Local Japan Podcast

About Local Japan Podcast

Leverage local knowledge to supercharge your Japan travels, make big akiya purchases, or even plan a move to the land of the rising sun. Learn about restoring abandoned properties in rural Japan and gain lessons from paperback reads and formidable builders who set the example 🇯🇵 https://akiyaproject.substack.com/ akiyaproject.substack.com (https://akiyaproject.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

The Akiya Project

Category

arts · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

20 Jul 2023

Latest episode

9 Sept 2025

Latest episodes

1 of 22 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   9 Sept 2025TRANSCRIPT

   #61 Living as a Shepherd in the Modern World

   Books Mentioned In This Episode: When you purchase a book (or anything on Amazon (https://amzn.to/3Ukk5lU)) with the links below, you support me and the podcast at no extra cost to you: * The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape (https://amzn.to/4gjjhbx) by James Rebanks * Musashi (https://amzn.to/45U1F2m) by Eiji Yoshikawa * The Trouble With Wilderness (https://www.williamcronon.net/writing/Trouble_with_Wilderness_Main.html) by William Cronon * One Up On Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market (https://amzn.to/3I0uXmT) by Peter Lynch * Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (https://amzn.to/4gdWQ7H) by Walter Isaacson Links to More Resources: * James Rebanks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rebanks) * William Wordsworth (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-wordsworth) * Beatrix Potter (https://beatrixpottersociety.org.uk/) * Miyamoto Musashi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyamoto_Musashi) * Nishimura-gumi (https://nishimura-gumi.net/home/) * John Clare (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clare) * Wendell Berry (https://amzn.to/42qiDna) * The Akiya Project on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsc9NN27UxwSuCIuUo-j2DQ) Unlock 200+ exclusive photos, step-by-step videos, detailed supplier lists, and real renovation costs from my hands-on restoration of a 100-year-old Japanese farmhouse. See exactly how I navigated permits, found traditional materials, and saved ¥900,000 in contractor costs through DIY methods 👇 Tired of akiya renovation advice from people who've never held a hammer in Japan? I've spent 3 years making every mistake so you don't have to. Join hundreds of fellow renovators for just $5/month (less than one batch of concrete!) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit akiyaproject.substack.com/subscribe (https://akiyaproject.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

2. 

   28 Jun 2025

   #60 Wendell Berry & The Art of the Commonplace

   The host explores Wendell Berry's agrarian essays, emphasizing land stewardship, community health, and the dignity of honest labor, reflecting on the importance of local economies and responsible land use; this is a solo episode.

3. 

   31 Mar 2025

   #59 The Trouble With Wilderness and Modern Environmentalism

   This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit akiyaproject.substack.com (https://akiyaproject.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7) If you believe that America’s national park system is one of the greatest achievements in the country‘s history — and is for the betterment of mankind — you’d find yourself in the company of the majority, including me. However, Cronon articulates a fascinating history of post-Civil War America and the winding down of the Indian wars. At this time, many native Indians were forced off their land to establish the national parks across the country in the name of keeping the land “pristine” and “sublime”. Naturally, we think of this as an absurd tragedy. We often think of the native people as having a deep connection with the land and a deep connection to their human nature. Why, then, would we divorce them from their natural place and way of life in order to respect an arbitrary line on the map? In his essay, Cronon argues that we all possess the same human nature, whether we are native Indian, American settlers moving out West, Swiss mountaineers, or Japanese farmers. However, in our modern world, we Americans seem to have forgotten that truth that we are embued with human nature. Modernity and industrialization have done a good job of detaching us from the land, the fruits of our labor, and the wrath of natural disaster. Cronon says that we have fetishized the wilderness out there and have failed to recognize the wilderness in here. From a practical matter of public policy, it makes no sense to dismantle the national parks nor would I ever advocate for such action. However, my experiences in Japan, in Switzerland, and the reflections I’ve gained from reading this essay have taught me that it does little good to treat far-flung places as separate from civilization. If we do so, it becomes easy to slip into the mindset that we humans are devoid of nature, or worse, are contaminants to it. Instead, Cronon argues that we should tend to our gardens, care for the trees along our sidewalks, and clean the streams in our neighborhoods just as if they are Yosemite Valley, the Amazon Rainforest, or the Ganges River. There is a beautiful Buddhist belief that says that as you walk along the street and look upon the faces of the strangers going past you, you may just be looking at the face of the Buddha. In the same way, the nature in your backyard exemplifies the sublime if you only look close enough. Local Japan Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Books Mentioned In This Episode: When you purchase a book (or anything on Amazon (https://amzn.to/3Ukk5lU)) with the links below, you support me and the podcast at no extra cost to you: * Uncommon Ground: Toward Reinventing Nature (https://amzn.to/3XDVNG0) by William Cronon * The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (https://amzn.to/3FIA6P0) by Michael Pollan * Walking (https://amzn.to/4c94XAc) by Henry David Thoreau * My First Summer in the Sierra (https://amzn.to/4lhSwX9) by John Muir * Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail (https://amzn.to/41W7sTe) by Theodore Roosevelt * The End of Nature (https://amzn.to/4l1iYUC) by Bill McKibben * This Is Dinosaur: Echo Park Country and Its Magic River (https://amzn.to/3XGcPTX) by Wallace Stegner * Home Economics (https://amzn.to/42a7dCN) by Wendell Berry Links to More Resources: * Profesor William Cronon (https://www.williamcronon.net/) * President Theodore Roosevelt (https://amzn.to/43xtM6P) * John Muir (https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/muir_biography.aspx) * William Woodsworth (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-wordsworth) * Hayao Miyazaki (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Miyazaki-Hayao) * Princess Mononoke (https://www.ghibli.jp/works/mononoke/) * Wendell Berry (https://amzn.to/42qiDna) * Learn Ikebana in Kobe (with me and a local expert!) on TripAdvisor (https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g298562-d26700985-Hands_On_Ikebana_Making_with_a_Local_Expert_in_Hyogo-Kobe_Hyogo_Prefecture_Kinki.html) * The Akiya Project on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsc9NN27UxwSuCIuUo-j2DQ) Products Used For the Build * Rockwool Insulation (https://amzn.to/4gTGQqy) * Wood Putty (https://amzn.to/3RwYTYE) If you’d like to see the visual media and photos behind this paywall, please subscribe for $5 a month or just $40 a year!

Inside a recent episode

#61 Living as a Shepherd in the Modern World

Published 9 Sept 2025 · Transcript excerpt

[…] Because they could conceivably make a lot more money if they moved to London or if they just moved to the nearest city and entered some kind of job in a more modern world. industry, whether that would be banking or engineering or medicine, but they choose not to. They choose the path that seems harder, but it's also the one that seems more natural to them, something that's true to their roots. And it's an admirable story. And it's just one that I felt comfort in, especially in these past few weeks where It's been pretty tough seeing this work I've put in to kind of just go down the drain with a simple mistake. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

17,044

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 50 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

44

Social presence

0

YouTube

72

Engagement

68

Contact Local Japan Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.