Old Japanese House Tour: Inside Our New Project in the Japan Countryside (Shikoku)

I have done numerous renovations here in the US but also plan on moving to Japan with my son and his wife in about 2 years. I lived there when I was about 8 years old so it will be like moving back home. We will also be looking for an old house to buy and fix up. With your house you can’t really go with one of the 4 basic design options, there are too many variables including what you and your husband like. You should take what you like about each that will work with each room or space in your home. Combine yourselves with the house and what you plan to do there. With all the stuff there, go through and first set aside what you actually need. Then set aside what you like and will use. The rest can go. If there is something you’re not sure of, put it in a storage area and if you haven’t used it in a year, get rid of it. After the major things are taken care of, roof, foundation, electrical and water, then move on to one room at a time. Each room will tell you how it wants to be used and seen. Most importantly, have fun and enjoy your renovation. I’ve been a subscriber since you first started this channel and I’m looking forward to seeing what you accomplish dear.

I love the place that you live in. It's beautiful! You refer to the landlord, so are you renting it? A landlord here in the US would never allow tenant renovations.

As for what to do, as an architect who has a penchant for japanese architecture and carpentry, you have the wabi sabi thing going. If one of your building is empty, take all the flotsam and put it into there (ie all those dishes). The bones of the house look good. If you trying to balance out the dark overall feeling, look into some form a whitewash for the mud walls. You'll still see the texture and the cracks but it will reflect light better.

The guesthouse idea is the obvious one but it requires more than just you to run it. You need staff for that. To employ staff you have to have guests. It seems you're too far away to attract people to something like a bakery/coffee shop so that goes out the window but it would take fewer people to operate.

I guess you need to come up with some idea and talk with the landlord. It's such a beautiful place that it would be a shame for it to go to waste. If I was living there, as long as I could get a sat internet link so that I could do my work, I'd spend all my spare time renovating it, I can do the carpentry parts that need doing but my plastering skill are lacking. I'd make a point of talking with people in the local area to see who can do what and barter for work.

I wish you and you partner all the best!

I liked ALL the options you showed, so I am no help there 😊 Loved seeing your face this time, hope you continue to talk to the camera. Are you permitted to re-home/sell the items in the house, or does your landlord technically own all those things?

I think a blend of nostalgia and the community/permaculture vibes could be really cool.
If people find it a little eerie, then that’s just a slightly more niche attraction!

I would say a the ideas mixed together, so eclectic makes sense

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Get an Akia abandoned house. Lots out there girl! Invest in your own property.

I really love your channel and all that you are doing. Is your partner going to have his own permaculture channel? As if so I will subscribe. You guys are living a truly blissful dream life that most of us will never get to experience but dream about. Blessings to you both. ❤

Regarding theme, yes permaculture/ community..
if it were my project, i would want to just bring it lovingly down to its bones, and build back up, just being gentle about intention for a theme it style ~ do you think it might create itself ?
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I think there could be a market for nostalgic knick knacks to the Japanese diaspora with the current exchange rate...

Soo, this is not your home? You just live there in return to modify it?!

Plz do keep the plates as decorations if they can't be used I'm sure u nay find someone to use them ❤but none the less lovely home

I love seeing the seasonality of your food source and farming. Some very popular channels tailor their channel to the "farm to fork" aspect. I think it would be a good idea to tailor some of your content to that since it may align with some of your values and allows the city folk to live vicariously through you.

thank you for your calming voice .. little tinkling bits of music .. fun .. relaxing .. on a project like this, if I was there .. oh, I have my own clutter here, stuff .. but to keep .. to watch .. to tell little stray stories beyond our eyes no magical if I low landing anyone in pleasure isn’t everyone in their lives center earth just the hardship about insert live late night or respect it all, that's all I ask

Loved the house tour and love those natural walls 😍. Excited to see the progression/renovation of the kominka and the farm ✨💖✨. Thanks for giving the world a glimpse of rural japan through your beautifully crafted and peaceful videos.

Your awareness of the potential ancestry guiding your sense of nostalgia and design against the modest design of a country life in Japan is so so interesting to hear about since I never considered home arrangements may be influenced outside of our day to day culture! Gives me a lot to think about when I finally get the chance to homemake my own space

Hi Bitsii, this new house sounds so awesome! I love the idea of you running a guesthouse, and I totally understand that financially it isn't feasible but that the locals are positivie about it. Have you considered offering guest stays for people willing to participate in the renovation of the house? They get cheap rates in exchange for roughing it and maybe helping to clear the garden, or painting/treating wood, and they also get fed by the locals? Kind of like what the Amish do with thier barn raisings. Get a load of guests together with appropriate skills and get the roof done, or have someone come and stay and lay new tatami mats. If you've ever heard of WWOOFing, you will understand.... Willing Workers On Organic Farms, people willing to pay toward thier keep and help out on the farms in return for bed and board. Most guests would only be good for grunt work, but you will get a few people up for doing some serious work on the house just because they have the skill and want to see a house returned to it's glory.
Those are just a few ideas. Even if you did have cheap labour, it will still cost money to do, and I really hope that you can find a way to give that lovely house a new purpose that enhances your local community rather than detract.

Thank you for a beautiful presentation of ideas on rural design elements and frameworks. I am planning to watch your video several times to soak in the ideas.

In the meanwhile, my first impression is this. When I see your kouminka, I see the people who used to be there well before I see the building. I see the middle aged woman coming in with a bundle of produce on her back from a field higher up in the mountains, exhausted, getting a drink at the water from the spring. I assume there was a dipper to drink out of at one point. I see the old man warming his hand by a glowing coal of charcoal ingot in the center of the fire pit, or more likely in a smaller pot that he could sit next to. I see his son coming in from planting rice and finding a place to sit and rest before going back out to wash up equipment. After dark he settles beside a table of food with his family and they eat, and swap their stories of the day.

I see various changes in the building that made for a slightly better life, not radical improvements, most of the time, but gradual, incremental things. Electricity was radical, as was associated appliances. Likewise kerocene, and later bottled gas, radically reducing the need for charcoal and wood burning. And wood was something in rather scarce supply since World War II, so the heat itself was a real sense of bounty and wealth and comfort against the years of privation and bone-chilling cold. But aluminum sashed doors are an incremental upgrade from the wood doors that were there first. And so with many things--incremental changes to a house that was meant to stand for hundreds of years and for tens of generations, serving each new generation in mostly the same way as the generation before .

So not being an interior design person, I see the physical building as an illustration of each generation's needs being met, and each o them passing through and making their mark now and then on the physical building itself. The building I see tends to be a relatively passive landscape and the people, past and present, are those being served by the building and the things in it.

I like the idea of mixing the requirements of the site, structure, and culture with some of the eclectic utility of your background. One of the things that appeals to many people about minimalism is that it feels uncluttered, which translates to relaxing to them. But one of the things that appeals about more maximalist styles is that they feel "cozy," which translates to relaxing. If you can find a balance that suits the character and nature of the building and site while potentially incorporating some of the better features of European design, that would be really interesting and different. There are overlaps in type, if not kind, with things like built in storage and multifunctional spaces, and that makes it all very interesting.

For me, I love seeing the clear out phase, especially. For example, in your previous space, when you were clearing things, there were so many interesting stories attached to items, but there's also a real satisfaction in the visual progress that clearing affords.

Awesome! (And kind of overwhelming) Your breakdown of the different typical kominka remodel strategies was really helpful. I think your favourite plan is the best too. I've spent the last 8 months working non-stop on my own home and property renovation. Everything seems to take forever. And "stuff" takes such a long time to deal with, even when you're not being as thoughtful about it as your are being. Wishing you all the best and looking forward to your continued thoughtful journey.

It seems like that house really is built around looking towards that little valley. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to try to make changes that bring a lot more of the light from the outside in, and try to use that to highlight the interest inside, such as the iron-oxide and mud contrasting elements. I don't know if this would be by refereshing the front wall's material, hallway floors, or outside landscaping, but I'd imagine all may have some effect depending on how you plan to curate the building.

The choices ahead are indeed vast. I grew up in a Japanese neighborhood and heard stories from the grandparents who had grown up in the countryside of Japan, much like a complex household you are now living in. Spent hours listening to how they reminisced about each area of the home, their function and the care for beauty of the wood within the home.

I know it's tempting to make the household look modern but if individuals who travel to Japan hope to find the experience of a sample of what Japan had been in it's past (keeping true to the generational information for each building on the property is a good thing). I know I would be one of those types of traveler. So perhaps, keep as much as you can from the house eras with this in mind while still having areas which might seat a more modern bone structure. In any case, what you decide is what matters most to the property's family and to the two of you. Memories have a very high value and a place filled with memory even more so.

I've enjoyed your posts, thank you for sharing your journey.

I like the direction you're heading with your living environment. I can see the day-to-day struggle with little or no extra money . . . I'm there myself.

I loved how you handled your giveaway at the end: westerners might find it creepy but in japan it's considered lucky soooooooooooo maybe you'll want some?? Ahahaha

Thank you for the video. ☺👍
Is there a way to join a newsletter for the Inaka Lifestyle web page? I'm not really a social media user anymore, and I'd rather a direct entry to your page if possible? Each new story added could be disseminated via a newsletter email subscription kinda deal. Just a thought. 😉

Bitsii, you are amazing!, i would so love to visit you and your hubby, my heart aches to meet you, but....love Nick Rolls

Loved this, your process with the house and farm are so interesting and nice to watch. I totally joined the giveaway hahaha

Your husband is called your husband! Not your "partner"! A "partner" is someone you do business with!! I'm so over all of this "delicate" terminology! People need to stop being so fragile that they can't even refer to their own spouse in their honored term!!.....ps, I'm "sorry" if I've offended anyone out there in sensitivity land. My humblest apologies.

The last style looked and sounded really great for your house. It was not too dark bus still moody, there were plenty of plants and it will allow you to experience permaculture for your guests (I think).
Snake skin with a lucky charm kinda message is a lovely. We have a similar tradition with carp scales. If I were to win I would like to send you couple of them too :-)

That old record player is a Technics, this brand was really popular with DJ's in night clubs in the 90's.

The permaculture approach shared seems to honor all the aspects of the property and people involved. Good luck with the project. It is a good way to spend life.

I love many of your ideas for design! And I love history! So, please keep some of the old things around! I liked one viewer's comment that you should remove items first. That way you can start from scratch to clean and repair. Then you can decide which items should go back in the space to fit your needs and design.

Hope you & village are okay, worried the quake has hit your area hard.

wow 20 creates of kiwi that's nice!

I am an ardent lover of Japanese culture and countrylife from pakistan. I wish i could get those art pieces and utensils 🥺

FYI, the needle on your turntable is a standard one. should cost 50$ or so.

I'm enjoying watching your videos and want to mention two sources for help that you may or may not know about. One is WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and Workaway. You could leverage the help you need in exchange for room and board that you provide to one or more people. With WWOOF you could have someone who already has taken permaculture classes or had training and is interested in Japan. Workaway you can specify any kind of background or experiences you need in the individual. My niece did Workaway in Europe for a few different farms and was a nanny for a couple weeks as well. She loved it. It's a win win. If you went this route maybe you could focus on your guest house or really just a room to get prepared for someone to come. Most hosts provide a room. In the future your guest house of course can be for paying guests. Maybe to offer classes or workshops to them. I think you'd be surprised that living rural and remote doesn't matter to many people who want a different and unusual experience.

Good

Your videos give me peace, this is the kind of live that make us rich. Thanks for sharing

Ditch all that extraneous to "farming" and "landscaping" stuff. Empty out the property except for the absolute items needed for daily life. See the place clean and LIGHTER of "stuff". This will provide new perspective. All the farming/landscaping items should be moved to a specific outbuilding where organization is not such a thing. It is difficult to see the actual beauty in the home because it is just filled with - sorry - junk!

you are adorable !
You want to do multiple works at the same time....over time you will feel exhausted.
Do gardening, earn money, learn Japanese, travel around Japan... leave big plans until the savings appear.
Thank you for sharing your ideas.

I am in love with Japanese home cooking and practice vegan versions of it. I think that preserving traditional Japanese home cooking is a very important priority. So, I would enjoy content that really preserves methods of food storage, cooking, and preserving of traditional methods. I think this is Japanese wisdom we can all benefit from.

I'm very much on board with the decisions you've made with all this. I love it, to be honest.

But please, if you married the man, call him your husband. No man wants to be called "partner" by the woman he married.

I think permaculture is the best suited for your project. And Id add sth with stones inside to balance the abundance of woods and plants or maybe I just like the feel they give when in interior design🫣ah, and I see you have lots of dried flowers around which are quite popular in decorations, perhaps you could make some arrangements for sale😎

Oh. This is so neat. Also, the e-mail thing doesn't wanna work for me on your Q&A website. I'd love to see some of the things destined for the store, and would be interested in buying something(s) for my own kitchen use.

I would love to move to a small place like this in Japan but I’m poor and have a 1 year old and a dog