York and because they had taken interest in a house they had seen on In Kamiyama. In the end he returned to New York, thinking that there would be no work in Kamiyama suitable to his skills, but he returned to Tokyo in spring 2010 to take up a position as an adjunct professor at his alma mater. When Mr. Ōminami heard this story he contacted Bandō, asking him to bring his students to work on renovating vacant houses as part of the Office in Kamiyama project. At that point Bandō contacted Suma, who he had met in New York, and the two of them ended up as architects on the project. In the summer of 2010, Bandō’s students worked together with local carpenters to renovate an 80-yearold vacant house into a workspace for creators such as web designers and IT programmers under the name “Kamiyama Blue Bear Office.” Suma, in turn, was a friend of Terada’s from university. His first job after returning from New York had been as the interior designer of Sansan’s new offices. Upon hearing from his friend how “this rural town in Shikoku was renovating old vacant houses,” and how it was “a beautiful area with interesting folks and fiber optic access,” Terada decided to visit. He had been wanting to find an environment that would be more humane than the high stress work and low quality of life in big cities like Tokyo. He went to look at Blue Bear Office, met with Ōminami, and decided then and there