Land came come at a premium in Japan, especially in big cities. For urban dwellers, sometimes the only option is to build small. Real small.
In Japanese, these cramped abodes are called “narrow homes” (狭小住宅 or “kyoushou jyuutaku”). Typically, they’re built on plots of land that are less than 50 square meters. The notion is not new*; however,”narrow homes” as we now know them started appearing in the 1950s and the 1960s. Architects like Takamitsu Azuma helped define the narrow home in the decades after World War II.
(*Before and during the war, there were narrow “row houses” that were residences packed side-by-side, often sharing the same walls. These are different from “narrow homes” and can still be seen in Japan today.)
Realise that not everyone in Japan (myself included!) lives in a cramped house or a tiny apartment. Moreover, not all apartments look chic. Even in the cities, there are large homes and big apartments. In the suburbs and the countryside, dwellings can get even larger.
But there’s something so appealing about how beautiful and artfully these narrow homes use small spaces — that is, unless you are claustrophobic! Recently, Japanese site Naver did a round up of some of the standout tiny homes. Below, you can find some of the houses featured, along with some other unique narrow homes I’ve added. Let’s have a look.
Azuma House by Tadao Ando. Osaka, Japan.
Sakai’s Cramped House by Seiji Fujihara. Osaka, Japan.
Element House by CAPD. Nagoya, Japan.
Garden House by Ryue Nishizawa. Tokyo, Japan.
Simple Small-Sized House by Tokyo Juken. Tokyo, Japan.
House in Nada by Fujiwaramuro Architects. Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.
Jolly by Shuichi and Saori Niibori. Tokyo, Japan.
House in Horinouchi by Kota Mizuishi. Tokyo, Japan.
The Narrow House of Rokko by Seiji Fujihara. Kobe, Japan.
Living Life in a Big Crevice by OnDesign. Tokyo, Japan.
House in Showa-cho by Fujiwaramuro Architects. Osaka, Japan.
Lucky Drops by Yasuhiro Yamashita. Tokyo, Japan.
Moriyama’s House by Suppose. Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
The Cramped House of Shibuya by Sakae Kitabata. Tokyo, Japan.
Reflection of Mineral by Yasuhiro Yamashita. Tokyo, Japan.
If you are wondering what typical Japanese houses or apartment buildings are look, just look at the structures surrounding these unique narrow homes.
Photos: Cap-D, Hypenotice, TokyoJuken, DesignBoom, HetGallery, Blog.Goo, Ameba, HouseCo, HomeDsgn, Dezeen, ArchDaily, OnDesign, Suppose, E-Architect, Home Reviews, Tekuto, Zaus, Zaus, Zaus, Zaus
To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
Comments
11 responses to “Cramped Or Not, I Want To Live In These Tiny Japanese Houses”
A link to a gallery would have been nicer >_>
Or use that slideshow feature..
Pffft, these apartments are the big ones and expensive to boot. My mid price apartment in Osaka was so small I could reach the kitchen sink with my hand and the toilet with my foot………while sitting on my bed -_-
Exactly. These are not the type of house your average person can buy and/or would buy. Not to mention this article has no place here.
Yeah I’m pretty sure Kotaku discusses news reports on games, not architectural wonders.
Not this again…
I enjoyed this article. Something a little different. These house designs are a clever & practical use of space for modern living.
you should watch grand designs then. sounds like your kind of show.
These are pretty cool, I can dig it 😀
what’s with the single chair in front of the tv
Whoa, this is neat. Some of those are awesome. But they don’t look like ‘small el cheapo houses’. More like expensive, designed buildings that probably cost a fortune.
What would the average cost price to build one of these homes be? I have seen a couple articles lately in regards to these types of narrow homes and I am really liking the ideas that they come up with.
Are we at the “HEY GUYS I LIVE IN JAPAN!” stage again? http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/critical-miss/9818-The-Anonymous-Source
A lot of those are bigger than my apartment. I’d love to live in one of them, although there’s one towards the middle that looks like it has a bookshelf on the opposite side of a hole in the floor. How do you get to the books?!