The program "Jūnin Toiro ~Ie ni wa Nure Aru Kazoku Katachi~" (MBS, Saturdays at 5pm, Kansai local broadcast and others), hosted by talent Mifune Mika and actor Taro Suruga, will feature a house with a huge "blank" in its March 21st broadcast, built by a popular product designer in Ibi-gun, Gifu Prefecture.
The residents are a family of four with two children. Three years ago, they moved back to their hometown in Gifu Prefecture and built a new house modeled after a chicken coop on a corner of the large plot of land that belonged to the family, who used to run a chicken farm. The single-story house is 20 meters wide, and as soon as you enter through the front door at the end, you'll find the workspace of the husband, a product designer, and beyond that, a huge space with a ceiling height of 5 meters. There are no tables, appliances or other items in this space, which the family calls a "blank space."
"Blank" is a play area and a place to relax, but it's also a passageway, so the rule is not to leave things out. To achieve this, they racked their brains and installed a sofa by carving a hole in the wall. The husband initially thought a sofa was unnecessary, but the wife wanted a space to read books or watch TV. As a result, they came up with the bold idea of embedding the sofa in the wall instead of placing it in the space, and even created a large-capacity hidden storage area so that Blank can always be kept tidy.
Furthermore, instead of stairs, they installed a ladder on the wall, leading to a loft that serves as both a sleeping area and a play area for the children. The husband described the gap in the house as "a huge potential for expansion. Unimaginable events keep happening," and smiled as he mentioned that photos of the children taken during the gap had actually become a hot topic on social media.
"Jūnin Toiro" is a program that visits homes across Japan and introduces the unique features and charms of the homes of their inhabitants. After the broadcast, it is available for streaming on TVer for one week.
