Greendo Miyawaki, a Hobbit-Style Apartment Complex in Japan

If you care about Japan and/or architecture, there’s a chance you’ve seen posts and links about some Japanese Hobbit-style apartments that are integrated into nature and all that.

I see them showing up once in a while on social media. Depending on the source, they’ll focus on the architectural aspect of the project or on the “Japan so close to nature” trope that comes from who knows where and that is, generally speaking, quite far from the truth. If you want more details about this, I invite you to go check out my “Ugly Japan” series on my other blog.

Anyways, this Hobbit-style apartment complex is called Greendo Miyawaki and happens to be in no other place than Takamatsu itself!

While it’s not far from work, I rarely go to its neighborhood. However, a couple of days ago, seeing yet another post about it making the rounds (this one seems to be the original one in English), I decided to go and see what it looks like nowadays.

Of course, I couldn’t go too close, that would be trespassing (although I should be able to climb those stairs, maybe?), but I took a picture that I’m sharing with you now:

Nature has grown a bit more than in the original (more or less computer-generated) pictures.

Honestly, I have no idea if the place is nice or not. Having some nature around you is such a rare thing in most Japanese cities, that I like the idea very much.

It reminds me of some dwellings where I used to live in Florida that were so lush, they looked overgrown but they were actually very nice. Now, Japan is not Florida, and I don’t know how practical and convenient the place is. How dark? How humid? And the rest? I have no idea.

I could be wrong, but the apartments seem to be rentals. If you’re interested. 😉

If you want to know more, Greendo Miyawaki was designed by Keita Tanaka. He’s about my age and a native of Kagawa. I don’t really know anything about him. In addition to his website (linked with his name), he has a blog and an Instagram account. He seems to be working on a renovation project on Shodoshima at the moment.

Alright, that’s pretty much all for today, but if we want more regular posts at the moment, they’ll have to be short.

As always, if you liked what you read, do not hesitate to share the post, and of course, you should