https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/mifu7/episodes/My-Dream-House--And-Why-Old-Japanese-Homes-Werent-Built-for-the-Cold-e32jgi9
Hi, thanks for tuning in again! I just got braces, so if I sound a bit weird or hard to understand, sorry about that!
Today, I’d like to talk about my dream house. I’ve been curious about traditional Japanese houses in the countryside for a long time and have been searching for one—but they’re surprisingly hard to find.
On the other hand, Japan is facing a big issue called the “Empty House Problem,” or 空き家問題 (akiya mondai). It refers to homes that have been abandoned for a long time. Sometimes, the government can’t even locate the owners or their relatives because they’ve passed away or moved on.
Traditional Japanese houses are made of wood, and Japan’s super humid climate makes maintenance essential. Houses need regular care—like opening the windows for ventilation or getting rid of bugs that eat the wood. The best way to maintain a house is to live in it. But since many people have moved to big cities like Tokyo or Osaka, these countryside homes have been left behind.
Recently, DIY has become more popular in Japan. And after COVID-19, more people started working from home and rethinking their work-life balance. As a result, rural life and traditional homes started getting more attention. The government even created real estate websites to help people find these homes. But it’s still difficult—sometimes the owner is missing, and sometimes they refuse to sell, even if they have no plans to live there.
To be honest, living in a traditional house can be tough for city boys and girls. New houses come with all kinds of modern equipment, but old ones require a lot of patience.
When I was 20, I lived in an old house in Ishikawa Prefecture, located in the north, next to Nagano and Toyama—an area known for being cold.
In the winter, the inside of the house was colder than a fridge. Cold wind would constantly blow through, and the air conditioner didn’t work well because the house was so big.
I remember wondering: “Why doesn’t this house have anything to protect against the cold, even though it’s in such a freezing place?”
The answer is: humidity.
Ishikawa is one of the rainiest places in Japan—about 27% of the year is rainy, with over six hours of rain per day on average. In 2021, Ishikawa was the rainiest prefecture, followed by Toyama and Fukui—neighbors along the Sea of Japan. By contrast, the sunniest was Yamanashi, with just 12% rainy days—half of Ishikawa’s rate!
So historically, Japanese people were more concerned with protecting their homes from humidity than from cold. I was shocked that even though I opened windows and aired out the house every day, almost all of my clothes grew mold during the rainy season. It was insane!
Still, Japanese traditional houses have creative ways to deal with the cold. There’s a big difference between Japanese homes and Western ones. In the West, houses are usually heated all over with central heating, but in Japan, we tend to just warm up the space around us. Kinda interesting, isn’t it?