Ukiha, Japan
An example of the innovative strength of the countryside and how the past can have a glorious future.
japan – the netherlands urban research
research
JNACA, the Japanese, Netherlands Architecture and Culture Association invited HOH architects from the Netherlands and Take U Chi+M to research Ukiha, a small town in Japan. The problem in Japan, a lot of towns and cities are dying. Tokyo is an exception, this city is still growing. Ukiha is exemplary for the problems of the Japanese countryside; an aging population, young people leaving for the big city, and schools forced to close their doors. Commissioned by the local municipality, at the invitation of JNACA and with the support of the Dutch embassy of Japan, there has been done research with students from Kyushu University and experts such as Ryoko Baba on the decline of the Japanese countryside and how this can be changed. Ukiha is a quiet town, close to the main city of Kyushu Fukuoka. It has potency for people who would like to be close to the convenient city of Fukuoka, but want to live in a quiet area in nature.
There is a group of people who came up with new business ideas in Ukiha. Mostly, young pâtissiers opened small boutique-look-a-like patisseries. They create such a young creative local vibe, not commercial at all. It seems that Ukiha is doing its best to attract youngsters and to make Ukiha more interesting.
People are still very much connected to their land, rooted, how they live with nature and appreciate not having everything around them.
A son who reluctantly and forcibly takes over the pig farm of his father who died early first starts a cafe ‘Riverwild’. After a while, he still takes over the business and starts to keep pigs in a very special way and feeds them local fruits, no antibiotics, and other special treatments. Meanwhile, his meat and sausages are legendary and are exported all over the world, but of course, are also served in the sun under the trees of the garden of his popular cafe. This is an example of the innovative strength of the countryside and how the past can have a glorious future.
TAKE U CHI+M 