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Trial residences
Many Japanese municipalities run お試し住宅, trial residences where people considering a move can stay for a few nights to several weeks at low cost. Some are newly built, and many are renovated empty houses, often funded partly by national or prefectural grants. The aim is to let families experience daily life — the commute to school, the nearest shops, the winter cold, the neighbors — before deciding. Towns report that a stay often settles the decision one way or the other: some families find the reality harder than they hoped, while others, often because of a child's reaction or a neighbor's kindness, make up their minds. Staff are encouraged to be candid about difficulties, since a family that moves on false expectations may soon leave again. The grammar of this lesson is the grammar of vivid description: めく, まみれ, ずくめ, ないではいられない and よりほかない.