Karl and Tina: Embracing Village Life in Japan - NHK WORLD PRIME

nestled in the hills and the prefecture lies a village known as a miracle settlement [Music] it was once becoming depopulated and on the brink of disappearing [Music] trees stop the landscape along with colorful houses [Music] once empty and abandoned many of these traditional japanese style houses have been brought back to life [Music] the person who rebuilt this house is a german architectural designer who moved to taketokoro carl bangs you want to know what i mean is that the cooking show no his wife christina is also known as tina a nice salad called with kocha they have lived in taketokuro for 25 years [Music] [Music] the houses that carl has rebuilt attract lots of attention [Music] [Music] neighbors get along with one another surrounded by nature's abundance [Music] families with children are moving into the area breathing life into this once declining village [Music] and its traditional houses are being reborn here is the story of one summer in this miraculous village prefecture 180 kilometers directly north of tokyo carl and tina's house sokokun has unique characteristics including a thatched roof and pink walls the name means pair of cranes birds that are said to stay together until death at the end of june the couple are working in their garden [Music] they speak mainly in german tina speaks four languages but struggles a little with japanese the grass in the backyard used to run wild carl wanted to create a japanese-style garden he installed lanterns and stones brought in water and built up the garden little by little foreign is [Music] tina loves to garden the house is surrounded by a rainbow of blooms [Music] this is says but i like it so much this very bitter bittana and you can eat it now i made one tempura for me with how can you eat this and i and i like the flowers are beautiful huh and tina's traditional japanese style house was built over 120 years ago [Music] the rooms feature a harmonious blend of western and japanese styles of old and new [Music] there's a unique table made of stone in the living room carl reconstructed a traditional japanese fireplace [Music] [Music] above are the bedroom and study [Music] the thatched roof is exposed [Music] [Music] carl was born in germany in 1942 [Music] he first came to japan in 1966 when he was 24 and practiced karate [Music] he became enchanted by japan's wooden architecture [Music] an interior designer he began dismantling japanese homes and reconstructing them in germany [Music] after he turned 50 he started thinking about where he'd live after retirement he visited taketokoro for work and fell in love with a dilapidated house [Music] carl took the house apart and then reconstructed the frame using the posts and beams [Music] traditional japanese style house construction features an exquisite technique that uses the natural bins and curves of the wood it does not involve the use of bolts or nails [Music] the structure of the house is like a 3d puzzle [Music] intricately assembled and held together [Music] [Music] carl's imaginative ideas are visible throughout the house carl found the retro style dresser and banister at an old furniture shop he put them together and made them into stairs [Music] [Music] the shell door knob suggests water meaning the bathroom and toilet [Music] other elements protect against the harsh winters in [Music] the rebuilding of so-called took two years the once abandoned house has been reborn as a modern comfortable living space [Music] in the 1950s taketokoro was home to a few hundred people [Music] but when carl moved here 25 years ago there were only 31 residents left many homes were empty and abandoned [Music] restoring his own house reacquainted carl with the charms of these old style structures he began to think about what could be done with the other empty buildings after restoring his own home carl began working on this one in 2001. he clad the roof with stone shingles which are commonly used in germany they shed snow easily [Music] it's known as the yellow house it was built over 120 years ago as a place to cultivate silkworms carl couldn't stand seeing it muldering away he spent his own money to restore it [Music] winters in this region can be harsh the beams are intricately assembled to withstand heavy loads of snow [Music] carl has renovated eight houses and found buyers for all of them many people have come to live in the community attracted in part by the houses that carl has restored [Music] the rouge house with its dark red walls is a real standout [Music] the occupants are a semi-retired couple from tokyo starts her day early in the morning weeding her garden for an hour and a half kanai worked in tokyo for many years she and her husband bought the rouge house 10 years ago owned a company that edited books and magazines was so busy working that she didn't even have time to sleep [Music] then she found the rouge house she liked the compact layout and thought the house would be easy to live in in 2020 she moved here permanently her lifestyle has changed drastically since her days in tokyo [Music] in tokyo she usually ate all her meals in restaurants but now she frequently spends the whole day in the kitchen [Music] foreign is these days kanai looks forward to harvesting vegetables from her backyard foreign she grows 18 kinds of vegetables after moving here she learned how to grow vegetables from the neighbors her garden is growing as [Laughter] this is her first summer in the village she does feel a bit conflicted about the slow life she had long dreamt of being sick um the new residents and the long time residents of takitokoro get together due to covet 19 there are no visitors from outside the village this summer time passes slowly by more families with children have moved to taketokoro in recent years in 2013 a baby was born here the first one in 18 years the sounds of children's voices now reverberate through the community [Applause] [Music] foreign one thing that carl wants to preserve for posterity is the view of the rice fields this field had been virtually abandoned so carl asked the couple to take over it [Music] were both born and raised in a city near tokyo hiroki wanted to take up farming so they moved here 10 years ago and started growing rice they don't use any mechanical equipment or agricultural chemicals they now manage over 20 rice fields in the area from there's are a family of four two children were born here third grader kazuki and honoka who's a year younger [Music] foreign [Music] each meal includes their home-grown rice which they're very proud of [Music] the family cooks up a whopping five cups of rice for every meal [Music] they also have vegetables grown in the field and food shared by neighbors [Music] foreign the fields in front of the house are also playground for the two children [Music] arigato [Music] it's early afternoon on the holiday tina's preparing lunch tina is known for her delicious cooking throughout the community she makes a risotto with fresh herbs from her garden and rides from the taketokoro fields was raised in argentina her mother was of italian descent which influences tina's cooking nihonjin rosato foreign was a huge surprise for tina [Music] she and carl were living in germany [Music] but carl fell in love with this old japanese style house during a business trip to japan and made up his mind to move here [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] the moving plans made tina very angry but carl convinced her to come and visit takitokoro just once very strong impression when we came here i came with a friend carl was here but the friend from from us there picked me up in tokyo narita and we came by car here no no where is it where is it and then we came near near near near and then we came the little street up and i said where is it and it was raining in june end of june it was so beautiful that i never will forget now and i thought what the place and really it is the most beautiful place we have here now so she immediately fell in love with the landscape around taketokoro after 25 years that feeling still has not changed [Music] when we finish with there with the dinner now he likes to rest then because he's tired now and i do the kitchen right now and i go down i'm outside sit on my my understand the stones and then i spend at least one hour when it's okay look at this beautiful scenery now every day when it's raining of course yeah it's very impressive [Music] summer is at its peak sokakulan's garden provides many ingredients for tina's dishes [Music] [Applause] so when i make and fry them oh they're finished and i say what am i just coming all eating already organ today lilies that tina planted have bloomed with enormous flowers only one day only one day [Music] she uses them in flower arrangements [Music] so so there's a home home [Music] at dusk a cool breeze flows in through the windows this is the moment when they feel the happiest in spring of 2020 carl started building a new house in a vacant lot in takedokuro the house is new but the posts and beings are from a japanese-style house that's more than 100 years old he took apart a building in a neighboring town and will use one quarter of the materials to build a small house the client is yamamoto yoshio who lives outside tokyo he wanted a small house where he could spend his holidays carl took special care with the front door it's an antique taken from another traditional japanese building nearby carl used this door to determine the size of the entrance he builds all his projects based on the materials not blueprints the origin of carl's passion to restore old japanese style houses can be found in his childhood in germany an ukio print it was left by his father who was killed in action during the second world war just [Music] paintings and furniture and loved japanese culture one book from his father's study definitely influenced carl's life houses and people of japan in which architect bruno tot recorded his japan travels in the 1930s [Music] [Music] carl came to japan inspired by the items his father left here he encountered old japanese houses built by nameless craftsmen [Music] [Music] [Music] 25 years ago this foreign couple suddenly came to japan and started living in this traditional japanese style house [Music] the people in the village were puzzled at first but they gradually came to accept them [Music] the atmosphere of the village has changed since carl and tina arrived at the entrance to the village is a building that carl urged his neighbors to fix up with its red roof and orange walls it makes an impression what do you think this big beautiful building is it's a cow shed the nakajo family long-time residents of taketokoro are raising seven head of japanese black cattle nakajo ayako is 89 years old even now she cares for the animals in the morning and evening the cowshed was over 30 years old and starting to deteriorate in 2016 carl urged local residents to clean up the building due to its prominent location the residents gathered on their days off to replace the walls and paint them even the children took part [Music] after four months the cowshed looked completely different before carl arrived the nakajos thought the village would fade away after their generation [Music] it has been 25 years since then over half the residents have come from elsewhere [Music] i know [Music] party [Music] who's raising cows and kanai fusa who moved here from tokyo often meet for tea on this day they are joined by 90 year old nakajo haruko they are collecting bamboo leaves for satsangsushi sushi wrapped in bamboo leaves is highly praised she teaches fusa her unique way of folding the leaves foreign [Music] has helped her adjust to life in the village [Music] i know [Music] foreign it's the middle of august the exterior of the new house is nearly finished yamamoto yoshio comes to see how his new house is shaping up um carl made sure to put a large window on the second floor meeting foreign [Music] foreign [Music] outside the walls are a vivid yellow this is the ninth japanese style house that carl has restored in takitokoro [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] welcomes another new house and a fresh addition to community [Music] it's october the crops are ready to harvest [Music] so kokulan's garden is ablaze with chinese aster is [Music] as the summer heat begins to wane carl and tina spend more time in the garden [Music] the lemon lemon is very lemony [Music] [Laughter] is [Music] the colors all changing now you know colors of the of the japanese the past yellow the getting red and the tree ah this is beautiful the plants where all flowers know of water now yeah but the air is very good because it's not cold it's not hot it's just perfect [Music] in two months the entire village will be covered in snow [Music] prefecture the people who live in this village old and new gracefully welcome the changing seasons and all who dwell here [Music] you

Channel: NHK WORLD-JAPAN

Views: 2,549,619

Keywords:

Id: l3_EWflb9u4

Length: 49min 5sec (2945 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 03 2021