The Tama area, which consists of 30 cities and towns west of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, lies in the Musashino Plateau region overlooked by mountains, a stark contrast to the metropolitan capital despite the mere one-hour distance from Shinjuku. Historically, villages in the Musashino Plateau had a lot of trouble getting water from underground, as much of the region’s soil was loam and too fragile to dig down while the veins of groundwater were particularly deep in the area. To solve this problem, the region developed a unique…
