I recently got the chance to stay in a 160-year-old farmhouse in Mie Prefecture, which was a great way to escape the urban life of Tokyo for a few days.
Situated along a stream where I found people fishing the next morning, the farmhouse – called Uenoya – is an ecclectic mixture of a modern Japanese aesthetic with decidedly old, or old-fashioned touches, here and there to give it, in my opinion, a personality.
The owners have had the farmhouse in their family for generations, with one of the owners – who seemed to be well into her 70s to me – pointing out on the tour of the home a desk she used to study on as a child and a fridge that was “an antique” even when she was young.
The bathroom comprised an old-fashioned tub that reminded me of the bath in “My Neighbor Totoro,” with the owner telling me to just leave the water in the tub after use since “it’s just so hard to get rid of after.”
There was a second floor up a flight of steep stairs that offered a second tatami room with mats and a bonus room with sparse yet calculated decorations. If not for the steep stairs, I would’ve had a nice cup of tea there in the morning, but it made for a nice reading room.
After showing me everything, including a small area complete with coffee and tea options for the morning, she asked if I’d like a microwave since dinner isn’t included, then went into an office attached to the house. A moment later, she hauled out a hefty microwave, propping it up on a table that wobbled slightly while she laughed and said, “Just make sure you don’t shake it around too much or it might stop working.”
The owner then let me know they lived just down the road and that other relatives were diagonally across from the house if I needed anything (“Just ring the doorbell!”), then bid me a good night and left.
Though there was Wi-Fi available and outlets all over the place, I spent the night eating a bento boxed dinner I’d bought at a grocery store, reading a magazine with the windows open in the living room area so I could hear the sounds of the river and the ocassional car passing by, along with a train (“It comes every two hours”) rushing nearby.
I slept that night on a plush futon on tatami, the windows opened to allow for a nice breeze and the sound of crickets and frogs, after the train stopped running.
I folded up the futon, then piled up the dishes I’d ended up using for breakfast (the booking came with a selection of random bread along with the tea and coffeee) on a table near the office to hopefully make it easier for her later.
Though checkout was at 10 a.m., after I’d piled everything into the car, the owner enjoyed taking me across the narrow road to the river so I could see the fishermen and learn a little bit more about the sparsely populated area with its breathtaking views of mountains.
Honestly, I think this kind of experience is what a lot of people coming to Japan are craving, and I can’t recommend staying here enough (I’m not getting paid at all to promote this place, for the record).
The only caveats I can think of for staying here are: 1. The owners don’t speak a word of anything beyond Japanese. 2. This place is basically impossible to get to unless you rent/own a car. 3. You can’t book this for one person – at least two people have to be using it. 4. This place is not meant for small children unless you can find a way to block the stairs. The stairs are steep, and the windows for the second-floor bedroom open right out to a gap in the ceiling that would allow anyone to fall right down into the living room. 5. If you want to be loud and have a party or something, this is not the place for you. This is for people who love the quiet of libraries and cafes no one else has discovered yet.
If this sounds like the place for you, and Japanese and transportation aren’t a problem, then please visit – I’m sure the owners would love to show you around.