Last month, I drove into the mountains of Gifu to stay at Yūki’s airbnb. A former abandoned home (空き家 / Akiya) with almost 100 years of history. Yūki renovated and brought this house back to life as creative project, an opportunity to connect with his home town and as a response to the increasing number of vacant homes in Japan. In the next decade alone, it’s estimated that over 30% of houses in Japan will be Akiya due to an ageing population and with younger generations moving towards the major cities.
I knew I wanted to interview Yūki after meeting and connecting with him over our shared love of many things. The outdoors, architecture, design and Gifu. Gifu being where I spent a lot of my childhood at my grandparent’s house.
Not only did Yūki welcome us into his space and speak with me about his work, he also showed us around the campground he manages, took us rock climbing and introduced us to locals like Machiko-san, who cooked a huge lunch for us with her own + local-grown produce.
Being in Ena reminded me of the strong sense of community in a lot of Gifu. It’s difficult to describe the comfort, peace and love you feel for community there - feeling like everyone is looking out for each other and enjoying a much more simple life. I’m definitely inspired by how Yūki has come back to his hometown and built a community of his own.
This video is what I hope to be the first of an ongoing project creating videos on architecture, interiors and design. I was inspired in the style of this video by @nvtsmall
You can find Yūki’s Ena House on airbnb or via the link in my stories highlight. Check out his campsite and community as well.
#japan
#akiya
#airbnb
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