10 Traditional-House (Kominka) Filming Studios in & around Tokyo
80-year-old beams, light on the engawa, a dry-landscape garden — real, rentable Japanese spaces, curated by CREA.
A location scout can look at a dozen white-wall studios and still not find the one. Sometimes what a project needs is a texture that can't be repainted — soft light through shoji paper, the patina of an engawa veranda, the unevenness of an earthen wall.
From the spaces gathered on CREA, here is a curated set of real, rentable traditional-house (kominka) and Japanese-modern studios in and around Tokyo. For music videos, lookbooks, drama, product shoots — for any time you want the place itself to become part of the work.
Kominka in central Tokyo
Kominka studio BODO — Nakano An estimated 80-year-old single-storey house. Tatami room, engawa, Western rooms, kitchen and bath — a whole life laid out. Frosted-glass light from the garden-facing windows gives the wa-yō interior a quiet character.
Dashi Kita-senju Kominka — Adachi A 70-year-old house whose original joinery and beams have been kept. On a corner plot along the Arakawa embankment, so an interior shoot in the tatami room or study can flow straight out into a location shoot.
GREEN BOX IKEJIRI — Setagaya, Ikejiri-Ōhashi A 70-year-old kominka fully renovated into three storeys. Skylights drop steady natural light through the space; an island kitchen, attic room and balcony let you find several different frames in one building.
Arcstudio — Meguro A wa-yō house designed by architect Masako Hayashi. Slide open the shoji of the second-floor tatami room and a four-seasons garden opens up; the ground floor sets marble against exposed concrete. Ceilings up to 6 m.
Heritage-grade Japanese spaces
Kuraku-an — Ōta, Kugahara Built in 1939, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property. A residence with a Spanish-style exterior and a sukiya-style tea room, seasonal light moving across its 360-tsubo grounds. A place that cannot be replaced — still in its original form.
Tantoku Garden — Kawagoe, Saitama The historic merchant house of a timber dealer founded in 1869. Main house, storehouse, tea room, open-air bath, arbor — and a 200-tsubo karesansui dry garden — are all shootable. You capture the air of "Little Edo" Kawagoe along with the frame.
Japanese houses in Kamakura & Shōnan
Kita-Kamakura STUDIO — Kamakura Three minutes from Kita-Kamakura station, a traditional sukiya building on 330 tsubo. A main house of solid timber and plaster, with separate structures for an irori sauna, hinoki bath and open-air bath. A complete "Modern Japanese" world in one property.
The House at Inamuragasaki — Kamakura A home where Sagami Bay fills the windows. A fully private space at the top of a 100-step climb, pairing a tatami room caught by beautiful afternoon light with an open, pool-side living-dining-kitchen.
Toishitsu — Yokosuka A wa-modern kominka on the heights. An LDK with an island kitchen, a study, engawa and garden. Dual-aspect light shifts through the day, and it welcomes sound and live shooting.
Kominka HUG — Yokohama, Kōhoku Two minutes from Myōrenji station, a single-storey house over 50 years old at the end of a bamboo-grove path. A wide tatami room, engawa and sliding-door entrance, plus a professional commercial kitchen — equal to anything from re-enactment footage to a full production.
Build the work from the place
These are only a fraction of the spaces on CREA. Search the locations directory or shoot locations in Tokyo by light, ceiling height or garden, save the ones that catch you, and share them straight to your team.
A good location can decide the work before the concept does. Find the one house for your next piece here.