below, you support me and the podcast at no extra cost to you:

* Frank Lloyd Wright: A Life by Ada Louise Huxtable

* A History of the American People by Paul Johnson

* The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanaka

* Frank Lloyd Wright: The Lost Years, 1910-1922 by Anthony Alofsin

* Frank Lloyd Wright and the Art of Japan: The Architects Other Passion by Julia Meech

Links to More Resources:

* Ada Louise Huxtable

* New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

* Penn Station

* The Playroom of the Oak Park Home

* James Charnley House

* Unity Temple

* Larkin Company Administration Building

* Prairie Style House

* The Darwin D Martin House

* The Imperial Hotel

* Museum Meiji-Mura

* The Hollyhock House

* Le Corbusier’s Plan Voisin

* Läicité

* Taliesin West

* Learn Ikebana in Kobe (with me and a local expert!) on TripAdvisor

* The Akiya Project on YouTube

Products Used For the Build

* Rockwool Insulation

* Crawl Space Vapor Barrier

* Fujampe Electric Cement Mixer

* EM-1 Effective Microorganism Solution

A Sketch of the House Floor Plans

As mentioned in today’s episode, I’ve attached a photo of the tentative floor plans that I drew for the house. I decided to place it behind a paywall since it is my personal creation and something I’d like to keep between friends, family, and those who are closely following the project.

Unlock the rest of this post below, including 200+ exclusive photos, step-by-step videos, detailed supplier lists, and real renovation costs from my hands-on restoration of a 100-year-old Japanese farmhouse. See exactly how I navigated permits, found traditional materials, and saved ¥900,000 in contractor costs through DIY methods 👇