- intro to akiya
- multiple
- day in the life
- residency projects
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residency intro
- AKIYA is a community-driven project to renovate abandoned houses in Japan into creative residencies and interactive habitats.
- Goal: activating changes and improvement in the physical world, powered by a (decentralized) digital community
- We want to make sure that we are integrating well with local governments and the community members around us, and our existing neighbors.
- We want to see how we can support their activities, how we're able to join in community with them, and essentially at the end of the day how to cohabitate and also become good neighbors in reciprocal
- this residency ranged from creating short animation films focusing on local folklore, to curating a collection of anecdotes and stories from our neighbors, to getting to know local organizations in the area
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jungle nook, by michelle huang
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indoor installation to create a cozy space designed for reading, writing, and other meditative activities
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our host allowed us to leave this as a gift for the house and to welcome the next residents
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special thanks to Lim
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kainan hoshi, by kevin zhai
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Created an animated short based on local Izu folklore from start to finish in two weeks
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Incorporated feedback from residency mates through show-and-tells and test screenings
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special thanks to michelle and Lim
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https://twitter.com/heykzhai/status/1713346434144338100
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地域連携 by megumi aoyama
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市役所や近隣自治体における地域活性団体との関係構築
- Building relationships with local revitalization organizations at city hall and neighboring municipalities
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ごみの捨て方など地域社会における大切にすべき考え方やルールを共有
- Sharing ideas and rules that should be important in local communities, such as how to dispose of garbage
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陌生漫画 (strange comics) by shuu
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Walk the walkable area and talk to strangers
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Eat “strange” food and survive
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Co-create manga with shared memories
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Mini-presentation with “看图说话” style (tell a story using pictures)
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Let’s journal proposal for future E-zine preparation
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在地生活 (living locally) by chang
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Chat with locals and document life stories
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Learn how to be good neighbors from locals
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Review local materials to learn about people’s concerns and interests
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special thanks to Shuu
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akiya tiktok by Chris Sutherland
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Made TikToks highlighting the Akiya mission
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Documented the places and people we saw throughout the residency
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Tried to make it pretty!
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memory board by Chris Lim
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Goal: Celebrate the people, places and the events of the residencies
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Used Instax camera to print images
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Placed onto cork board free form for easy manipulation
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source (google slides on presentations in Izu residency): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Esrg8liLgbmyiahO3Rs6yz3bFC5Dt2SRtJvYY0KqRIY/edit#slide=id.g287fe45600d_2_118
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source: Megumi’s talk Community Outreach - Megumi talk
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how I started my journey was to participate in tours related to immigration, which local governments held. I was looking for something like this one
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Some prefectures or small cities give a small sampling for how people can view the city. City immigration tours takes like one or two day trip, and you can experience seeing akiya in that city and introduce interesting people to Akiya Collective.
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They can provide language resources, and you can potentially apply to stay and do a trial period in a house to live in, like a place that the government sponsors for a week or so, and they may also introduce akiya that can be purchased. Joining this tour can also allow you information on the local atmospheres and vacant houses, and also connect to previous immigrants who have started life there.
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On government supported housing / immigration trial houses
Trial houses are about ￥30,000 per month. About $200 USD, very affordable. The houses are typically very livable and don’t need much renovation (if it’s from the government). Some houses are not that proper, or not that livable, seems to depend on the local government and availability.
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How to approach local governments and get information I mostly have already contacted them before I visited them. How I approached them was, there’s a kind of exhibition in Tokyo and Osaka, in big cities. The exhibition can have several local governments come together with booths to talk about what the locality offers, and what the region is famous for. The exhibition centers on akiya or local revitalization. Name of the exhibition, or Japanese word is “Ijū sōdan-kai” (移住相談会)
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How to meet new people when you move to a new city Similar to our Izu host (Watanabe-san) helping introduce us to different people, it’s kind of the same way to network person to person. Through the local government, they introduced Megumi to interesting people like cafe owners and other local citizens. She spoke to a local government in January and especially if the population is small, they have all the information.
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On government initiatives or community initiatives when trying to get to know a region
- approach town hall: each local government has department in charge of approaching immigration
- ask which department is in charge of immigration - and the person can introduce us
- good idea to reach out to NPOs that also deal with revitalization in that area
- some NPOs have language exchange or host local events (@goomay's town has japanese class for foreigners staying in the town) -- we could potentially be this initiative to bring akiya interested people to learn crafts / akiya renovation techniques
- some info about buying process
- most akiyas aren’t actually listed online (maybe X%)- need to be on the ground to visit places and be introduced
- highlighting stories of someone who someone who was introduced
- introductions to city hall people and further introductions to the community (local shopkeepers, renovators, residents)
- cool japan tings
- aesthetic stuff
- stephanie to do
- multiple
- open call to volunteer starting in mid march
- end of jan / mid feb (rolling apps)
- crowdfunding launch (~ couple hundred followers)
- late mar / april