Travel through Shiga and Lake Biwa with Chiharu as she visits La Collina Omihachiman, explores the architecture and legacy of William Merrell Vories, and stays at a quiet lakeside hotel.

This episode looks at how Vories influenced Omihachiman and how his legacy still connects with local culture, business, architecture, and Taneya today.

A reflective journey through Japanese architecture, landscape, food, friendship, and slow travel in Shiga, Japan.

Can you really create a Parisian interior in a Japanese apartment?

In this episode, Chiharu explores what happens when an interior style travels from one culture to another. Parisian apartments are shaped by high ceilings, symmetry, historic architecture, and proportions that are very different from those of a typical Japanese home.

Drawing on a renovation project in Karuizawa, she reflects on how elements such as mouldings, herringbone floors, arches, and a fireplace can be adapted to a Japanese space without simply copying Paris.

She also considers why a traditional tatami room can feel uncomfortable with a ceiling that is too high, and recalls a moment when she realized that “Scandinavian interior” can mean very different things in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland — just as Japanese, Korean, and Chinese interiors are not the same.

Perhaps the goal is not to recreate a style exactly, but to understand what we love about it and translate that feeling into the place where we live.