{"id":1214,"date":"2022-11-18T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/?p=1214"},"modified":"2022-11-15T09:44:51","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T08:44:51","slug":"diy-renovation-videos-of-old-houses-in-rural-japan-making-a-new-home-for-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/userblogs.fu-berlin.de\/urban-rural-migration-japan\/2022\/11\/18\/diy-renovation-videos-of-old-houses-in-rural-japan-making-a-new-home-for-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"DIY renovation videos of old houses in rural Japan: Making a new home for the future?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Maritchu Durand<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been some changes since my last blog post. Unfortunately, my work on the project has come to an end. But this has given me the opportunity to finally dive into my master\u2019s thesis more deeply. Focusing on the renovation of akiya in rural Japan and their role in rural revitalization, I am now approaching my research subject on two fronts. First, I am reading about the numerous case studies that have been conducted in the last few years, as well as important works on urban-rural migration. Second, I am entering the wild world of YouTube in order to find concrete cases of migrants\u2019 representation and narratives of their experiences with DIY renovation. Since I previously have looked at videos published by a prefecture<\/a>, now I want to find more personal testimonies, filmed, edited and posted by individuals. In this post, I will present my first observations from a whole new YouTube world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A residential house from the early Sh\u014dwa period during the renovation process in Arita, Saga prefecture.<\/em>
Copyright \u00a9 Cornelia Reiher 2022<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, I was quite surprised to find out that there were so many channels about DIY renovation of old houses. Interestingly, most channels combine the words inaka gurashi \u2013 life in the countryside \u2013 with anything ranging from \u2018DIY renovation\u2019 to \u2018akiya\u2019 or \u2018kominka\u2019. Although the number of subscribers to those channels ranges from only 3000 to sometimes 500 000, all of them feature highly popular videos that have up to two million views. The most popular videos are those showing houses before and after renovation or the often year-long renovation process in 10 to 20 minutes. The different channels can be divided into two groups: the \u2018silent ones\u2019 and the \u2018talkative ones\u2019. In the talkative videos, the \u2013 often quite young \u2013 house owners play a prominent role in explaining their renovation process and showing themselves during renovation work, gardening or exploring the region. They are the main actors and viewers follow them along their journey through renovation. These videos can be quite explanatory and technical, but often also present features of conventional TV programs in Japan: comical sound effects, bright and colored subtitles and comments by an out-of-frame narrator. See for example:<\/p>\n\n\n

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