Japan 日本
39 places across 9 territories, 1 nationwide
From the kodomo shokudo to the ibasho, Japan has built a dense network of small-scale community places. Machizukuri, the reuse of empty houses and territorial art respond locally to ageing and depopulation, turning vacancies (houses, schools, bathhouses, factories) into a social infrastructure of belonging.
Tap a point to see its summary; clusters open when pressed. The full keyboard-friendly list lives in Explore.
Places by territory
Furano Marcheフラノマルシェ
Furano, Hokkaido · Hokkaido
A food and retail complex on the site of a relocated hospital, a national symbol of citizen-led town centre revitalisation, combining local produce,…
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationNeighbourhood or villageHigashikawa, Town of Photography東川町
Higashikawa, Hokkaido · Hokkaido
A municipality that chose photography as the axis of its identity and development: an international festival, a national high school championship and…
VerifiedSee place →Hajimari Art Centerはじまりの美術館
Inawashiro, Fukushima · Tohoku
A 130-year-old former sake distillery renovated as a small art brut museum with a vocation for social inclusion and community ties.
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingSpaceIbasho House居場所ハウス
Ofunato, Iwate · Tohoku
A donated farmhouse dismantled and rebuilt by local artisans after the 2011 tsunami.
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingSpaceIshinomaki Laboratory石巻工房
Ishinomaki, Miyagi · Tohoku
Born as a public DIY workshop so that neighbours hit by the tsunami could repair houses and furniture; today it is a global "Made in Local" furniture…
VerifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismNeighbourhood or villageMachizukuri de Ishinomaki y Kesennuma石巻・気仙沼
Miyagi · Tohoku
Participatory reconstruction after the tsunami: local initiatives in central Ishinomaki and the regeneration of Kesennuma's fishing cultural landscap…
VerifiedSee place →BONUS TRACKボーナストラック
Shimokitazawa, Tokio · Kanto
A low-rise complex on land freed by undergrounding the Odakyu line: live-work buildings with low rents, independent shops, a shared kitchen and a squ…
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationSpaceHAGISO / hanare萩荘
Yanaka, Tokio · Kanto
A 1955 wooden apartment building saved from demolition and reborn as "Tokyo's smallest cultural complex".
VerifiedSee place →Third placeSpaceInari-yu / Sento & Neighborhood稲荷湯
Kita, Tokio · Kanto
The NPO Sento & Neighborhood is restoring this 1930 bathhouse (on the WMF 2020 Watch List) and turned an adjacent century-old nagaya into a community…
VerifiedSee place →Third placeSpaceKosugiyu小杉湯
Suginami, Tokio · Kanto
A neighbourhood sento reinvented as an intergenerational third place: themed baths, collaborations with artists and community programmes.
VerifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismNeighbourhood or villageSetagaya machizukuri世田谷まちづくり
Setagaya, Tokio · Kanto
One of the three founding cases of Japanese machizukuri, a pioneer of neighbourhood participation in planning, with machizukuri centres and funds sup…
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationSpaceShibaura House芝浦ハウス
Minato, Tokio · Kanto
A company headquarters designed by Kazuyo Sejima that operates as an open community centre, with workshops, educational programmes and neighbourhood…
VerifiedSee place →Echigo-Tsumari Art Field越後妻有
Tokamachi, Niigata · Chubu
The pioneering territorial art festival across 760 square kilometres of satoyama landscape, with over 200 permanent works in villages, houses and aba…
VerifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismNeighbourhood or villagemachimori / Atami Ginza熱海銀座
Atami, Shizuoka · Chubu
Bottom-up regeneration of central Atami after its tourism bubble collapsed: vacant premises renovated by young entrepreneurs and "renovation machizuk…
VerifiedSee place →Reuse of vacancySpaceTakigahara滝ヶ原
Komatsu, Ishikawa · Chubu
A former rural nursery school turned community hub (café, farm, coworking) that draws young residents to a mountain village in Ishikawa.
VerifiedSee place →Ieshima家島
Himeji, Hyogo · Kansai
Island community design where local women created the "Norikko" product; a former participant opened a guesthouse and acts as concierge of the archip…
VerifiedSee place →Third placeNeighbourhood or villageKarahori Shotengai空堀商店街
Osaka · Kansai
An 800-metre shopping street that survived the 1945 bombings, with machiya converted into complexes of cafés, galleries and shops (Ren, Sou, Hoju).
VerifiedSee place →Reuse of vacancyNeighbourhood or villageKitakagaya Creative Village北加賀屋
Osaka · Kansai
A former shipbuilding area on the Kizu river regenerated through art: empty factories and warehouses converted into some 50 studios, galleries and re…
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationProjectKumano Travel / Tanabe田辺市熊野ツーリズムビューロー
Tanabe, Wakayama · Kansai
A community tourism office, the first half-public half-private entity of its kind in Japan, connecting local businesses along the Kumano Kodo with in…
VerifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismNeighbourhood or villageMano / Nagata (Kobe)真野・長田
Kobe, Hyogo · Kansai
A founding case of machizukuri: its neighbourhood organisational fabric enabled a participatory reconstruction after the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Ear…
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationSpaceQUESTION (Kyoto Shinkin)クエスチョン
Kioto · Kansai
A community bank building conceived as a co-creation facility: coworking, a café, "Community Steps" and a communal kitchen on the eighth floor design…
VerifiedSee place →Civic design collectivesProjectstudio-Lスタジオ・エル
Osaka · Kansai
The reference firm of Japanese community design, with around 80 projects a year.
VerifiedSee place →Ama Town / Oki Dozen海士町
Islas Oki, Shimane · Chugoku
A remote island that reversed depopulation under the motto "Nai mono wa nai" (be content with what there is): reforming its only high school to save…
VerifiedSee place →Art and territorySpaceInujima Art House Project犬島
Isla Inujima, Okayama · Chugoku
Low-rise art pavilions woven into the hamlet and a museum in a former copper refinery.
Partially verifiedSee place →Reuse of vacancyProjectOnomichi Akiya Saisei Project尾道空き家再生プロジェクト
Onomichi, Hiroshima · Chugoku
An NPO that runs the municipal akiya bank and has matched or renovated some 200 hillside houses in Onomichi: guesthouses, cafés, homes and community…
VerifiedSee place →Chiiori / Valle de Iya篪庵
Miyoshi, Tokushima · Shikoku
A 300-year-old thatched farmhouse, pioneer of minka renovation in Japan.
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationSpaceKamikatsu Zero Waste Center WHY上勝町ゼロ・ウェイストセンター
Kamikatsu, Tokushima · Shikoku
Japan's first municipality to declare Zero Waste (2003).
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationNeighbourhood or villageKamiyama / Green Valley神山
Kamiyama, Tokushima · Shikoku
A pioneer of "creative depopulation": optical fibre, satellite offices of tech companies in century-old minka and akiya renovation that drew talent t…
VerifiedSee place →Third placeNeighbourhood or villageMarugamemachi Shotengai丸亀町商店街
Takamatsu, Kagawa · Shikoku
A shotengai revitalised by its own association: street redesign, commercial diversification and the promotion of housing and amenities to draw reside…
VerifiedSee place →Art and territoryProjectSetouchi Triennale / Naoshima瀬戸内・直島
Kagawa (islas) · Shikoku
The Art House Project turns empty houses in the Honmura district into inhabited works with elderly neighbours as hosts; Teshima Art Museum and the Tr…
VerifiedSee place →Beppu Projectベップ・プロジェクト
Beppu, Oita · Kyushu
An arts NGO exploring the potential of art to create community in the hot spring city: permanent pieces (ALTERNATIVE-STATE), an Art Fair and Beppu Ar…
VerifiedSee place →Reuse of vacancySpaceFukuoka Growth Nextフクオカグロースネクスト
Fukuoka · Kyushu
The former Daimyo primary school, closed through school consolidation, renovated in 2017 into a startup support facility within the City of Fukuoka's…
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationSpaceGrin Grin / Island Cityぐりんぐりん
Fukuoka · Kyushu
Toyo Ito's green-roofed landscape building in the central park of an artificial island, with greenhouses and gardening workshops: public architecture…
VerifiedSee place →Art and territoryProjectKumamoto Artpolisくまもとアートポリス
Kumamoto · Kyushu
A programme commissioning signature public architecture (Ando, Ito, Sejima) with independent curatorship and workshops between architects and residen…
VerifiedSee place →Reuse of vacancyNeighbourhood or villageOjika Island小値賀島
Islas Goto, Nagasaki · Kyushu
Community-led slow tourism on a Goto island: six century-old kominka renovated as lodgings, a Michelin-recognised restaurant and trips to the depopul…
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationSpaceTakeo City Library武雄市図書館
Takeo, Saga · Kyushu
The first public library run by CCC (Tsutaya), with an integrated café and a million visits a year.
VerifiedSee place →Third placeProjectYatai de Fukuoka福岡屋台
Fukuoka · Kyushu
The only large Japanese city with a living street stall culture.
VerifiedSee place →Territory by typology
| Territory | Third place | Participatory urbanism | Civic design collectives | Art and territory | Reuse of vacancy | Civic food | Commons and belonging | Civic labs and participation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hokkaido | · | 2 | · | · | · | 1 | · | 1 |
| Tohoku | · | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Kanto | 2 | 1 | · | · | 2 | · | · | 3 |
| Chubu | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | · | · | 1 |
| Kansai | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Chugoku | · | 1 | · | 1 | 2 | · | · | 1 |
| Shikoku | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | 3 | · | · | 2 |
| Kyushu | 2 | 1 | · | 2 | 2 | 1 | · | 3 |
| Okinawa | 1 | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | · |
| Nationwide | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | 1 | · |