As for pricing, one of the advantages of such a compact, simple, tiny house is affordability. The fully-fitted, ready-to-move-into version of the Yutori would cost as little as AUD 85,000 ($53,000).

Oshima bid on another house and encountered more opposition. But he met face-to-face with his neighbors, who eventually welcomed him. He lived there almost 40 years.

We’d barely learned my bid on the house had been accepted when he said, “We get the pizza parties, too!” I groaned: “We’re not going.” “Oh, come on. We have to,” he said.