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The advertisement said “an English village as an educational cultural center including hotel,” that was being built in Japan. It looked inviting for me. Within no time, I applied for hospitality manager position. I didn't hear anything for a while and after some time had a phone call saying, "We'd like to invite you to join British Hills."
It was a gentleman called Dan Simmons and he was responsible for the education of British Hills. And I answered, “Yes, okay, let's do it.” Joining British Hills wasn't just a challenge. It was a unique experience that probably would never happen again in my lifetime.
I arrived in Japan in June 1994. It was about a month before the opening. The buildings were all ready, and they were still putting the finishing touches in. Furniture arrived at the docks of Yokohama one after another and sometimes 15 trucks of furniture were transported to British Hills. Our task was unloading trucks and bringing them and putting them the room, called Refectory now. We would put electricity in the building and fit the furniture into place. It was a physically hard work but it was also great enjoyment. It was amazing time for me.
Telling the truth, I didn't really know much about the concept of British Hills until I arrived there. The concept was to build an English village for students to go by bus or Shinkansen and to experience what it is like to live in England without getting on an airplane. Air travel back in those days was so expensive.
To make a real English village, Kanda Gaigo Group went to England and researched the possibilities there for years. They contracted a design company called Border Oak in England. They actually bought the oak in the U.K. and the buildings of British Hills were built there, and it was all dissembled and loaded on ships and transported to Japan. Every piece was numbered, and rebuild there. So it was one giant jigsaw puzzle. After arriving Japan, I found to realize that British Hills was such a spectacular plan.
The building company of British Hills was Obayashi. Some of the British carpenters from Border Oak were there. It was so interesting to find such opportunity that British carpenters were interacting with Japanese architectural craft workers.
Tools for the carpenters in Britain are different from the ones in Japan. Japanese had this handsaw that has double blade compared to the British one which has single. British carpenters were amazed: “How do you use this, so quick and efficient?” So, cooperation and friendship across the sea were born between the carpenters and architectural craft workers from both countries. The reason why two cultures came together in friendship was British Hills learned culture in Britain and the faithful challenge to build real British buildings. (2/9)