In 2010, Nara City in Nara Prefecture celebrated the 1,300th anniversary since becoming the imperial capital of Japan. During its relatively brief time as capital, the city flourished in culture so that even today the area is filled with ruins and relics of it rich distant past.

To have such a city overflowing with cultural heritage representing a romantic period in the history of Japan is both awesome and, well, a royal pain in the butt for anyone who wants to develop land there.

Just ask one poor guy, who tried to build a home to start his life in only to be shot down five times in a row after ruins were found on his land. Distraught and with nowhere else to turn he posted his woes on internet advice site MyNavi News Q & A for help. Here is his translated post.

Ruins ruined the house I tried to build five times in a row

“I live in Nara. Before now, four times buried ruins have been found on a property after I planned to build a house. And this time again, an ancient tomb or something – whatever – was found. I mean come on! I know it’s important cultural property, and I know I must save it. Yes, it’s understandable that I can’t build a house there, but… it’s the fifth freaking time this has happened to me!

So it looks like it won’t be possible to build a house I can start my life in… It’s just weird that every time I try something gets excavated. What do I do now? Is my only option to leave the prefecture?”

Unfortunately, his pleas met with little in the way of useful advice. Rather he received comments of amazement over his predicament such as “It’s amazing to find ruins so often!” and “If you had that kind of luck with the lottery, I’d be jealous.”

But was this an incredible freak occurrence? Or is Nara just that crammed with artifacts and ruins that you’d be hard-pressed not to strike cultural heritage once you stick shovel into the ground? To find out we asked some residents of Nara.

“Yeah for real, once you start digging something or other will come up.”

“You mean like ruins? Well, they found the ancient tomb of the ruins of some castle in my junior high school.”

“Yeah, some kind of historical heritage will come out if you try to build a house. I often hear talk of how you should always get an excavation done before you even think of building anything.”

Granted these are just three people’s experiences and one anonymous internet posting which shouldn’t be taken as gospel that Nara is virtually undevelopable. However, if you happen to be looking to build something out there, you’d best proceed with caution and check out the land thoroughly first.

Source: MyNavi News Q & A
Image: RocketNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]