week 1 recap
thus concludes the first week of akiyadao in japan. we had a fun and productive time, which included being interviewed on a podcast, visiting both partially and fully renovated akiyas, meeting other physical community x DAO builders, and hosting our first akiyaDAO meetup in tokyo
some deeper intel of our trip below:
- we kicked off our first day strong - akiya co-founders, michelle and william meet with @joi in person for the first time!
- we talked about akiya as an educational opportunity to document the process of building a DAO in japan
- he invited us to a web3 launch party, where we got a chance to see joi dj’ing live! stay tuned for vj / dj collaboration between him and michelle, coming sometime in 2023
- picture of joi at dj booth
- later in the week, we were interviewed by joi and featured on his company’s podcast
- picture of podcast set up
- throughout the trip, we got to visit other people also building in the physical community x DAO space. this ranged from institutional projects like GaiaX, Roompt, ADDress, to personal projects, like akiyaDAO member Hiro’s akiya renovation efforts. some detail on each below:
- gaiaX is a startup studio that provides support for entrepreneurs in the sharing economy — one of their portfolio companies that tamaki runs is turning abandoned temples into short stay accommodation, with a web3 component
- roopt, yusuke’s project, uses burnable NFTs to rent out rooms in a sharehouse, also ex-akiya that underwent renovation
- team picture at table or yusuke saying bye
- ADDress uses a membership model for co-living, with ~260 houses in their network, with most of them being ex-akiya houses. they were kind enough to take us around to tour 4 of their properties to meet the communities living there and talk us through the renovation process
- finally, hiro and his friends are renovating an old shed in chiba into a cafe called “re:trash” due to recycling parts of the old building into the new — for example, some of the old flooring that they tore up were incorporated into new walls and tables
- picture of re: trash + picture of repurposed wood
- to top off the trip, we celebrated the team going to japan with our first akiyaDAO meetup in tokyo. it was fantastic to meet friends we found over the internet, old and new, that had convened into a single spot / time on an aligned mission
- this week gave us renewed excitement about the project, from getting to know people who had done similar processes before, and also meeting those who were very excited to join us for our adventure
- thus concludes the first week of akiyadao in japan — equal parts inspiring and humbling to be around all of these special humans
- finally we got to see some art installations: then Neort++
day 2: meet akiyadao member, hiro at an akiya he is currently renovating in chiba
- their end goal is to transform this akiya into a cafe, that includes a mini library,
- they also have a small BBQ area outside, which includes a very clever one-person hot tub!
- include picture of hot tub
day 3: michelle visits yoriko + art exhibition
day 4: visiting other people building in the physical community x DAO space: GaiaX, then Yusuke Sharehouse, then Neort++
- Michelle, Will, and Jonny visited Gaia X to compare notes on the projects we're running. Gaia X is turning abandoned temples into short stay accommodation, with a web 3 component, so there was lots of overlap to discuss.
- Gaia X then took us to Yusuke Sharehouse, Roompt, where we met Hero, the community manager. The house is an Akiya, recently renovated and turned into a co-working space and art gallery! The Sharehouse is split across two buildings, with the accommodation in the other building on the property.
- Finally, the team capped off a big day by going to NEORT++, which is an experimental projection mapping space on the third floor of an old concrete building on Tokyo. We met (name) who put on a show for us and told us about the artist who had contributed the content we were seeing.
day 5: midori house, podcast + akiyaDAO meetup
- We finally got to meet some discord members, as well as some internet friends for the first time.
day 6: ADDress day trip - 4 properties