Japanese Rooms Beyond Tokyo — 5 Wa Locations Worth the Trip

Tokyo has its share of kominka — but the biggest tatami rooms, the deepest gardens and the buildings with film history in their bones are a train ride away. Five wa locations on CREA worth leaving the city for.

Former Ozu Yasujirō Residence The home where master director Ozu Yasujirō spent his final years, open for shoots: over 300 tsubo with tatami rooms, a garden that changes expression with the seasons, and an open-air bath. Film, drama, advertising, weddings — Japanese culture, distilled.

Hyōgo Irimoya — Awaji Island A renovated irimoya-style building in Shizuki, Awaji: 200㎡, a 60-tatami great hall some 20m deep, and a tokonoma framed by ebony pillars. Quality wa-modern space for photography, video, events and exhibitions.

MAYA — Zaimokuza, Kamakura A 90-year-old single-storey house in Kamakura's quiet seaside streets, renovated into a modern kominka hotel: three tatami rooms, a spacious pro-equipped kitchen, a detached bathhouse and a green 320-tsubo garden — every corner shootable.

soy casa akikawa — Akigawa valley A late-Edo wa-yō eclectic farmhouse near the Akigawa gorge: a 15-tatami room with engawa veranda, renovated western rooms, a kura storehouse and a white-box studio, all wrapped in four-season nature.

Kamakura Studio Orange — Gokurakuji, Kamakura A house studio on the theme of wa × industrial × modern: lauan floors and walls meeting stainless and industrial materials, with living-dining, kitchen, bedroom, study, washroom and bath — lifestyle shoots to interviews, apparel and portraits.

The wa worth traveling for

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