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

[Music] I know people are very interested in this old house we've assumed responsibility for so today I'm excited to give you a tour show you some of the precious momentos that have been hidden away here and reveal some of the plans we've had in the works watch until the end for a very strange giveaway that you might not even want how's that for a hook you might not even want it because it's gross and strange and something I found here at the [Music] house hey y'all bitsy here wanted to do something a little bit different today so we're going to do a house tour we live in a complex that has four buildings but we only live in one of the houses so the second house which is behind me here is a 100-year-old Kinka Fulk house and today I wanted to kind of give you a tour and show you inside and talk about some of the plans that we have for fixing it up and welcoming people in the future so we live in the new house attached to next door but this house is 100 years old built in the Tao era that's a rough date but for history Buffs 1923 was the year of the great Kanto earthquake in Tokyo and Yokohama Our Kind landlord grew up here and her mother and grandparents also lived here not only did they live here but the kazuno ohaka or small family cemetery is on this property that is a private Cemetery for the ashes of the deceased family and the living family members sometimes visit to pay respects so this is a precious place that we want to do our best to take care of and respect the location here is about half a hectar of terraced Mountain Land piped with spring water on the property and also a short driveway my partner manages kiwi trees we recently saw our first harvest of about 20 [Music] crates some of these will be available for sale domestically in Japan so click the link below if you would like to support our work by ordering some kiwi that were grown without chemicals there's a link to his shop [Music] below the closest city center is U ehime prefecture U is a castle town with some very fashionable restoration and interesting activities to [Music] see but we are a Fairways away buried behind many windy roads deep in the mountains a quick note to any new visitors to this Channel about why we are here and how we ended up in the middle of nowhere Japan long story short I'm an expat who burned out on my corporate Designer work I kind of reached the end of my ability to deal with the state of things simultaneously my now husband was working as a landscaper outside of Tokyo and accepted a new position to start a business and be a part of our rural revitalization team so we both happened to move to ehime prefecture at the same time he is a garden designer and I'm an interior designer we held some similar values and ideas so we paired up and took off the values I'm talking about are M as in waste not what not living a modest life and living connected to the land growing as much of our own food as we can and having more ownership over our work and daily [Music] life so the current state of things is that we are working together with our sweet landlord to try and envision a new life for this estate that has held many precious memories and full lives it's full of memories but it's also full of stuff let me show you around first we have the entry genkan area this is the Doma area which is sheltered but a semi exterior space with compressed dirt floors called t ataki you keep outdoor shoes on and cooking and work tasks would also be done in this area from here the tatami floor plane is raised to allow ventilation under the floor and makes it easier to keep the raised floor clean in the main living space there are sliding show G screens between The engawa Veranda space and the tatami [Music] room the windows and screens are all newer and in good working [Music] condition the fusuma sliding interior doors were replaced in this house at some time often there are natural scenes painted but these doors have a vinyl face and the non-square beams have been retrofitted so they can close properly one of the most prominent features of this space is the Vintage tansu or cupboards which spans the entire back of the first room it also has a built-in Buddhist [Music] altar also noteworthy of the tonsu is that they are full of stuff dishes and momentos some of it is older some of it is newer my partner likes to drill holes in the bottom take small forest plants and make motai bonsai [Music] plants I've taken and cleaned some items for our daily use in the main house we also have considered opening a free shop from one of our warehouse areas where people can come and take what they want we've also found this super cool old record player with speakers but unfortunately the needle is gone and the replacement is more expensive than a new record player and this old sewing machine that is very cool and retro but it doesn't work email me if you want either of these things free if you pick them up tab walls like this are mud sand and straw sometimes the top player will be bright white shikui pler but this seems modest and suitable for this building I love details like the mud wall because modern day architectural design often relies on using nature as a symbol rather than the soul trying to remind people of nature through facades pictures or patterns rather than show it and be it and live [Music] it the ceiling has a red coating called Bata whose main ingredient is iron oxide and is resistant to infestation and elements [Music] the roof used to be water rice straw and of course old folk houses Minka had different architectural goals depending on the region so in hot areas like the K Maia in Kyoto the long row houses needed air flow so the architectural response was to create shade and circulation here I'm very glad that that is not our summer problem because humid heat can be unbearable luckily in summer I was able to survive in the main residence with only a fan and no air conditioning but along with the summer benefits of a cool altitude we also get snow and drafty Winters the old thatched roofs were used to hold heat from the edori in the house this property used to have a wet rice field and I would assume the grasses from this very location were used to pile the roof along with grasses from neighboring Farms but the field is no longer used for rice and after the previous roof reached the end of its life a tile roof was used to replace it the eoi would be constantly burning in a house like this it would be used not just for cooking but the Ash and the drying effect would keep the roof and beams dry also discouraging infestation heat pushed the smoke up through an opening in the ceiling then it waffs through the structure and escapes through corners and crevices the eori is a semi-public area next to the [Music] entrance there is a tokonoma or alco here traditionally there would be Kake mono or an artistic scroll that would be changed every season and maybe an Iana floral [Music] arrangement there are two unavoidable tasks that need to be done before anything else the roof is planned to be replaced and we need to clean out the stuff there are walls beams and boards that should be replaced but we can't get to them before removing the various it items all throughout the house dishes tools unworking appliances this takes time effort and money and sorry but I've got a disclaimer what I'm about to show you is in consideration we haven't confirmed any plans yet and even if I did feel solid about it I should really learn from my mistakes about telling the internet I plan to do something the hard facts here are that we are considering making a guest house but I've run a few Financial models and the long story short is none of them work and while I've seen other internet Renovators go in the red out of passion we don't have any spare money laying around to do that that being said we've been considering changing this building from a residence to a guest house and we've been considering various aspects of the design from a few angles so for your viewing pleasure here they are I started by considering how an old Kinka house can feel more alive to Modern sensibilities and came up with five basic kind of generic directions that could really be applied to any Kinka in Japan by the way all of this is also on the enaka lifestyle Pinterest page for any of you who are also embarking on your own projects the first direction is clean and bright the color from this palette comes only from the wood it is a bright feeling but might not hold messy people and dirty Farmers very gracefully this is the kind of aesthetic that I naturally gravitate to but that might also be a cultural bias as my ancestry is Scandinavian where white Interiors are extremely common and also a natural counteraction to The Long Dark winters of the north but for this house there are elements like the dark beams dark ceiling and mud walls that we want to keep but it wouldn't fit well with this direction the next direction is the opposite dark and moody this direction carries werewell I mean worn scratched wood Smokey beams and dirty Doma floors it creates special moments well but is also reminiscent of a bar or luxury space we would like to facilitate some magic moments here but this mood is a big departure from the spirit of the local environment which is farming Granny's and greatly values modesty this might work but better for somewhere like Koto next up is a focus on the natural environment as my partner is a gardener he often gravitates toward Landscaping that combines natural growth patterns with austerity from the architectural perspective the house is a neutral backdrop that mostly frames the experience of the Landscaping this is very important for our site because it is a living portfolio of Mr nakamura's Landscaping work and the house is situated to experience it well the shortcomings of this style for our project is that there needs to be a balance between austerity and stuff I mean both mood-wise and literally I think the austerity would be easily sabotaged by the things that we have around here on a daily basis we have never had a clean front yard not one day there are always seedlings hanging per Simmons drying flowers cleaning projects things drying in the Sun sun or whatever there is danger in having things when the inherent beauty of the existing home rests in its unadorned natural quality but I think we might not be capable of pulling off a sufficient degree of minimalism based on our lifestyle the next style idea is Nostalgia I love this option because it is fun casual and we would be able to reuse a lot of stuff I mean the Retro dishes the furniture the stove Etc that are here in the house it's kind of a hodg Podge but the other good thing about this style is that it honors the long life that this house has seen the structure wasn't Frozen the moment it was built it has seen lifetimes auspicious occasions Trends and showah pop culture shifting generational beliefs and now itself is shifting into a new life as more than a home this direction holds all of that history history and Heritage not only the moment it was built but the moment we moved in the whole thing but the downside of this direction is that in this old old house we run the risk of it being too much old stuff so that it might become a dusty place where we wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable sleeping it might be a bit creepy so these moods aren't really personal they are simply reflections of the Trends I've seen in Kinka Renovations we want to be different than what is currently available in our immediate area but we want to still be a natural feeling extension of our community we want to respect the past family but we also want to create a space that is natural for us to maintain and share so we came up with another style that might do that best which centers on the theme of permaculture we have been working on growing food preparing for animals and really embracing the motai sustainability sensibility of was not whatnot we've been learning from the landlord who took us to harvest bamboo shoots in the Bamboo Grove taught us to maintain the water and has shared her cooking and history with us anticipating guests we want to share knowledge through a library corner cooking together doing Bonsai eana Kama workshops and also learning from our guests this direction accommodates many Japanese ideas but also feels a bit more eclectic we want to be creative and resourceful in the ways we garden and cook using nature which pushes outside of the traditional Japanese aesthetic doing something solidly eclectic could hold space for Japanese features like the sunken fireplace and the perfectly framed landscape view but it could also accommodate Western Comfort aspects such as having cozy seating games and Gathering spaces as far as the design direction for this house goes it's a little bit complicated um because you've got a lot of different perspectives a lot of my YouTube viewers are going to be Western people who whether they know it or not share a lot of same kind of values or ideas about how Renovations are done and what constitutes good taste but for a place like this it's very apparent to me kind of this dichotomy between my background and my assumptions and the community around me especially because I'm in a bicultural marriage even my immediate partner holds different ideas and values about how this renovation should be done so it's taking a a bit of time for us to just kind of wrap our heads around what shape that's going to take and while there is something that could be perceived as artificial or disingenuous about projects done in the eye of the internet it would be even more disingenuous to ignore the fact that there are now tens of thousands of people who have visited our home here via YouTube more than there will ever be in person when I asked our landlord who we turned to for guidance and as a collaborator for this place I asked about her vision something she was interested in was sharing Japanese culture not only Tokyo and fancy temples but the heart and soul of what exists in places like this one I think she will be happy to see us share the great parts of a modest Japanese Countryside culture with as many people as possible so if you found value in this video or Channel I hope you will consider sharing it with a friend who might also be interested but I'm also interested in your opinions and what you want to see so uh feel free to drop a comment and let me know what your ideas are what kind of place you would want to visit when this house opens up to the public this is all going to take a while to finish because we are pretty much doing it on our own and with our landlord also we are balancing this with other work and projects to try and make a living as a foreign person there aren't many job options in a place that is so remote like this and my partner is pursuing permaculture and organic farming which is a difficult path so if you have the ability please consider becoming a part of our patreon Fam Family we want to promote a fulfilling modest and responsible lifestyle that isn't based on purchasing and promotions we want to provide a slice of life here in as meaningful and responsible of a way as possible thank you for your support and consideration you should see the patreon link in the description below and if financial support isn't an option I appreciate your non monetary support in likes comments and subscriptions and now for the giveaway so this is super strange and a lot of people might be grossed out but I found some snake skin on our property snake skin in Japanese folklore is said to attract money and good fortune as a snake shedding skin is a symbol of infinite life growth and fertility it is an auspicious practice to keep Snak skin in your wallet to bring financial prosperity so I disinfected the skin and made these little packets that you can keep in your wallet and with this we are hosting the world's weirdest Instagram giveaway here's what you need to do go follow me on Instagram and like the post called start here then comment and tag a friend who you think might be interested in our story on New Year's Day 2024 I'll randomly choose 15 people and send you a snakes skin anywhere in the world that you can receive mail is okay just be sure to keep an eye on your DMs limit one entry per account and hey if you actually want this thing your chances are pretty good because I'm not that popular thanks for joining see you next time

Channel: Bitsii in inaka

Views: 22,156

Keywords: bitsii, bitsii in inaka, japanese countryside life, rural japan life, rural japan lifestyle, japan village lifestyle vlog, japan foreigner vlog, japan country garden, ghibli lifestyle, free house japan, abandoned house japan, akiya japan, 田舎暮らし, akiya house japan, life in japan, rural japan vlog

Id: CTxjtXal1wI

Length: 21min 18sec (1278 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 15 2023