The Akiya Project

Books Mentioned In This Episode: When you purchase a book (or anything on Amazon ) with the links below, you support me and the podcast at no extra cost to you: * The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape by James Rebanks * Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa * The Trouble With Wilderness by William Cronon * One Up On Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit akiyaproject.substack.com The past month has been filled with gatherings with friends and family. First, my best friend from high school traveled to Japan with his family for a vacation. He made the trip up the mountain to my place and I had some tough work prepared for him! We completed a pretty big pour of concrete for the kitchen flo...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit akiyaproject.substack.com If you believe that America’s national park system is one of the greatest achievements in the country‘s history — and is for the betterment of mankind — you’d find yourself in the company of the majority, including me. However, Cronon articulates a fascinating history of post-Civil War America and the winding d...

In this episode, I walk through my observations upon returning to the US from Japan and share what I witnessed after the outbreak of the LA fires, which have filled headlines worldwide. Commenting on current events is a bit out of the norm for the podcast. However, I offer a quick history of 13 years of life to help illustrate the personal perspective I have on the disaster. I also briefly mention...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit akiyaproject.substack.com My brother and I finished demolishing the entire kitchen by hand, including the stone foundation, brick stove, ceramic tile bathtub, and wood framing. (Here’s a YouTube short of the demolishing of the kitchen .) Upon clearing the site of debris, we dug deep footings around the entire perimeter and placed rebar...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit akiyaproject.substack.com The first concrete has been poured beneath the previous foundation! The process will continue several more times, which will ensure that the house does not heave or shift unevenly over time or fail during an earthquake. In other news, we have running water on the property thanks to a deep well cleaning and the...

In an episode last summer, I covered my first autobiography about the story and works of Yoshihiro Takishita . Looking back at my catalog of podcasts, I found this to be one of the most insightful and enjoyable to listen to. For a few months now, I’ve been dwelling in the realm of ideas — about beauty, tradition, modernism — and have been itching to bring them down to a more practical, human level...

With a month-long trip back to California, I took time off from the project and enjoyed reading The Old Way of Seeing by Jonathan Hale. I first heard about the book from Brent Hull, a master craftsman who wrote an article titled “ Books Every Builder Should Own ” for the wonderful magazine Fine Homebuilding. In a democracy, equality is among society’s highest ideals. One drawback, Hale argues, is...

As opposed to removal work like throwing out trash, cutting bamboo, and organizing storage, my brother and I have finally completed our first tangible contribution to the property: a French drain. Below, I’ve listed the Japanese “ netron ” pipe product we used for the drain, which is quite unique from the typical perforated pipe you’d find in the United States. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a sup...

It’s easy to get discouraged during these early phases when my brother and I are literally moving earth with nothing but shovels, a wheelbarrow, and our bare hands. We move forward inch by inch.  On some days, it does not feel as though we complete much. But when I look back at the photos from one month ago, our progress becomes clear. I feel gratified with the hard work. This project has humbled...

My brother has arrived! He settled into his sharehouse, took a tour around the neighborhood, and began working on-site with me. We’ve already made great progress on excavating more trash, old furniture, and unneeded material. A more pristine work site is on its way. I’ve also met with my architect a few more times. As we wait for the 3D model to come in, I’ve been starting with tasks that don't ne...

Just a few days ago, a 3D modeling company brought over their cameras and tripods to scan the ins and outs of the property (my architect in California will use the data to visualize the site since he can’t visit in person). I’ll share more about this important step soon, but recently, I’ve been reflecting much more on the manual clean-up required to prepare for the scan. Whenever I would encounter...

Back in the days when I was dying a slow death of boredom by bureaucracy, I would find salvation in books. After a few days of falling down Wikipedia rabbit holes and practicing the hiragana and katakana alphabets over and over again, I had an idea, “Why don’t I email PDFs of books to myself?” And so began my adventures to distant worlds, straight from the metal desk of the damp middle school staf...

The contract, payment, and legal documentation all went through successfully this month — officially making me a homeowner and landowner in Japan! Frankly, there is a good reason why I was able to acquire the property for the price that I did. It seems that the structure was hardly ever updated in its 100+ year life to meet modern standards of the day. To make matters more extreme, for the past 30...

Happy New Year everyone! In today’s episode, we are going to gain a great, fundamental understanding of not just Japanese architecture, but also Japanese history, religion, politics, and more — and how these many factors play into the built environment that constitutes the country today. The Art of Japanese Architecture written by David and Michiko Young will be our guide through Japan’s story of...

I have a big announcement to make about the start of what we've all been waiting for. As a result of this announcement, I found it fitting to revisit the fundamentals and ask myself why I am doing all this. Why am I trying to restore buildings that I think are beautiful? To help me through this question, I’ll be reading through a few sections of "Beauty: A Very Short Introduction" by Sir Roger Scr...

Nicholas Boys Smith is the founder of Create Streets, a social enterprise based in London that works with neighborhoods, communities, landowners, councils, and developers across the United Kingdom. Its mission is to help create and manage beautiful places, defined by gentle density, stewardship of nature, and public well-being. Boys Smith is also the author of many books, including No Free Parking...

Born in the United States, Azby Brown is an architect and accomplished author of Japanese design and architecture who embarked on a transformative journey to Japan. He recalls his story in today’s book, The Genius of Japanese Carpentry: Secrets of an Ancient Craft . In this episode, I go through his writings about a traditional pagoda construction at Yakushiji Temple in Nara, which took place thro...

Today, I sit down with Rei Saito, the author of the Konichi Value newsletter. On Substack, Rei publishes insights into Japanese companies, real estate, and market trends with the goal of finding untapped value. With fluency in Japanese and English (and Swedish!), Rei has the added edge of being able to research Japanese news, reports, and sources. He brings this to you so that you may better under...

Today, I revisit a story that I wrote back in 2019 when I was still an English teacher in Kyoto. Disgruntled by the ugly school buildings that defined my day-to-day work life, I wanted to get to the bottom of the question: Why do all Japanese public schools look the same? I give a little backstory and read the script, which you can also follow along in full below (To see the photos, subscribe to t...

I’m very excited this week to delve into "Japanese Country Style: Putting New Life Into Old Houses" by the legendary architect Yoshihiro Takishita. Hailing from Gifu Prefecture, Takishita's journey to becoming a legendary figure in minka restoration is truly self-made. Traveling the globe and mastering the English language as a young man, and returned to Japan and embarked on a path to become a se...