TOKYO -- Toru Ueda, 50, who used to run a newspaper delivery service in the western Japanese prefecture of Hyogo, wanted a fresh start on life two years ago and decided to buy something unique: pieces of two mountains.
He bought a tract of land measuring around 20,000 sq. meters in the mountains of nearby Nara Prefecture, and another of about 40,000 sq. meters in Wakayama Prefecture, next door to Nara. Ueda spent roughly 1 million yen ($7,756) on each plot. Now he spends time on one or the other at least once a week.
