The Isono Barber Shop is called Kosaka Castle. It gets its name from the name of the local district, Shimo-Kosaka-Machi, in Higashi Osaka City. Above the barber shop rises the miniature five-storied main tower of a castle.
"The tower is three meters tall. It's made out of recycled waste products, so it cost me almost nothing to make," says the barber, Isono Ken-ichi. He began building his "castle" 20 years ago.
It all started when he built a turret on his shed to make it look better. He had always liked Japanese traditional architecture, "so I thought I might as well build the main tower of a castle, too!" he says. He drew some sketches, gathered up some materials that had been thrown away, and began building, keeping at it regularly during his time off.
Before long he was so keen on the project he began decorating the tower's interior as well. He drew pictures onfusumasliding doors in the room on the first floor, then laid out a golden tearoom in the uppermost part of the tower, complete with gold paper panels. The pocket garden (roughly 3.3 m²) has a tiny waterfall that was finished just last year.
And the total construction cost? Only about 50,000 yen so far. The work continues--Isono's head is full of other ideas for his castle.

The main tower of Kakegawa Castle was reconstructed in 1993, much to the pride of local residents. They have a right to be proud--they donated more than half of the reconstruction cost, which came to about 1.1 billion yen.
The project was kicked off by Shiraki Hanae, a woman who gladly donated 500 million yen to the city, saying that she wanted the money used for the people of the city of Kakegawa.
The original main tower was built during the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600), and was damaged in a severe earthquake in 1854. After feudal domains were abolished by the new government in 1871, the tower was torn down.
After World War II, a consensus grew that it would be a good idea to reconstruct the tower. The city saw Ms. Shiraki's offer to donate money as a springboard for reconstruction, and called on residents to donate money as well. They did, pitching in a total of 215 million yen.
The rebuilt main tower is now open, staffed by volunteer administrators and guides.