So I live in Tokyo, but in one of the more suburban areas. I'm roughly a 30 minute walk from the closest station.
I own my home. The owner of the plot of land next to me has a small workshop there and added a wood burning stove with a shoddy looking chimney. It looks self built, and he owns a construction company so it makes sense. I'm assuming it probably doesn't have any of the filters etc that a new stove might have.
Whenever he uses it, it fills up my house with the smell of smoke, even with my windows closed(my windows are double paned and halfway decent so they probably aren't the issue?). The smoke has caused me to miss work due to asthma attacks/headaches. I can't dry my laundry outside because the smoke will stink up my clothes. Basically, it's really bad.
I went over and mustered up my best keigo and asked him to use different wood, clean up the stove, and just be mindful of the smoke because it really affects me. This did nothing. I spoke to the city office about it, and it turns out I wasn't the first complaint about the smoke. They came down and checked it out, but his setup isn't illegal so they can't help do anything more than ask him to be mindful, since he is within his rights to use a wood stove.
What would you do in this situation? Do I even have any options? Has anyone dealt with something like this?
This nightmare has been going on three years now and I'm at my wits end. I have half a mind to offer to buy him an electric heater at this point, but I'm not sure how that would go…
(Edited the last line to remove my assumption that he wouldn't take a heater gift)
by NekoMimiMode