Japanese Living Spaces: Home and Abroad

18 Jun 2008 Category: Photography, Worldwide

Japanese Living Spaces: Home and Abroad

Japanese living abroad. Berlin: This room is owned by a Japanese fashion designer and a German Copywriter living in the German city. If the usual rooms in Tokyo would be only as big as this... From Japanese Rooms by German Sven Ingmar Thies.

When we took a sneak peak at the workspaces of designers and artists for our lovely desk project recently, we got quite a few comments and e-mails from all over the world! One of the workspaces belonged to German artist-and-designer, Sven Ingmar Thies. For nine years now, Sven has been documenting the living spaces of the Japanese throughout the world. On his visits to Tokyo, Berlin, New York, Shanghai and Vienna, just out of curiosity, he knocked at the doors of ninety-two rooms and photographed them — thus compiling kind of a sociological photo study of Japanese living at home and abroad. PingMag had a chat with him about his book simply called Japanese Rooms.

Written by Chiemi

The obvious question would be, what made you take pictures of Japanese folks’ rooms in the first place?

After I studied in Germany, I spent some time in London and Vienna, then moved to Tokyo. I was always a guest in foreign countries, and conscious of how cultural differences affect people. As it is not very common to invite friends to your own flat in Tokyo, I got curious about how Japanese people live. And, I was curious about what they take with them to foreign countries, wondering if it would be different from what I’d take: Do they take their feelings or things – sensuous or tangible memories?

Berlin — not very big but the ceiling is SO high compared to rooms in Tokyo! This is owned by a 30-year-old Japanese DJ and journalist who’s been living in Berlin for six years.

Green NY oasis! A lot of Japanese must be jealous of this flat in New York, owned by a Japanese branding consultant and an American architect.

Hmm… you found a soft spot: It’s true that we don’t invite people to our flats as much as foreigners do. How did you manage to enter so many rooms?

As I lived in Tokyo for two and an half years, it was easy to find Japanese. I asked my friends to introduce me to interesting people. Whenever I travelled to another city, say Shanghai, I asked my Tokyo friends if they knew some Japanese there. I was always lucky as someone knew someone. And I always found at least one person who really liked my concept and supported me.

The crammed room of a 18-year-old high school boy in Tokyo. If you live there, you’d find nothing strange about this.

Kickboxing practice at a Shanghai home! Both of the Japanese director and the law office secretary have been staying in the Chinese city for over a year.

You visited eighty-six people and ninety-two rooms, right? Which was the most memorable one?

None, because all of them were very special. Every one and every single room had a uniqueness.

After you took all these photos, did you find the answers for your initial question about the feelings or things from above?

Yes, I did. Every character I met expressed him or herself by their living style, which depends on each person’s background. You can’t say that there is a certain object all Japanese take with them. But there is something how Japanese build and use their privacy. My experience, for example, is that a lot of those Japanese who I took photos of, wanted to cover their windows. In Berlin, but also in Vienna and New York, windows are normally clear that you can look through and see what happens inside the rooms. But a lot of people I met entirely covered their windows.

Tokyo: The motor sports journalist and his family have been in the city for fifteen years. Being close together means having more communication.

Vienna style: A Japanese nuclear engineer and his wife have been living in the Austrian capital for three years. We won’t see such an impressive fire place in Tokyo!

You are right! A lot of windows are brushed glass in Japan, and if not, we use another thin curtain under the curtain. That is not only because of privacy but also has a security reason. Anything else?

I found out that, compared to the Western, Japanese tend to pile things up! They pile books, furniture, whatever up instead of using boxes or cabinets…

I’ve never noticed that! But I’ve just looked around — and you are right!

Another thing is that almost everybody had some typical Japanese food in their fridges, something you only get in specialised Asian markets, definitely. And that most of the people had Japanese TV channels.

Another typical single room in Tokyo: This 23-year-old modern dancer likes to pile things up. Now you know why Japanese don’t really invite people so often…

Tokyo, again: A 75-year-old guard and 73-year-old housewife have been living in the sprawl for the last forty-eight years. What a heart warming sight!

Does that mean Japanese living abroad miss their mother country so much?

It depends. I met some Japanese who missed delicious Japanese food and communication in their mother tongue, and also Japanese who enjoyed the different culture and greater freedom social wise.
I think people get adapted more to different cultures the longer they live with them. In the end, you are also influenced by the local markets, the furniture and decor they are able buy. What I can tell is that everybody liked to get the experience of living in a different culture.


Cover of “Japanese Rooms” by Sven Ingmar Thies.

Sven Ingmar, thank you very much for your interesting insights today!

His book Japanese Rooms is published by Schwarzerfreitag.

80 Comments

  1. Great article - such a vast difference in space and style.

    Hey maybe someone can help me - I once saw a book in a shop about Japanese living spaces and how they were customised by their owners to maximise the space available (split levels, hidden compartments etc).

    Anyone know of the book? I’ve never seen it since……..

    Posted by: Dom Murphy on June 18th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

  2. Even in Tokyo, plenty of us living in big space and with big fireplace.

    Posted by: masa on June 18th, 2008 at 8:46 pm

  3. “Hey maybe someone can help me - I once saw a book in a shop about Japanese living spaces and how they were customised by their owners to maximise the space available (split levels, hidden compartments etc).”

    …you’re maybe thinking of ‘Tokyo: A Certain Style”:

    http://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Certain-Style-Kyoichi-Tsuzuki/dp/0811824233/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213802470&sr=8-1

    Posted by: Darren Joseph on June 19th, 2008 at 12:22 am

  4. The whole apartment I’m living in is not bigger than that “…18-year-old high school boy in Tokyo…”
    This is Barcelona’s Immigrant style LoL

    Posted by: nyuudo on June 19th, 2008 at 12:36 am

  5. great article! thanyou, pingmag!
    japanese way of living is extremely interesting, just as the cultural exhange and the idea of mixing up different elements as you live your life and express it trough your own, private dwelling…

    Posted by: Amir on June 19th, 2008 at 12:42 am

  6. These are some nice pictures! Certainly reminds me of the book Tokyo A Certain Style! I just love that little book! Always a pleasure to read pingmag articles!!!

    Also recommend “The Very Small Home: Japanese Ideas for Living Well in Limited Space”.

    [url]http://www.amazon.com/Very-Small-Home-Japanese-Limited/dp/4770029993/ref=sr12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213811067&sr=1-2[/url]

    Posted by: nororu on June 19th, 2008 at 2:49 am

  7. why is it you can spot the tokyo apartments without reading the captions.. oh yeah they’re the ones that look more like shoeboxes

    nice series of photos.

    Posted by: tim on June 19th, 2008 at 3:14 am

  8. i saw this guy speak in november at http://www.pecha-kucha.org/cities/tokyo
    !!!
    such wonderful photos…

    Posted by: brockett on June 19th, 2008 at 4:38 am

  9. Really good post! Thank you!

    Posted by: sylvia on June 19th, 2008 at 7:33 am

  10. excellent experimental work of art !! i like it !! keep on it .

    Posted by: namayva on June 19th, 2008 at 7:45 am

  11. Great article! I think I’ve been more influenced by Japan than I realized because I stack stuff like crazy even though I don’t need to…

    Posted by: Cat on June 19th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

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  13. [...] 12:39 pm · Filed under Uncategorized Japanese Living Spaces: Home and Abroad A fascinating photo study by Sven Ingman Thies on how people live and things they share culturally in [...]

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  15. To Dom Murphy.
    Maybe the book was “Tokyo Style”
    http://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Style-Katsuhiro-Kinoshita/dp/4763615106/ref=pdbbs4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214207277&sr=8-4

    Posted by: Ugo on June 23rd, 2008 at 4:56 pm

  16. Hey - thanks for the help - I think it was the Tokyo Style book - the other two don’t look too familiar…. $86 yikes!!

    Posted by: Dom on June 26th, 2008 at 12:33 am

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  18. HELLO
    PLEASE CAN YOU SEND TO ME SOME PICS OF JAPANESE LIVING ROOMS PLEASE . WE WANT TO DECORATE OUR LIVING ROOM WITH A JAPANESE SYTLE PLEASE.

    MY EMAIL IS : ngalulalonsa@hotmail.fr

    Posted by: PATRICK on July 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 pm

  19. I saw the guy speaking at pechakucha in Vienna this year. Great photos. Great presentation. I really enjoy having this book.

    Posted by: Tim on July 10th, 2008 at 5:15 pm

  20. I really like this website,It’s a window to know the lifestyle in Japan.Although we live in different space,maybe very small,we also can conmmunicate.
    I live in china,if you wang to know about china,you can send me an e-mail.
    mohoti@ 163.com

    Posted by: Amy on November 1st, 2008 at 10:58 pm

  21. Some really nice photography on japanese living spaces.

    Posted by: Sarah on March 26th, 2009 at 1:49 am

  22. I saw the guy speaking at pechakucha in Vienna this year. Great photos. Great presentation. I really enjoy having this book

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