Why Kyoto's Traditional Homes Are Going EXTINCT

if you ask any japanese person where the heart of japan is the odds are they'll point you in the direction of kyoto and let's face it it's not hard to see why [Music] [Applause] when i come here to make a video i'm always kind of spoiled for choice i don't know what to do i can cover the food the history the culture the shopping but for me the thing that really gives kyoto a sense of identity is the architecture i mean look at this beautiful stunning traditional building yeah it's uh it's a starbucks that's where i got my uh so i got my cappuccino from believe it or not but we've not come here today to look at starbucks because hidden down every side street in kyoto are the majestic stunning town houses that really give this city its magical atmosphere and we've come here today to take a peek behind closed doors and see what's inside so let's go and find out today we'll be staying overnight in a stunning traditional kyoto townhouse known in japanese as matcha we'll take a look inside a variety of different homes to discover what characteristics and design choices make up a matchia and we'll hear from the man who's dedicated his life to renovating them who reveals the sad truth about why kyoto's townhouses are under threat if tokyo is the beating heart of japan as the centre of politics and commerce kyoto is the country's soul they may only be two and a half hours away by shinkansen but the two cities feel like a world away from each other that being said arriving in kyoto for the first time can feel like an underwhelming experience when you first step out of the futuristic colossal structure that is kyoto station and into the city's unremarkable downtown area it's not really what you imagine it to be and it all feels rather anticlimactic but then as you leave the station behind the bland generic buildings you go a few blocks and climb a staggering amount of stairs um you are rewarded with a view like this and this is when the beauty of kyoto really starts to kind of reveal itself uh this is the kiyomizadera temple probably the most famous temple in kyoto and uh the views from up here are nothing short of breathtaking particularly if you climb all those stairs very breathtaking indeed of all the cities i visited in japan over the years kyoto is the one that's most like an rpg like a video game because hidden down every alleyway there's a secret there's a shrine a temple a cafe a park right now we're in front of an alleyway down a side street off a back street i'm about to show you where i'm staying for the night come with me hidden down this inconspicuous alleyway are four townhouses and this is the place i'm going to be calling home just for tonight so off the side street and into the townhouse away we go this is the entrance room lots of slippers here of course when you go into a japanese house any house you must take off your shoes and switch to slippers the only time i've seen a japanese person get angry with my friend was when he walked into her house without taking his shoes off understandable really it's the one rule in japan that you need to know so then let's go inside into the townhouse and into the kitchen the dining room and the sitting room all in one [Music] so as you can see it's quite a small townhouse apparently it fits two people ideally but you can have four folks in here as we'll see upstairs in a minute but i love it it's very peaceful very quaint and you kind of feel locked off from the world you've got your own kind of private slice of kyoto but you do have a window here to the outside world there's a little zen garden there which is really nice you've still got that kind of indoor outdoor connection but the japanese have a word for this sort of place and there's kakureia which means private kind of private space hidden space and apparently a lot of japanese guests come here to sort of just hide away for a few days you can see how you can see why beautiful exposed beam here as well it's kind of got that really nice connection traditional and contemporary let's go and check out the bathroom area we've got a nice sort of kitchen space here but over here the real highlight of the house a washer and dryer ladies and gentlemen if you like to wash and dry your clothes this is the townhouse for you restroom very well signed posted just in case you get confused but the best room in this townhouse is this one right here this is the bathing room complete with a hinoki wooden bath cypress wood beautifully finished why don't i have one in my house so hinoki wood comes from the japanese cypress tree and it is known for giving kind of a very high quality timber which is used in temples and shrines throughout the country and of course bathtubs and it's said to smell like lemons so it's kind of a sweet scent don't have its lemons but it's very nice kind of refreshing smell to it but also because it's a high quality timber it means it doesn't rot easily so it's perfect for bathtubs and hot springs and onsen having spent the morning sitting inside it i can attest to its magnificence i never want to go back to my generic mass market plastic bathtub ever again so we're upstairs now and into the bedroom area there we go and it is really cozy and quaint uh as you can see two twin beds here at first you might think huh it's kind of small isn't it a little bit small but behind each of these shorty sliding doors there's a surprise behind shorty sliding door number one we have a balcony a nice outdoor balcony which we'll get to in a minute and then over here as i said earlier you can fit up to four guests in this townhouse uh two guests here and the other two in this room a little secret hidden room come on in and for the quintessential kyoto view look at that you can see across the street to the other town houses and it feels uh it feels a little bit like going back in time to the edo era i love it uh but with a space like this you can fit two futons or given i'm just gonna be in here alone i'm just gonna roll around on the floor do some press-ups sort of things you can exclusively do in a japanese townhouse so out here on the balcony i haven't been out here yet so i don't know what to expect i don't want to smash my head on these nice koada roof tiles oh wow that's so cool you can really appreciate the beautiful traditional roof of the house unfortunately over the years japan has lost a lot of its traditional architecture throughout the country prefabricated houses are the norm and they last for about 30 years before they're bulldozed and rebuilt but as i said this is one of the smaller townhouses we're going to go and look and see what you can get on the higher end of the scale and also kind of hear about the process behind renovating these houses because it can't be cheap and it must take a lot of time so let's go and find out how he's renovated and let's go and see what you get for more of your hard-earned cash without banging your head on the roof tile so what are the key characteristics that make up a matchier townhouse well here are five things to look out for number one are the ubiquitous cauchy wooden lattices that you find on the exterior of most townhouses they evolved as a security measure during a period of social upheaval and military conflict during the 1400s and subsequently became popular by allowing a degree of privacy from passersby walking down the narrow streets and speaking of narrow number two you may hear matia being referred to as unagi no nedopo literally eel's nest in reference to the narrow fronts and deep thin interiors this style originates in the edo era when a property was taxed according to the width of the front of the building residents would have their shops at the front and their homes towards the back which leads us to characteristic number three towards the back of the house a small garden or courtyard allows residents to enjoy a slice of nature and peace and quiet from the comfort of their own home even amongst the bustling city centre not only that but the garden can have a ventilating effect allowing the air to pass through the front of the house and leave at the rear and while we're on the subject of ventilation number four if you look up you might find skylights which are common features in larger matter not just to allow lighting but also to help cool the rooms in the summer months by releasing heat and number five is an adherence to natural materials from the wooden timber to the tatami straw mats which give a warm glow to the interior reflecting the soft light through the paper on the shoreji sliding doors all of these characteristics resonate with the senses to create a feeling of calm that can often be hard to come by in a modern home and yet despite this the stunning townhouses have been in decline for many years now between 1996 to 2003 alone 13 of kyoto's matcha were destroyed on the search for answers i meet with an entrepreneur who's renovated almost two dozen townhouses including the very one that i'm staying in tonight corgi meider was once an investment banker living and working in tokyo but after a visit to kyoto he fell in love with the city and started a new successful career in renovation i sit down with him to uncover why matia are disappearing and what it takes to bring them back to life so how long have you been renovating townhouses in kyoto oh i started my business uh for uh five years ago five years and you've got 20 properties now yes 20. it's a lot of properties in a very short space of time yes why so many because um you know i like some something hard hard job if i can make a success in the uh rebuilding the material i can stay in kyoto a town house like this how long does it take to actually renovate it maybe two months only two months only two months really yes i thought it would take like two years two months two months and how much does it cost about uh maybe two hundred thousand u.s 30. 200 000 us dollars yes it's quite a lot of money yeah that's quite a lot of money yeah i i always talked with my bank [Laughter] people in kyoto doesn't like the material because matcha is very old and they not not comfortable really you know in summer very hot in winter maybe you know very cold right so they try always you know people in kyoto try to you know try to destroy the kyoto machia and to make a new house modern house old japanese people is very short you know right failing is very low so ah so the ceiling's pretty low yes so we we we make raise the sails that's interesting i never thought of that a few years ago the policy of the government destroy the old townhouse to destroy them yes because of the fire yeah they urge people may uh make her you know new house okay safer yes that's interesting i mean it's a problem uh i used to live in uh sakurata in yamagata and in the 1970s uh it's all of sakura it was burnt down all the old houses gone in a day because of that but it's a real shame because the best houses in japan are these traditional town houses i think it's really great what you're doing and i think it's exciting you know if you can keep kyoto's history and you can keep these townhouses then it's great for kyoto and hopefully other cities in japan will take notice yeah i i want to you know expand my development to to another city like kobe or east canada or other city yeah yeah i think that's fantastic i think it's really great but thank you midasan thank you today thank you [Music] it's sad to hear that kyoto's matcha have fallen out of fashion as places to live but understandable given the lack of convenience let alone the expensive upkeep however there is a ray of hope it's exciting to hear that kyoto's townhouses are finding a new lease of life for tourists looking to escape and hide away in a more traditional setting especially if their popularity amongst travellers is able to convince local entrepreneurs and kyoto's own government to have a more proactive role in their long-term preservation the match here that i'm staying in costs around 200 a night and whilst you can find cheaper places to stay such as a business hotel if you're looking to make the accommodation as much a part of your experience in kyoto as the city itself then the price is worth it for the extra space the beautiful setting and of course the amazing hinoki wooden bath even if it doesn't smell like lemons certainly a bold move uh letting me cook my own dinner uh i'm the world's worker has been established in previous videos and letting me cook was sukiyaki was not a good idea but it's turned out alright i might not be a great cook but it looks pretty good and the beef this beautiful buggy beef you just let it sit for about 20 30 seconds and it's cooked it is the most idiot-proof dish in the world and that is why i'm doing a relatively good job of it but i hope you've enjoyed our tour through kyoto and these beautiful stunningly renovated townhouses but for now guys as always many thanks for watching the abroad japan channel stick around for more videos and i hope to see you right back here and [Music] it's going so well wasn't it

Channel: Abroad in Japan

Views: 1,025,864

Rating: 4.9847097 out of 5

Keywords: kyoto, kyoto townhouses, kyoto hotels, japan travel, kyoto travel, machiya, abroad in japan, traditional japan, traditional kyoto

Id: i1DP5xpM3Y8

Length: 13min 48sec (828 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 25 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/imconservative]

Chris seems to be on an architecture kick the last couple of months. I like it personally.