Living in a Japanese House: Kanae Hasegawa's New Book Tours 35 Homes

A new Phaidon book gathers 35 Japanese homes into a single survey, priced at £39.99. Living in a Japanese House, written by Japanese author and Wallpaper* contributor Kanae Hasegawa, steps inside a rich selection of dwellings across Japan and traces how they came to be, who designed them and what daily life within them looks like.

The book works as both a visual tour and a study of a typology. Hasegawa spans interiors and exteriors in what the publisher positions as a luxurious survey of Japanese residential architecture — a field known for its challenges and its bold design solutions, from tight urban plots to demanding rural settings.

Who appears in the book?

The selection includes many of the leading names in contemporary Japanese architecture:

• Hiroshi Nakamura
• Ryue Nishizawa
• nendo

Alongside these established practices, the book features lesser-known examples. The homes sit in a range of settings — urban, suburban and rural — creating a tour of eye-catching and thought-provoking dwellings across the country.

What makes the survey different?

Hasegawa does not rely on photography and plans alone. Her texts draw on insights and reflections from two sides of each project: the architects who designed the homes and the homeowners who live in them.

This dual perspective turns the book into what the author frames as a 360-degree exploration of the typology — and of what living in a Japanese house means today, rather than how it looked in the past.

The format answers a question many readers bring to Japanese residential architecture: not just how these houses are built, but how they are actually inhabited. By pairing designers with occupants, the book shifts the conversation from formal innovation to lived experience.

Why the Japanese house keeps drawing readers

Japanese homes have long fascinated an international audience, and the book's premise acknowledges that curiosity directly: many of us, as the introduction puts it, have daydreamed about living in a Japanese house. Hasegawa's survey lets readers do the next best thing — step inside the homes, learn their histories and hear from the people who occupy them every day.

Living in a Japanese House by Kanae Hasegawa is published by Phaidon at £39.99. For readers tracking the current state of Japanese residential design, it offers a consolidated snapshot of where the typology stands — and who is shaping it now.